Dili urges end to UN tribunal calls

Dili urges end to UN tribunal calls

Agencies, Jakarta/Wellington

East Timor urged its friends on Monday not to push for a United
Nations tribunal for Indonesian forces accused of abuses during
its bloody 1999 vote for independence, saying such a court would
not help the fledgling state.

The move comes after an Indonesian appeals court overturned
the convictions of three top soldiers and a policeman found
guilty of crimes against humanity, meaning all of the security
forces implicated in the bloodshed have walked free.

Foreign Minister Ramos Horta said his tiny nation was heavily
dependent on political stability in neighboring Indonesia and a
UN court trying Indonesian soldiers could spark a backlash and
even be a setback for the war on terror.

"The government of East Timor does not contemplate lobbying
for an international tribunal to try the crimes of 1999 because
we know this would undermine the existing relations between the
two countries," Horta told Reuters by telephone from Dili.

"We know it could be manipulated by certain elements in
Indonesia itself and create a backlash against the United Nations
and the international community, even against the government of
the day in Indonesia," he said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch over the weekend issued a
statement calling on the United Nations to create a judicial
process for the abuses surrounding East Timor's independence.

"The support of the United States, Japan, Australia and the
European Union countries will be essential in this effort," it
said.

Indonesia is in the middle of a lengthy presidential election
with an ex-army general locked in a tight race with incumbent
Megawati Soekarnoputri. The world's most populous Muslim nation
is a U.S. ally in the war on terror.

Horta said Dili would prefer to see an international truth and
reconciliation commission rather than a court. Dili set up its
own commission in 2002.

"At least it would give some comfort to the victims that truth
is acknowledged by the international community," he said.

"We are certainly touched by the concern and the care of these
NGOs, members of the U.S. Congress and others that are demanding
justice through an international tribunal," he said.

"They must also understand the enormous difficulties and
predicament that Timor is in. That in this current climate of the
fight against international terrorism, and the need to avoid
further exacerbating the tensions that exist in Indonesia itself,
the Timorese side would prefer not to push for an international
tribunal."

"The East Timorese side is now just awaiting a reaction from
the UN Secretary General to look at alternative means short of an
international tribunal to address the issue of justice," Horta
said.

Meanwhile, New Zealand called on Monday for an international
court to deal with human rights abuses by Indonesians during East
Timor's struggle for independence from its former occupier.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said the international community
and the United Nations must establish a tribunal "to see justice
done" for East Timor.

"What's appalling" after the deaths and the destruction in
East Timor which "the whole world witnessed ... (is that) the
Indonesian court system has found absolutely no one responsible.
That clearly isn't good enough," Goff told National Radio.

"Right now, of the 18 original defendants standing trial for
these crimes, only two have been sentenced - and both happen to
be ethnic Timorese," he said. "People haven't been held to
account."