RI, E. Timor joint to probe violations

RI, E. Timor joint to probe violations

Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press/United Nations

Indonesia and East Timor informed Secretary-General Kofi Annan that they have established a joint Commission on Truth and Friendship to deal with human rights violations during 1999 violence in East Timor that killed 1,500 people.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda and East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta discussed the commission privately with Annan and then announced its creation on Tuesday, calling for international assistance to get it up and running.

"This is an initiative that we believe is highly positive and will shed truth on the events of the past," Horta said, calling it an "unprecedented initiative" for the two countries.

The announcement came a month after the UN Security Council expressed concern at Indonesia's failure to punish those responsible for the violence that followed East Timor's vote for independence.

Immediately after the results were announced, the Indonesian military and its proxy militias unleashed a wave of violence that displaced 300,000 people. After an Australian-led force helped end the fighting, the UN administered the territory for 2 1/2 years before handing it to the Timorese on May 20, 2002.

Last month, U.S. Ambassador John Danforth urged Annan to send experts to East Timor and Indonesia to figure out how to ensure some level of accountability for the atrocities "to create a climate conducive to the development of democratic institutions in both Indonesia and East Timor."

He cited East Timor's limited jurisdiction and the Indonesian tribunal's failure to punish perpetrators of the violence. The Indonesian court charged 18 people -- most from its police and military -- with human rights crimes but 12 were acquitted and four had their sentences overturned on appeal. Two other appeals were pending.

Hassan said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao agreed to create the joint commission at a Dec. 14 meeting on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali.

"The details and terms of reference of this commission will be worked out by the two foreign ministers," he said.

Horta said the secretary-general told them he would study the initiative. "He seemed to be very positive about it, coming from two parties," he said.

Hassan told reporters the commission is meant as an alternative to the establishment of a commission of experts, which Annan was considering. But Horta said if Annan decides to go ahead with the commission of experts, both countries would study the terms of reference.

Horta noted that many countries have created Truth and Reconciliation Commissions including South Africa, El Salvador, East Timor over three years ago, and recently Indonesia.

"But never before has there been a joint one where leaders of the two countries decide to create a joint commission to look at their shared past, shared history," he said.

Horta express hope that the commission would "finally close the chapter" surrounding East Timor's independence.

"We would hope and intend that this initiative would resolve once and for all the pending issues, one being the violent events of 1999," he said.