Marzuki to meet UN officials about East Timor tribunal
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman will leave for New York on Saturday to meet with top United Nations officials to discuss the progress of an international inquiry on post-ballot violence in East Timor.
Marzuki is due to meet with United States Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke, who is currently president of the UN Security Council, and Costa Rican jurist Sonia Picado, who leads the international human rights inquiry.
"It is almost confirmed that I will meet with Mr. Holbrooke on Jan. 25 to discuss the development of the UN opinion on the report by the International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor," Marzuki told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.
He said he had personally requested the meeting with Holbrooke.
Marzuki said he was not scheduled to meet with UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan but added that he "will try to look into the possibility".
Marzuki will be the second top Indonesian official to go to the UN this week to discuss the issue of an international tribunal, following Indonesian foreign minister Alwi Shihab's departure to the United States on Monday.
The mayhem that arose following the Aug. 30 ballot in East Timor prompted an international outcry demanding an international tribunal to bring those responsible to justice.
International human rights groups have accused Indonesian Military officers of being accomplices to the violence.
Jakarta rejected the idea of an international commission and tribunal and set up its own inquiry.
Annan reportedly began last week to review the report by the international commission.
After a visit to East Timor in late November, the commission said there was evidence of human rights violations and a systematic campaign of destruction in the ravaged territory.
Final recommendations from the UN could include the establishment of an international tribunal to try those responsible in the East Timor violence.
Alwi said his mission to the UN was to dissuade the establishment of an international tribunal, since Indonesia was running its own inquiry.
Holbrooke said last week the UN would prefer the matter be resolved internally by Jakarta, provided there was no interference from the military.
The Indonesian government-sanctioned Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor has claimed in its interim report that the Indonesian Military was involved in the violence perpetrated by prointegration militias.
KPP HAM is scheduled to complete its investigation by the end of this month and will hand over the findings to the attorney general through the National Commission on Human Rights.
Marzuki said earlier that if KPP HAM found evidence of rights abuses, an ad hoc committee could be established to prosecute the perpetrators in a national human rights tribunal.
Marzuki also said on Tuesday that during his visit he would attend an international seminar on the truth and reconciliation commission in Washington. (byg)