New E. Timor violations unveiled

JAKARTA (JP): A researcher said on Thursday that more than 1,000 East Timorese women had been raped or sexually assaulted since the process of integrating the region into Indonesia began 22 years ago.

Aida Milasari from the Yogyakarta-based Tjoet Nyak Dhien Foundation also alleged that Armed Forces (ABRI) personnel were responsible for the violations.

In her study entitled Violence against women in East Timor, Aida found that many women had been sexually abused and that many more had been left widowed by widespread arbitrarily killings in the province.

Aida was quoted in a statement issued by Solidamor, a solidarity movement for peace in East Timor, as saying that violence against women in East Timor was a logical consequence of ABRI's presence there.

Aida presented the results of her study during a discussion held in Jakarta on Thursday. The event was attended by 100 East Timorese activists.

"Violence against women has received less attention than the issues of a referendum and independence for East Timor," Aida was quoted as saying in the statement.

Human rights activists have also said that hundreds of women were raped in Aceh during the military operation there. The operation was brought to an end in August.

Former East Timor governor Mario Viegas Carrascalao praised Aida's study and said the real situation was even worse. He cited what he called "the Cararas tragedy", where so many of the men in one particular village were slain that the settlement became known as "the village of widows."

He said he was sure the atrocities were not committed at the orders of military commanders, but by renegade individual servicemen. "Indonesian people have a duty to end the tragedy in East Timor," Mario added. (prb)