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ETAN Statement on Recent Events in Timor-Leste
Country Fragile, International Assistance, Justice Still Needed
For Immediate Release
Contact: John M. Miller (718) 596-7668; (917) 690-4391 (cell)
May 9 - The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
has followed recent events in Dili with deep concern. The recent
riot regrettably resulted in injury and death, as well as property
damage. As longtime supporters of Timor-Leste's self-determination
and independence, we hope the peace that has prevailed on Dili since
April 29 continues, and that those who fled in fear will soon
return. While property can be rebuilt and political problems
resolved, the traumatic experiences from several decades of
repressive occupation and Indonesia's destructive withdrawal in 1999
continue to have serious impacts on the Timorese population.
Timor-Leste, a new nation borne of decades of military
occupation, has made remarkable progress since 1999. However, its
democracy, as well as public confidence in the leaderships’ ability
to peacefully resolve conflicts, is fragile. Trauma recovery,
economic development, the creation of a competent public
administration and building physical and governmental infrastructure
are long-term processes. Patience is required by the government, the
population, and all others committed to a democratic Timor-Leste.
The inadequacies of governmental leadership and the shortcomings
of international support for the transition to self-government have
been illustrated by recent events. There are many lessons to be
learned. We urge all parties to the recent disagreement within the
military to seek a peaceful and lasting solution. As long as
Timor-Leste has a military, structural and institutional weaknesses
within that force must be addressed. The spirit of national unity
and public service, which provided the foundation for the
independence movement, must be re-established among military and
civilian public officials. The government commission's investigation
of the fired soldiers’ grievances, as well as any evaluation of the
behavior of the police and military during recent months, must be
transparent with results made public in a timely manner.
After so many traumatic experiences since 1975, Timor-Leste’s
population is especially sensitive to rumors and displays of force,
a situation worsened by an absence of accurate information. The
telephone system must therefore be made reliable under peak loads,
and with wider coverage. Journalists and other media personnel, both
Timorese and international, need to better understand and avoid the
inflammatory effects of unverified reports. To help regain public
trust, the government should release the long-completed reports on
the December 4, 2002
unrest in Dili, when police killed several demonstrators.
The Timor-Leste government and the international community should
heed the Timorese people's cry for justice for crimes committed
during the quarter-century Indonesian occupation. The UN and key
governments, including the United States, must move beyond
platitudes and actively pursue real accountability. We cannot but
wonder if international and Timorese failures to ensure justice have
led some in Timor-Leste to believe that their own use of violence
would be met with similar impunity. As described in the
recent report of
Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR),
several countries - including the U.S., U.K., and Australia - bear a
special responsibility to ensure justice and accountability due to
their actions and inaction from 1975 on. Reparations, as called for
by the CAVR, would help alleviate the poverty and joblessness that
have fueled some of the unrest and help rebuild the country’s
infrastructure, which the Indonesian military so thoroughly
destroyed during the brutal occupation supported by these countries.
The international community has invested heavily in Timor-Leste
since 1999, but their job is not complete. Transforming a guerilla
resistance into an official military is always difficult, but the
roots of many of the current problems in Timor-Leste’s UN-designed
military grow out of the international community’s failure to help
Timor-Leste define and implement a clear mandate for and effective
training of the defense force.
We urge the international community and the UN, especially the
Security Council, to work with Timor-Leste to complete the
nation-building and development tasks to which it has already
committed. Security Council members should favorably consider the
Timor-Leste
government's request for a special UN office until after next
year's presidential and parliamentary elections. These national
elections, the first in independent Timor-Leste, will help determine
if democracy has staying power in this new nation. In addition to
electoral assistance, the Secretary-General has proposed continued
human rights monitoring, military liaisons, police training
advisers, and other assistance to improve the competence of
government institutions. A formal mission will also increase the
East Timorese people's sense of security over the coming year,
whereas a premature end to the mission could escalate public fear.
International support and expertise are still needed but must be
geared toward empowering the Timorese people to take full charge of
their own destiny. It is not too late to keep Timor-Leste from
joining the ranks of post-conflict “failed states.” However, the
people of Timor-Leste will require further assistance to reach that
goal -- to secure the self-determination for which they struggled
many years and at such great human cost.
- 30 -
See also:
LH comments on
current panic and situation in Dili
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