Habibie hopes Japan will join UN police in E. Timor
Habibie hopes Japan will join UN police in E. Timor
JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie voiced hope on Sunday
that Japan would be part of a United Nations civilian police
force to be deployed to assist local police during polls to
determine the future of East Timor.
The hope was expressed to a four-member Japanese parliamentary
delegation headed by Taku Yamasaki who paid Habibie a courtesy
visit at his residence, Antara said.
Secretary of the President-appointed Council for Enforcement
of Security and Law (DPKSH), Jimly Asshidiqie, said after the
meeting that the Japanese MPs had said Tokyo would be honored to
help a friendly country.
Habibie last Tuesday announced Aug. 8 as the date for a UN-
sponsored polling of the some 800,000 people in East Timor to
determine whether they would accept a broad autonomy offer or
choose independence.
The autonomy package, to be signed at the United Nations on
Wednesday, also provides for a UN civilian police force to be
deployed in the former Portuguese colony during the direct
ballot.
Habibie has said Indonesia is seeking the involvement of
Australia, Japan, Germany, Britain, the Philippines and the
United States in the UN force.
So far, only Australia and Britain have officially confirmed
their willingness to join the force.
Meanwhile in East Timor, 11 bodies found on Friday in a mass
grave at Bauhati in Ermera regency were reburied in an emotional
ceremony in the regency capital of Gleno on Sunday.
The ceremony was marred by arguments sparked by families of
some of the fatalities who demanded the corpses be paraded in the
East Timor capital of Dili, 80 kilometers east of Ermera, before
the funeral.
"They want to show the bodies to Bishop (Carlos Felipe
Ximenes) Belo," Regent Constantino Soares told The Jakarta Post.
The tension subsided only after Constantino intervened. He
told the families to bury the bodies as soon as possible for
health reasons.
"The decomposed bodies have been put in coffins and must be
buried immediately, otherwise they will cause sanitary problems,"
Constantino said.
Ermera Police chief Lt. Col. Erry Gultom attended the funeral,
which was presided over by a local Catholic priest.
The bodies are believed to be those of men abducted by 15
proindependence supporters in the district on Feb. 28. One
appeared to have been shot and the others stabbed.
Erry said the police had arrested six suspects as of Sunday.
Meanwhile, the presence of armed prointegration militiamen in
the streets and threats aimed at independence activists kept
fears of violence alive in Dili on Sunday.
"People are still cautious as the weekend is not yet over,"
said Aniceto Guterres, chairman of the Foundation for Human
Rights and Justice, was quoted by AFP as saying.
Saturday was rumored to be when the militia would start
ridding Dili of proindependence supporters, but the day passed
without incident, he said.
Copies have been circulating of a purported written
instruction by the commander of the Darah Merah (Red Blood)
militia. It warns pro-Indonesia people to keep out of the city so
that "cleansing" of proindependence supporters could start on
Saturday.
In some parts of the city groups of armed militia could be
seen on Sunday, mostly in recently set up posts, AFP reported.
(byg)