E. Timor may push for UN panel to try Indonesian officers
E. Timor may push for UN panel to try Indonesian officers
Agencies, Dili
East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao on Friday said the government may consider pushing the United Nations to convene a special war crimes tribunal to try Indonesian officers allegedly responsible for the destruction of the territory in 1999.
Gusmao's comments came after he met with Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He also said he told Robinson that the need for an international tribunal is being assessed.
This marked the first time that the leadership of the new nation has hinted it may support a war crimes tribunal akin to those for Rwanda and ex-Yugoslavia.
In the past, Dili has always said it trusted Indonesian courts to deliver justice to those accused of inciting the violence that led to hundreds of deaths and the destruction of much of East Timor after its people voted for independence in a UN-organized referendum.
Last week, two Indonesian courts acquitted a general and five other senior officers standing trial on charges of having allowed their subordinates to take part in massacres in the former Indonesian province in 1999.
The verdicts outraged human rights groups, who have long feared that most of those who unleashed the bloody mayhem across the half-island state would go unpunished, despite Indonesia's promises to the international community that justice would be done.
Foreign governments - including the U.S. - accused Indonesia of failing to aggressively prosecute the cases.
Robinson on Friday condemned Indonesia's trials over atrocities in East Timor in 1999 and said she would take her concerns to the United Nations Security Council.
On her second trip to East Timor since the territory voted to break from Jakarta's harsh rule in a UN-sponsored referendum in August 1999, Robinson said the acquittal of several police and army officers last week was a black eye for Indonesia.
She also expressed concern about reports that Timorese witnesses who came to Jakarta to give evidence were intimidated.
East Timor's move to overwhelmingly split from Indonesia unleashed a wave of killing and looting by pro-Jakarta militias who were backed by parts of Indonesia's security forces.
"The results were not satisfying...in terms of international human rights standards," Robinson said on arrival at Dili airport.
"This will attract world attention and we will take this to an international forum and the United Nations Security Council," Robinson told reporters without elaborating.
Some activists have said Jakarta could face an international tribunal along the lines of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia if it failed to account for the violence. Diplomats have played down that prospect, saying such a move would get little support from permanent UN Security Council members China and Russia.
Around 100 Timorese rights activists protesting against the Jakarta court rulings rallied on the road from the airport as Robinson arrived. She is visiting East Timor for two days as part of a final trip to Asia before leaving office next month. East Timor became formally independent last May.
Speaking at a media briefing, Robinson said the UN was concerned over reports Timorese witnesses were intimidated.
"I've heard reports of intimidation of East Timorese witnesses who have taken the brave step of giving evidence before the ad hoc tribunal in Jakarta," she said.
"Let me say that it is absolutely essential that witnesses are able to provide evidence to the tribunal without fear, and the United Nations will consider any harm or intimidation of witnesses in these trials as an extremely serious matter."