Indonesia to reject UN probe over 1999 East Timor violence

Indonesia to reject UN probe over 1999 East Timor violence

Associated Press,
Jakarta

Indonesia said Friday it rejects U.N. plans for a commission that
would study Jakarta's efforts to punish those responsible for
human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999 -- and could recommend
that an international tribunal is needed instead.

The United Nations has yet to formally announce the
commission.

But a joint statement from the governments of Indonesia and
East Timor said "it has been learned that the U.N. Secretary-
General will announce in due course the establishment of a U.N.
Commission of Experts".

The body would have the power to recommend that an
international tribunal be formed to try Indonesian military
officers accused in the violence. Human rights groups have said
Jakarta's efforts so far to prosecute those responsible have been
a sham.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa
declined to say whether Jakarta planned to cooperate with the
commission. Without access to judges and court documents in
Jakarta, the body would unlikely be able to produce a meaningful
report.

Earlier this week, East Timor and Indonesia's foreign
ministers announced the formation of their own joint Commission
on Truth and Friendship to investigate the 1999 violence.

Both governments have said that body should be regarded as an
"alternative" to the planned U.N. Commission of Experts.

Natalegawa said with there was no need for more than one more
mechanism to deal with the violence, and that the COE was
"redundant".

"It has long been our position to reject the COE and any
requirements that might arise from it," he said. "There is no
need for a parallel body to the truth and friendship commission."

East Timor has not backed calls by rights groups to establish
an international tribunal. It has said that maintaining good tie
with its giant neighbor and former occupying power is more
important than pushing for justice.