Int'l tribunal for E. Timor 'bloodbath' possible

Int'l tribunal for E. Timor 'bloodbath' possible

WASHINGTON (AFP): An international tribunal to bring perpetrators of last year's "bloodbath" in East Timor should be convened if Indonesia's efforts to conduct an inquiry are not deemed acceptable, United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Friday.

"The bottom line is that those responsible for orchestrating this bloodbath must be brought to justice," Albright said.

"If the Indonesian judicial system is capable of delivering credible justice, so much the better. (But) if that is not ultimately the case, the international community can and should exert its prerogative to see that the perpetrators are brought to justice," she said.

Though holding out the international option, Albright, speaking to a conference on war crimes here, praised Indonesia's efforts thus far to investigate the violence that swept the territory ahead of and after the territory's August vote for independence from Jakarta.

She noted the creation this week of a 64-member panel to probe the incidents and its prompt summoning of top generals in the Army who are suspected of ordering or being complicit in the violence.

The team -- which answers directly to Attorney General Marzuki Darusman -- is investigating five incidents in East Timor.

"The prospects are promising for a credible and effective domestic accountability process that hard-liners cannot dismiss as a Western-imposed, politically motivated version of victors' justice," Albright said, encouraging Indonesian authorities to be thorough in their work.

If they are, she added, "Indonesia's judicial capacity and credibility will be enhanced."