UN body to set up inquiry on East Timor

UN body to set up inquiry on East Timor

GENEVA (Agencies): The United Nations' main human rights body on Monday voted for an international inquiry into atrocities in East Timor, despite opposition from Indonesia and its Asian allies.

An emergency session of the 53-member UN Human Rights Commission voted 32-12 with 6 abstentions in favor of the move, proposed by the European Union. Three countries were absent.

The EU had tried to overcome resistance from Indonesia and its Asian allies to such an inquiry into reported massacres and other abuses. But Asian countries including China and the Philippines, voted against. Japan and South Korea abstained.

"The resolution is not binding to Indonesia," but the country will pursue its own efforts to investigate rights abuses, Indonesian Ambassador Hassan Wirajuda told delegates after the vote.

The special meeting, only the fourth to be held, was adjourned after two days Friday to allow time for consultations on the wording of a proposal for an investigation. Another delay Monday failed to bring the sides closer together and produce a consensus.

"Extremely grave violations ... need to be addressed by the international community," said Finnish Ambassador Pekka Huhtaniemi, speaking on behalf of the EU and east European countries. "This is indispensable for the reconciliation and for the future of East Timor."

Wirajuda called on "friends of Indonesia" to reject the EU proposal. "The high-handed self-righteous approach ... could well provoke a strong nationalist backlash in Indonesia."

Meanwhile Amnesty International and other rights groups that are urging a rapid inquiry into the massacres in East Timor have nonetheless warned against any ties between a UN probe and one conducted by Jakarta.

The U.S-based watchdog group Human Rights Watch warned against working with the Indonesian human rights committee, Komnas-HAM, in the territory.

"Komnas-HAM has a well-deserved reputation for independence in Indonesia, but not in East Timor, where it is seen as having played a pro-Indonesia role, particularly in the months preceding the August 30 referendum," the group said in a statement.

In a related development, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright demanded on Sunday that the Indonesian army stop "colluding" with militias against East Timorese in West Timor refugee camps and warned that U.S. aid would remain suspended until the situation vastly improved.

"The government and armed forces of Indonesia should understand that what happens in West Timor and to East Timorese living elsewhere in Indonesia is as important to the United States policy as what happens in East Timor itself," she said after talks with East Timorese leader Jose Alexandre 'Xanana' Gusmao at the United Nations.

The U.S.-Indonesia relationship "cannot return to what has been a normal basis until these various issues are resolved," Albright added.

"What we do want to see is that the government in Jakarta get its act together in order to ... get the Indonesian military to control the militias and stop the militias from marauding," she added.

Albright said an ongoing review of U.S. assistance to Indonesia would "take into account all relevant factors."

These include whether a secure environment has been created in western Timor refugee camps, whether necessary services are provided to people living there, whether East Timorese who desire to return home are allowed to do so and whether Indonesia's military is preventing militias in West Timor from carrying out attacks in East Timor, she said.

Albright told a news conference that she sent Assistant Secretary of State Julia Taft, who handles refugee affairs, to get a "first hand" report of what was happening in the region and after six days in Jakarta, West Timor and East Timor "what she has reported to me is terribly troubling."

In western Timor, Taft "witnessed a heavy militia presence within camps housing East Timorese displaced persons and observed clear incidents of collusion between the Indonesian military and militia groups," Albright said.