Dili tense as deadline for 'extermination' passes
JAKARTA (Agencies): East Timor's capital of Dili was tense but quiet on Saturday despite a threat by a pro-Jakarta group to begin cleansing the city of independence supporters.
"I went to bed around 4 a.m. and I did not hear of any violence in Dili so far," said a spokeswoman for the proindependence National Council for the Timorese Resistance, Reuters reported.
Amnesty International said on Thursday that a group calling itself Red Blood Commando had circulated a document in Dili in which it vowed to attack independence supporters beginning on midnight on Friday.
"After the passing of the deadline, we will conclude that everyone left in Dili, be they man or woman, old or young, child or adult, is an anti-integrationist who should and must be exterminated and wiped out," the document said.
A ballot on the government's autonomy offer for East Timor is due to be held in August, but some observers fear the pro-Jakarta militia, with military backing, is attempting to derail the vote through violence and intimidation.
On Friday, 11 bodies, which police said were possibly of prointegration militia members, were found in an irrigation ditch in Ermera regency, southwest of Dili.
AFP reported police on Saturday questioned six people regarding the mass grave in Bauhati hamlet, Hatolia subdistrict.
Violence in East Timor has escalated since January, when Jakarta said it would grant the former Portuguese colony independence if the Timorese rejected its offer of autonomy.
Meanwhile, the management and staff of Suara Timor Timur (STT) daily are preparing to publish again on Monday after their office was attacked by prointegration groups on April 17. An iron gate will be installed in front of the office's entrance and police will guard the office for at least three months, a reporter told The Jakarta Post.
A day before the attack, the paper printed a statement from Dili-based prointegration leader Eurico Guterres guaranteeing the safety of all reporters, both foreign and local.
Reporters were attacked in Liquica regency a day before the alleged murder of at least 25 people on April 6. Reporters also have been threatened while attempting to reach areas of reported unrest. Reporters from STT said intelligence officers had attempted to contact them over the past few days.
Pro-Indonesian militia in the Bobonaro district on Friday assaulted and threatened to kill an East Timorese working as an interpreter for an Australian journalist, Brian Woodley of The Australian daily told AFP on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, Reuters reported that the European Union in a statement said it was "deeply concerned" by reports that prointegration militia had physically threatened activists campaigning for independence.
The EU called on the Indonesian government to ensure its military met its obligation to keep the peace in the territory.
As part of the peace effort in East Timor, Antara reported that the new Commission for Stability and Peace held talks which were attended by Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, one of the commission's members. The commission was launched by the National Commission on Human Rights.