183,000 killed in Timor Leste under RI rule: Report<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Lisbon<\/p>\n
At least 183,000 people were killed in East Timor (now Timor
\nLeste) during its 24 years of occupation by Indonesia, a
\ngovernment probe into past human rights violations has concluded,
\na media report said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Seventy percent of the deaths were at the hands of Indonesian
\nsecurity forces or East Timorese militias trained by Jakarta, the
\nreport by the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation
\n(CAVR) found, said the results of the probe according to a copy
\nobtained by Lusa news agency.<\/p>\n
The more than 2,000-page report was delivered on Oct. 31 to
\nTimor Leste's President Xanana Gusmao, who suggested to
\nlegislators last month that its findings and recommendations
\nshould not be made public.<\/p>\n
The commission was set up in the former Portuguese colony in
\n2002 as an independent authority tasked with investigating human
\nrights violations from all sides during Indonesia's occupation of
\nits smaller neighbor.<\/p>\n
Its findings, the product of research by dozens of East
\nTimorese and international experts, offer the first official
\nestimate of the number of deaths in the territory during the
\nperiod of rule by Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Estimates by human rights groups had put the figure at around
\n200,000.<\/p>\n
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 but the country's people
\nvoted in favor of breaking away in a UN-sponsored ballot in
\nAugust 1999, and it gained full independence in May 2002 after
\nmore than two years of UN stewardship.<\/p>\n
Militia gangs, which had military officers support, went on an
\narson and killing spree before and after the East Timorese
\nreferendum, killing about 1,400 independence supporters.<\/p>\n
The commission identifies by name the victims of the human
\nrights abuses as well as those who carried them out, Lusa
\nreported.<\/p>\n
Among the abuses described by the report include collective
\nexecutions, torture, and the forced removal of people from their
\nhomes, it said.<\/p>\n
The United States knew well in advance of, and explicitly
\napproved, Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975, according
\nto documents which were declassified in Washington earlier this
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Multiple U.S. administrations tried to conceal information on
\natrocities carried out in Timor Leste to avoid a possible
\nCongressional ban on weapons sales to Indonesia, the formerly
\nsecret U.S. documents show.<\/p>\n
Opposition politicians and rights activists have decried
\nGusmao's decision to keep the commission's findings from the
\npublic, charging he concerned only with Timor Leste's relations
\nwith its powerful neighbor.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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