East Timor fact-finding team announces results

DILI, East Timor (JP): A joint fact-finding team under the East Timor provincial administration announced on Friday that nine people were killed, including five members of the Armed Forces, and six others injured in two incidents in Alas and Weberek last month.

The results confirmed the number of deaths in the Alas case and concluded there were less victims in the Weberek case than earlier reported.

The military announced on Nov. 21 that it had ended a massive operation to hunt down 50 separatist rebels who attacked a military outpost in Alas in the southern part of East Timor and killed three soldiers and kidnapped 13 others.

The military members killed in the Alas case, the team said, were Chief Sgt. Petrus Berek, Private Calistro Hornai and First Private Eubodio da Costa.

The team reported that two Armed Forces (ABRI) personnel were killed in Weberek near Dili. These were Second Sgt. Zainuddin and First Sgt. Abdul Latif while First Private Siswanto had recovered from a wound inflicted by a sharp weapon.

It was reported earlier that on Oct. 30 in Weberek, near Dili, three soldiers and a civilian were killed while a fourth soldier was missing. The military blamed pro-independence activists.

The fact-finding team is chaired by provincial chief prosecutor Pontas Pasaribu and has eight members including representatives of the administration, the National Commission on Human Rights, the provincial inspector and the local Red Cross.

Also on Friday around 1,000 protesters demanded independence here on Friday outside the legislature, ahead of a planned two- day visit by a special envoy from the United Nations. The UN diplomat, Jamsheed Marker, met in Bali with Udayana Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, who oversees East Timor, on Friday.

Marker was expected to fly to Dili on Saturday to meet authorities and public figures here.

The activists ignored an appeal from East Timor's Nobel laureate, Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo to keep off the streets but calls for peaceful dialogs were heard among demonstrators.

Also on Friday, Belo met with an envoy of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as Gus Dur, to discuss inter-religious relations in the country.

"We also discussed the Ciganjur meeting, Gus Dur's meetings with President B.J. Habibie and (ABRI chief) Gen. Wiranto, and the student demonstrations," NU's Mohammad Fajrul Falaakh was quoted by Antara as saying.

Falaakh said he had also conveyed a letter from Gus Dur to Belo. He said Gus Dur hopes that Belo and Baucau Bishop Basilio do Nascimento would continue to intensify communication among religious followers in the province to prevent riots stemming from religious differences. (33)