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.