U.S. congressmen warn Indonesia on poor East Timor security<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A failure by the Indonesian government to
\nmaintain security in East Timor prior to and during the Aug. 30
\ndirect ballot could damage its ties with the United States, U.S.
\ncongressmen said on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"This is a test case for the Indonesian authorities,
\nparticularly the military, whether or not they can conduct a safe
\nand fair election,\" Democratic Senator Jack Reed said on arriving
\nin the East Timor capital of Dili with two other U.S. senators.<\/p>\n
\"It is a test of whether we will continue to support their
\nefforts, both in terms of financial support to Indonesia and also
\nin increasing ties to their military,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Fellow Democrat Tom Harkin said: \"The eyes of Congress are
\nreally watching what happens here in terms of what our
\nrelationship with Indonesia is going to be in the future.\"<\/p>\n
Reed, Harkin and Jack McGovern, another Democrat, arrived
\naboard a U.S. Air Force jet for a visit which will last until
\nSaturday, AFP reported.<\/p>\n
Their visit coincided with the 24th anniversary of the
\nfounding of the armed East Timorese separatist group Falintil.<\/p>\n
The congressmen were due to meet leaders of pro and anti-
\nindependence groups, the church, the military and the police, as
\nwell as the head of the United Nations Mission in East Timor
\n(UNAMET).<\/p>\n
More than 450,000 East Timorese in and outside the former
\nPortuguese colony will go to the polls on Aug. 30 to decide
\nwhether to accept the government's offer of wide-ranging autonomy
\nor independence.<\/p>\n
UNAMET chief Ian Martin said on Thursday the UN still had
\n\"very serious security concerns\", particularly in the western
\ntowns of Maliana, Suai and Viqueque, where violence and
\nintimidation blamed on prointegration militias remained unabated.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian police are responsible for security in East
\nTimor, according to the agreement signed by Indonesia, Portugal
\nand UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York in May.<\/p>\n
In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
\nrenewed his warning that the postballot period would be \"a very
\nsensitive time\" in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Asian Research Center at Murdoch University in
\nPerth on Thursday, Downer said Australia hoped Indonesia would
\nagree with a proposal to deploy reinforcement UN civil police
\npersonnel and military liaison officers in East Timor after the
\nballot.<\/p>\n
Downer said that in such a crucial period a peacekeeping force
\nmight be needed and Australia would be ready to join it, Antara
\nreported.<\/p>\n
President B.J. Habibie has in principal approved the UN
\nproposal to increase the number of UN military liaison officers
\nand civilian police officers to about 710 personnel.<\/p>\n
The personnel will augment 460 officers from the National
\nPolice's Mobile Brigade, plus 3,900 local police.<\/p>\n
The reinforcement force is aimed at ensuring peace and
\nsecurity in the territory during the period between the ballot
\nand the November General Session of the People's Consultative
\nAssembly which will confirm the vote results.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, East Timorese leaders have agreed to establish a
\n25-person commission to foster reconciliation and cooperation in
\nthe territory until the results of the ballot are implemented.<\/p>\n
The UN said in a release the commission members would be
\nnominated by the pro and anti-independence sides and appointed by
\nUN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The members will be installed on
\nAug. 31.<\/p>\n
Separately, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged
\nIndonesia on Thursday to free East Timor independence leader Jose
\nAlexandre \"Xanana\" Gusmao and withdraw its troops from the
\nterritory ahead of the direct ballot.<\/p>\n
\"I call for the immediate release of Xanana Gusmao, currently
\nunder house arrest in Jakarta; the withdrawal of the Indonesian
\nmilitary from East Timor; their replacement by a UN peacekeeping
\nforce and an end to terror and violence in the region,\" Reuters
\nquoted Tutu as saying in a statement released by his office at
\nEmory University in Atlanta where he teaches theology.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has said it will release Gusmao, who has been in
\njail since 1992 for leading a rebel movement, only after the Aug.
\n30 vote.<\/p>\n
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former head of the
\nAnglican Church in South Africa, also called for an end to
\nviolence by progovernment militias ahead of the ballot.<\/p>\n
\"The whole process is being subverted by violence and
\nintimidation perpetrated by groups linked to the Indonesian
\nmilitary,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Tutu said Indonesia's recent embrace of democracy \"had a
\npositive spin-off for East Timor, which has suffered so
\ngrievously under Indonesian repression\".<\/p>",
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