| Subject: SMH/E Timor: Evidence
of organised killing campaign grows Sydney
Morning Herald November 12 1999
Evidence of organised killing campaign grows
By PAUL DALEY, Herald Correspondent in Dili
Evidence is emerging that Indonesia's security forces and
militias orchestrated a campaign of widespread murder in East Timor in early September and
hid the bodies before the arrival weeks later of international troops and observers.
Evidence of hundreds of killings in Dili alone - and
possibly many more at sea - confirms the view of Australian intelligence figures that
thousands, rather than hundreds, of East Timorese have died in recent months.
The international peace force in East Timor, Interfet,
officially lists the number of dead at 108.
But the East Timor Human Rights Commission says that in the
three weeks to October 22 it found evidence of 364 recent killings in Dili alone.
The commission says it is also investigating allegations
that the Indonesian military (TNI), police and militias killed a large number of East
Timorese students aboard a passenger ferry en route from Java to East Timor on September 7
and dumped their bodies at sea.
The allegation is given weight by Australian signals
intelligence, which specifically indicates a large number of East Timorese students were
killed at sea.
The signals intelligence also points to many other East
Timorese being killed on boats or on land and then being dumped into the ocean.
The Australian intelligence community believes the
discovery of more than 90 bodies on beaches on the north and south coasts of East Timor in
recent weeks is further evidence that a large number of people were disposed of at sea.
''You have a situation where in some cases hands and feet
were tied. In other cases bodies have wounds or were burnt,'' an intelligence source said.
''It leads to the conclusion that large numbers of East
Timorese could be dead - some killed at sea, others killed on land, then burnt and hidden
at sea.
''This takes some effort and it points to a systematic
cover-up.''
Asked if Interfet's official death toll was correct, the
commission's general co-ordinator, Ms Isabel da costa Fereira, said: ''The commission also
has started investigations into killings, and from October 2 until October 22 we found 364
bodies just in Dili and [nearby towns of] Hera and Tabar.
''We are still expecting reports from our investigators who
have been sent to other places to see how many might have been killed in other parts of
East Timor in the same period,'' she said.
While Interfet has been charged with securing East Timor,
its mandate does not include searching for bodies or investigating crimes.
Ms Fereira said the 364 bodies did not include those
reportedly found on beaches, many of which were being buried after discovery.
Of the missing East Timorese students, she said: ''On
September 7 there was one boat coming from Java and Bali, and we hear that a lot of
students were coming by that boat, and we hear that many of them were killed and dropped
into the sea.
''But we cannot be sure of that because, of course, if they
drop the bodies into the sea we are not able to find them.
''At the moment, we believe it was an operation involving
TNI, the militias, the police and other military institutions.''
Ms Fereira, who outlined some alleged crimes to a United
Nations special rapporteur in Dili this week, urged the UN to send experts urgently to
investigate allegations of rape, torture, murder and other crimes.
''It is very important that the international community
come into East Timor because the evidence of crime is here now,'' she said.
An American doctor who runs a clinic in Dili, Dr Dan
Murphy, said he had recently treated four patients who claimed to have witnessed killings
at sea.
He said he believed the official estimates of how many
people died are very low. ''People died in every district and in sizeable numbers,'' he
said. ''I have had four patients recently who were witness to killings at sea.''
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