Seven East Timorese students injured in Maliana clash

Seven East Timorese students injured in Maliana clash

By Ridwan Max Sijabat and Lorenco Vicente Martins

DILI, East Timor (JP): At least seven students were injured
and two houses burned down on Wednesday in a clash between groups
for and against independence in Maliana, Bobonaro, some 150
kilometers south of here.

Ernesto Ate, 24, had his arm severed in the violence, and
Mario dos Reis, 21, and Jose Candido Marques, 22, suffered
serious injuries to their legs from arrows shot at them. Simon
Lopez, 20, Filomeno Govia, 21, and Edi Leonito, 24, had slightly
injured backs from stone-throwing that occurred.

The victims were now receiving treatment at Maliana General
Hospital.

Antonio Cordoso, who witnessed the clash, told The Jakarta
Post by phone that the incident occurred when some 150 members of
the pro-Indonesia militia joined a ballot campaign in Maliana and
attacked the offices of proindependence groups of Home Affairs
Front (FPI), Council for Solidarity of East Timorese Students and
Youths (DSMPTT) and the Center for Information and Broadcasting
(PPI).

"Some of the assailants pelted stones at the offices, while
others brandished knives, sticks and arrows and entered the
buildings, attacking students and youths inside," he said.

He said prointegration supporters burned down two houses
belonging to proindependence supporters an hour after the clash.

He also said some attackers were members of the prointegration
Dadarus Red and White Militia. He claimed a number of troops
stood by and did nothing to stop the violence.

A staff member at the Independent Ballot Monitoring Committee
(KIPER) called on police and authorities to investigate the
alleged attack as it was a violation of the code of conduct for
the campaigning of the self-determination vote scheduled for Aug.
30.

"According to the campaign schedule, the prointegration groups
should campaign on Wednesday in Kokolako, Bobonaro, Atabae and
Lolotoi, not in Maliana," said a staff member requesting
anonymity.

He alleged prointegration supporters prevented staff members
of the three organizations in the attacked buildings from
reporting the incident to the local police.

Let. Col. Burhanuddin Siagian, chief of Bobonaro Military
Subdistrict, denied the attack. Instead, he claimed it was the
proindependence militia who launched the attack first.

"The prointegration supporters countered the attack by pelting
stones at the buildings," he said, adding the clash stopped after
dozens of security personnel fired warning shots.

Separately, the prointegration force known as "Alive or Dead,
Integration" (Mahidi) handed over on Wednesday 54 guns, including
35 homemade ones, to the Ainaro Police before delegations of the
Peace and Stability Committee and the United Nations Mission in
East Timor (UNAMET).

Mahidi commander Canicio de Carvallo led the weapon
submission.

The White and Red Blood and Aitarak prointegration militias in
Ermera and Dili are scheduled to hand over their firearms to the
security authorities on Thursday (today).

Leaflets

Meanwhile, leaflets circulated in Dili lambasting Dili Bishop
Felipe Ximenes Belo for issuing a pastoral letter which asked the
East Timorese to cast votes according to their conscience in the
upcoming popular consultation.

Signed by the East Timorese Intellectual Forum, a name not
heard of before, the leaflets accused the Catholic Church in East
Timor of failing to act neutral over the upcoming balloting.

Belo, who is away for a visit in Baucau, could not be reached
for comment.

The leaflet also warned Indonesians of "Western occupation" of
the world, accusing unnamed developed countries of instigating
the uproar over human rights and environmental abuses to weaken
the third world, including Asian countries.

The group charged the upcoming vote would be manipulated by
the West and the United States through UNAMET to prepare
independence for the territory, where they would later set up
military bases.

"With independence, the East Timorese will lose their
existence," it said.

Separately, Reuters reported Amnesty International accused
Indonesia on Wednesday of failing to honor commitments to stamp
out violence by its supporters in the run-up to the vote on the
political future of East Timor.

"The consistent failure of the Indonesian authorities to
guarantee safety and security for all East Timorese ... poses a
dangerous precedent for the future of the troubled territory,"
the rights group was reported as saying in Lisbon.

In a special report ahead of the Aug. 30 ballot, Amnesty
International said serious violations, including killings and
intimidation, continued and were "undermining" the whole voting
process.

The people of East Timor will vote in a United Nations-
supervised ballot on whether to accept an offer of sweeping
autonomy or opt for full independence from Indonesia.