Government to cooperate with UN probe team
Government to cooperate with UN probe team
Agencies, Jakarta
The Indonesian government will cooperate with a fact-finding team tasked by the United Nations to investigate Jakarta's failure to punish military officers over the 1999 violence in East Timor, officials said on Wednesday.
Indonesia initially said it would deny the team visas because it had already launched a joint probe with East Timor into the violence by vengeful troops and their militia proxies when the former province separated from Indonesian rule in a United Nations-sponsored ballot.
But the government has since embraced the commission, which was scheduled to meet with Indonesia's foreign minister, justice minister, Supreme Court judges and the National Commission on Human Rights before leaving May 20.
The UN team consists of five international legal experts, some of whom have already arrived in Jakarta, UN officials said on Wednesday.
"We've invited them to Indonesia because we understand how difficult their job is to review the human rights cases in East Timor and Indonesia related to the 1999 (violence)," Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda.
"Without visiting Indonesia, their report will not be credible," he was quoted by AP as saying.
Hassan, quoted by Reuters, said Indonesian officials would start meeting the UN experts on Thursday. Officials had said they would begin the review on Wednesday, but not all the experts have arrived.
The UN team includes an Indian judge, a Japanese law professor and a Fijian lawyer.
The rampage by the Indonesian military in East Timor left almost 2,000 people dead and destroyed much of the province that had previously been part of Indonesia for 24 years. The bloodshed only ended with the arrival of peacekeeping troops.
In response to international pressure, Indonesian courts charged 18 people, most of them police and military officers, with human rights crimes. Twelve were acquitted, and five others had their sentences overturned on appeal.
An appeal in the final case -- a pro-Jakarta militia leader -- is still pending.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed the commission of experts to review Jakarta's prosecutions and explain why a 1999 Security Council resolution to try those responsible for the bloodshed failed.
A UN official who declined to be identified has said Annan, during a trip to Jakarta last month, raised with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the Indonesian government's refusal to allow the team members to visit.
Indonesia has attempted to head off the UN probe by forming a "Commission of Truth and Friendship" with East Timor. The body consists of lawyers and human rights figures from both nations, but will not recommend legal action against those responsible.
Hassan said he hopeful the two commissions could work together and share information related to rights cases.
The United States said this month that Indonesia would not enjoy full military ties with Washington until it accounted for the violence in East Timor, saying this included cooperating with the UN team of legal experts.
Washington severed military ties after the sacking of East Timor in 1999, and has only begun to revive such cooperation.
Human rights groups want the United Nations to oversee an international tribunal for East Timor like those in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
The issue is complicated because East Timor's government says it is no longer interested in pursuing war crimes cases, saying it is more interested in improving ties with its giant neighbor.