Two big burial sites found in East Timor<\/p>\n
MAUBARA, East Timor (Agencies): Peacekeepers in East Timor
\nfound 26 bodies at two separate burial sites on Monday they fear
\nmight contain more than 100 victims massacred by anti-
\nindependence militiamen and Indonesian troops.<\/p>\n
Australian navy divers recovered the body parts of a dozen
\nvictims that had been dumped in a lake at Maubara, some 11
\nkilometers west of the coastal town of Liquica. More were feared
\nto be beneath the water.<\/p>\n
They are believed to be the victims of a bloody April 6 attack
\non a group of parishioners at Liquica's main Roman Catholic
\nchurch. Yayasan Hak, a Timorese human rights group, claimed a
\ntotal of 67 people were shot or hacked to death by soldiers and
\nthugs belonging to a local militia gang.<\/p>\n
"We have been asked to search the lake to see if we can find
\nanything else to connect the atrocity to the (Indonesian army) or
\nthe militia in the area at the time," said Lt. Com. Jonathan
\nPeacock, who commanded the naval detachment.<\/p>\n
The divers, who started pulling bones and other body pieces
\nfrom the small lake Monday, said they were guided to the location
\nby a villager who claimed he had driven a truckload of corpses to
\nthe site after the massacre.<\/p>\n
"He said he wasn't a willing participant and he was held at
\ngunpoint to make sure he drove the truck and completed the task,"
\nPeacock said.<\/p>\n
The divers will continue to search to bottom of the lake,
\nwhich is 12 meters deep.<\/p>\n
Bones were scattered around the shoreline which has receded
\nabout 200 meters since last April. Clothing was hanging in
\nbranches that were submerged before the water level dropped.<\/p>\n
Separately, peacekeepers found a mass grave with up to 52
\nbodies in the enclave of Oecussi, said Capt. Andrew Plunkett, an
\nintelligence officer in the region.<\/p>\n
If the body counts from both sites are confirmed, they would
\nbe the largest found in East Timor since Indonesian troops and
\nthe militias went on a rampage of violence following an Aug. 30
\nindependence referendum. Four-fifths of the territory's people
\nvoted to break away from Indonesia in the UN-supervised ballot.<\/p>\n
Plunkett told visiting Australian Defense Minister John Moore
\nthat 14 bodies had been exhumed from a field near Oecussi's
\nborder with Indonesian-held West Timor.<\/p>\n
International troops believe about 170 people were killed in
\nand around Oecussi, a district that is part of East Timor, but is
\nseparated and surrounded by West Timor. It was the last part to
\nbe secured by the peacekeepers, who landed in East Timor on Sept.
\n20.<\/p>\n
The United Nations, which is administering East Timor during
\nits current transition to independence, is now investigating
\nallegations that the Indonesian military organized the violence.<\/p>\n
The UN Security Council is considering whether to establish a
\nwar crimes tribunal to try those responsible.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's new reformist government has separately set up its
\nown human rights inquiry, which has already blamed top generals
\nfor the bloodshed. The military has denied that it took part in
\norganized killings.<\/p>\n
Before Monday's grisly discovery, about 200 bodies had been
\nrecovered from various sites.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio said in Bangkok
\non Monday that Portugal wants to mend fences with Asian nations,
\nparticularly Indonesia, after handing back its last colony in the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
Sampaio arrived in Bangkok from Macau early Monday morning
\nafter overseeing its return to China after more than four
\ncenturies of colonial rule.<\/p>\n
Sampaio met with Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai. He was due
\nto travel on to the former Portuguese territory, East Timor which
\nendured a much more bloody emergence from colonialism, on Tuesday
\nnight.<\/p>\n
Sampaio will be the first Portuguese head of state to visit
\nEast Timor since Portugal abruptly left it, paving the way for
\nthe Indonesian invasion in 1975.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/two-big-burial-sites-found-in-east-timor-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}