Closure of voter registration marred by more violence<\/p>\n
DILI, East Timor (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas
\nand several other ministers are scheduled to meet the United
\nNations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) on Saturday following the
\nend of voter registration for the direct ballot.<\/p>\n
Despite requests to extend the registration period,
\nregistration centers closed on Friday with 439,580 people
\nregistering, 427,190 of whom live in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Sporadic violence has colored the run-up to the ballot planned
\nfor Aug. 30, with the last incident revealed on Friday by UNAMET
\nspokesman Yasuhiro Ueki.<\/p>\n
He said a UNAMET official was slightly wounded by a chunk of
\nconcrete when some 20 prointegration militias attacked a house in
\nAinaro regency on Thursday morning, where 50 students had invited
\nthe official to explain the registration process to them.<\/p>\n
Also on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. a registration post at the state
\nBatugade high school was attacked by at least 50 militiamen. Two
\nother registration posts in the vicinity immediately closed.<\/p>\n
The assault in Batugade was triggered by a misunderstanding
\nfollowing the rejection of a number of people attempting to
\nregister for the ballot. The people apparently lacked documents.<\/p>\n
\"They still have one day,\" Ueki said.<\/p>\n
Ueki said the attackers in Ainaro were led by an elderly man.
\nPolice arrived five minutes later but were slow to act, he said.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, coordinator of the Committee of Peace and
\nStability, BN Marbun, who is also a member of the National
\nCommission on Human Rights, said the security situation ahead of
\nthe ballot was improving.<\/p>\n
He implied that UN officials in East Timor contributed to some
\nof the misunderstanding resulting in tension, saying \"they (some
\nofficials) think they are the only institution with the authority
\nto conduct the ballot.\"<\/p>\n
\"They think the situation in East Timor is like Cambodia when
\nthere was no ruling government,\" Marbun told a one-day discussion
\nduring which a book was launched on militias in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Amid continuing reports of sporadic violence, more
\ninternational security advisors may be deployed to the province,
\nAustralian media reported on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Sydney Morning Herald reported from New York that \"after
\nweeks of private talks, Australia has gained crucial support from
\nthe United States and other UN members for a confidential
\nproposal to send in an extra 200 to 300 police,\" and had \"also
\nwon full UN backing to boost the international military presence
\nfrom the present 50 advisers to between 250 and 350.\"<\/p>\n
Security concerns in East Timor led to the proposal.<\/p>\n
Reuters reported on Friday from the United Nations that
\nproindependence campaigner Jose Ramos-Horta was considering
\ntaking legal action against four generals who he accused of being
\nmost directly responsible for killings in East Timor and for
\narming militias. The news agency did not name the officers.<\/p>\n
He told the media that hard-liners in the Indonesian Army were
\ntrying to undermine a UN-sponsored vote on the future of the
\nterritory by recruiting criminals and drug dealers and
\n\"unleashing a vicious war\" against independence supporters.<\/p>\n
The 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate said the aim was to
\nsend a signal that some Indonesian officials might \"end up with
\nthe same fate as Augusto Pinochet\", the former Chilean dictator
\nnow under house arrest in Britain pending possible extradition to
\nSpain to stand trial on charges of human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
\"I have begun to assemble a very large group of attorneys ...
\nin Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States (and) Spain
\nto look into national legislation, national courts, where we
\nmight be able to have these people ... put on a wanted list of
\nInterpol,\" Ramos-Horta said.<\/p>\n
The involvement of the Indonesian Military in backing
\nprointegration militia in East Timor was reported in the book
\nlaunched on Friday by the Solidarity for Peace in East Timor
\norganization.<\/p>\n
The book, Pasukan Pembunuh Indonesia, Membunuh Tanpa Dihukum,
\nis a translation of Indonesia's Death Squads, Getting Away with
\nMurder originally published by the East Timor International
\nSupport Center in May 1999.<\/p>\n
The military has said it provided arms to civilians for self-
\nprotection against proindependence fighters in the past.<\/p>\n
Suara Bangsa afternoon daily on Tuesday quoted a
\nprointegration militia leader, Herminio Da Costa, as telling a
\nseminar in April that it had acquired 15,000 weapons from the
\nIndonesian Military while the proindependence militia, the
\nFalintil, only had 400 weapons.<\/p>\n
Antara reported on Friday that UN officials led by special
\nrepresentative for East Timor Jamsheed Marker would meet
\ngovernment authorities in Jakarta next week, including the police
\nand military, to discuss the ballot. (33\/05\/anr)<\/p>",
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