Timor Leste truth commission set to start work on Aug. 1

Timor Leste truth commission set to start work on Aug. 1

Reuters / Jakarta

A joint truth commission set up by Indonesia and East Timor will
start work on Aug. 1, hoping to put behind the Asian neighbours a
1999 rampage in which pro-Jakarta militias slaughtered about
1,000 East Timorese.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told reporters after a
ministerial meeting on Tuesday that Jakarta's contribution to the
team would be finalized this week.

"On Aug. 1 it will start working," he said.
Wirajuda reiterated earlier rejections of a recommendation for an
international tribunal by a United Nations team of experts that
recently visited Indonesia and East Timor.

The team said in a report to the UN secretary general that the
tribunal was needed to try Indonesian and local militia leaders
blamed for the bloody rampage.

An Indonesian special human rights court set up under
international pressure had convicted six of 18 Indonesian
military and police officers and others charged in connection
with the violence, but five convictions were later overturned and
an appeal of the sixth is pending.

Indonesia and its tiny neighbor, a former Portuguese colony
Indonesia occupied for over a quarter-century beginning in the
mid-1970s, announced plans in December for the commission in an
effort to head off the UN initiative.

East Timor has strenuously opposed an international tribunal,
saying that could damage relations with its large neighbor. The
joint truth commission will have no power to punish those found
responsible for abuses.

It consists of five delegates from each country.

The 1999 rampage was triggered by a referendum in which East
Timor voted for independence from Indonesia after 24 years of
often brutal military rule.

East Timor finally became independent in May 2002 after two-
and-a-half years of UN administration.