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.