UN mission 'inappropriate'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government on Tuesday said the UN Security
\nCouncil's decision to dispatch a mission to Indonesia next week
\nfollowing the killing of three UN relief workers in Atambua, East
\nNusa Tenggara, was at this time \"inappropriate\".<\/p>\n
\"We are of the opinion that the presence of the UN mission
\nhere would be inappropriate because Indonesia is still trying to
\nearnestly resolve the problem,\" Coordinating Minister for
\nPolitical, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
\ntold journalists after a special Cabinet meeting to discuss the
\nmilitia and refugee problems in west Timor.<\/p>\n
It was the third such Cabinet meeting in five days.<\/p>\n
\"We think that the Indonesian government is currently trying
\nto respond to the UN Security Council resolution ... we believe
\nthat we should be given trust, sovereignty and a chance to do
\nwhat we have to do,\" Susilo said.<\/p>\n
He added that the government would like to see \"fair\"
\ntreatment and that the sovereignty of the nation \"should be
\nrespected\".<\/p>\n
\"We are going to take diplomatic steps ... through our
\npermanent representative to the UN, through our President, so
\nthat there will be good communication between the government and
\nthe UN,\" Susilo said.<\/p>\n
A mob attacked the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
\n(UNHCR) office in Atambua last week allegedly following news that
\nex-militia leader Olivio Moruk had been murdered the previous
\nnight by unknown assailants.<\/p>\n
Appalled by the brutal murder of three UN workers, the UN
\nSecurity Council adopted on Friday a resolution that unanimously
\ncalled on Jakarta to immediately disarm and disband the militias
\nin West Timor.<\/p>\n
Following the adoption of the resolution, the Council decided
\nto dispatch a mission to Indonesia, and possibly East Timor, to
\ndiscuss the implementation of the resolution.<\/p>\n
Diplomats in New York were reportedly saying that the UN
\nmission would convey a strong message to Jakarta to disarm and
\ndisband militias in the West Timor refugee camps and bring those
\nresponsible for the attacks to justice.<\/p>\n
The news that Jakarta was unwilling to accept the UN mission
\nwas first expressed earlier in the day by Defense Minister Mahfud
\nM.D.<\/p>\n
He told reporters that the government will refuse to meet the
\nUN mission when it arrives here next week.<\/p>\n
\"Today's Cabinet meeting has decided that the Indonesian
\ngovernment will not meet that mission because we already have our
\nown programs,\" Mahfud replied when questioned about the matter by
\nreporters immediately after the conclusion of the Cabinet meeting
\nchaired by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman Wahid did not attend the meeting.<\/p>\n
\"We will reject the presence of that mission. We will
\nnegotiate (with the UN) on our own, we will settle this on our
\nown (because) we are a sovereign nation,\" he added.<\/p>\n
But Mahfud said the government would meet with United States
\nDefense Secretary William Cohen, who is scheduled to visit
\nIndonesia by the end of the week, as his visit had been scheduled
\nlong before the violence in Atambua.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman later said the
\narrival of the UN mission was inevitable as the UN Security
\nCouncil resolution had requested UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
\nto report to the Council on the situation on the ground within a
\nweek of the resolution's adoption.<\/p>\n
\"Besides, I think the visit would be able to speed up efforts
\nto resolve the problems that have so far been a bit neglected,\"
\nMarzuki told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He added that Jakarta could also use the visit to reiterate
\nits demand that the international community be fully committed to
\nfinding a solution to the militia and refugee problems in West
\nTimor.<\/p>\n
Marzuki earlier said that a team of cabinet members would be
\ndispatched to West Timor in the next few days to boost \"the
\ncoordination\" among government agencies on the ground and to
\nmonitor the latest situation in the area.<\/p>\n
\"The makeup of the team will be decided by President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid during the next Cabinet meeting on Sept. 14,\"
\nMarzuki said.<\/p>\n
Separately, the head of the National Police information
\ndepartment Sr. Supt. Saleh Saaf on Tuesday said police had
\narrested six of the 10 suspects believed to be connected with the
\nmurder of ex-militia leader Olivio Moruk.<\/p>\n
\"Only one of the suspects is still at large, three others died
\nin a brawl during the abduction of Olivio,\" Saleh said.<\/p>\n
But Saleh reacted strongly when asked whether the suspects
\nwere ex-militia members or ordinary refugees in Atambua.<\/p>\n
\"There is no such thing as militia, they are all just refugees
\nfrom East Timor,\" Saleh insisted.<\/p>\n
Olivio is also one of the 19 suspects named by the Attorney
\nGeneral's Office for being involved in the violence in East Timor
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
Saleh added that police were still looking for five people who
\nhad been named suspects in the killing of the three UN
\nhumanitarian workers. (jaw\/byg)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/un-mission-inappropriate-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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