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."