Annan issues delayed report on E. Timor tribunal<\/p>\n
Reuters, United Nations\/Vientiane<\/p>\n
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan went around the
\nSecurity Council on Wednesday and formally issued a UN expert
\npanel's report recommending an international tribunal to try
\nIndonesian and local militia leaders blamed for a deadly 1999
\nrampage in East Timor.<\/p>\n
The experts had submitted their findings on May 26 to Annan,
\nwho gave their report to the 15-nation council in June.<\/p>\n
Normally such a document would be officially published at that
\ntime.<\/p>\n
But Indonesia has brushed off a call in a United Nations
\nreport for an international tribunal to try Indonesian and
\nmilitia leaders blamed for a bloody 1999 rampage in East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"We continue to oppose an international tribunal, which we
\nfind totally unnecessary,\" Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty
\nNatalegawa said on Thursday in Vientiane, a day after a report
\nissued by Annan recommended one.<\/p>\n
The UN and the international community should support joint
\nIndonesian and East Timor investigations, Marty told reporters in
\nLaos on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific security conference.<\/p>\n
The council decided instead to delay its release indefinitely,
\nand council diplomats gave murky explanations when pressed to say
\nwho had made the decision and whether the report would ever be
\npublished.<\/p>\n
They said council members feared offending a new Indonesian
\ngovernment at a time its ties with East Timor were improving.<\/p>\n
That prompted 12 human rights groups to write Annan asking him
\nto ensure the report was published \"as soon as possible\" and its
\nfindings discussed by the council.<\/p>\n
Although he said earlier it was not his decision to make,
\nAnnan within days informed the council he intended to issue the
\nreport \"as a document of the Security Council,\" which happened on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
About 1,500 civilians were killed, 250,000 left homeless and
\nothers raped and tortured when the Indonesian army and proxy
\ngangs and militia razed much of East Timor in 1999.<\/p>\n
The rampage occurred after mainly Roman Catholic East Timor
\nvoted in a referendum to break free from mostly Muslim Indonesia
\nafter 24 years of tight rule.<\/p>\n
East Timor finally won independence in May 2002 after 2 1\/2
\nyears of UN administration, putting behind it centuries of
\nPortuguese colonial rule and Indonesian occupation.<\/p>\n
Under international pressure, Indonesia set up a special court
\nto hear cases of crimes against humanity stemming from the 1999
\nrampage. But no high-level officials were indicted and only one
\nof the 18 people brought to trial was convicted.<\/p>\n
Annan in February named the panel of three outside experts to
\ndetermine whether justice had been done, despite pleas from
\nIndonesia and East Timor to leave the matter to them.<\/p>\n
In their 149-page report, the experts faulted the earlier
\nspecial court as deficient and said the Indonesian officials and
\ngang leaders should be tried by an international tribunal if
\nJakarta did not agree to prosecute them within six months under
\ninternational supervision.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/annan-issues-delayed-report-on-e-timor-tribunal-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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