UN diplomat blames TNI for E. Timor carnage

UN diplomat blames TNI for E. Timor carnage

DILI, East Timor (AP): Indonesian army officers responsible
for the violence that followed East Timor's independence
referendum in August must be brought to justice, the former chief
of the UN mission in the territory said on Friday.

"It is now clear that what happened was planned, premeditated
evil, which involved murder, rape, forced deportation and
physical destruction on an extraordinary scale," UN diplomat Ian
Martin said at a farewell news conference.

Martin, who saw the territory through a vote for independence
and then watched it plunge into chaos, also urged the
international community to keep up pressure for the return of an
estimated 200,000 East Timorese forced to flee to Indonesian-held
West Timor by pro-Jakarta militias incensed by the Aug. 30 vote
for independence from Indonesia.

Martin linked the Indonesian army, or TNI, directly to the
murders of hundreds of East Timorese independence supporters,
including at least one prominent leader of the CNRT independence
coalition in Dili.

Previously, charges of abuse had focused on the so-called
militias, gangs of thugs organized by factions of the Indonesian
military to do their strong-arm work.

Evidence has been collected by an investigative team which has
identified pro-Indonesia militia members, and led to their
arrests for murders around the country, Martin said.

"The information gathered in these and other cases makes clear
that the killings were planned and supported by the TNI," Martin
said.

"Investigations (should be) pursued vigorously and with all
necessary resources to uncover the full truth of the violence
before and after the ballot and to bring to justice those with
prime responsibility, especially those responsible not just for
its execution but for its planning," Martin said.

Martin finished his job in East Timor on Friday, turning the
UN mission over to another veteran diplomat, Brazilian Sergio
Vieira de Mello.

The mission will lead the territory to full self-rule, perhaps
in three years. Indonesia took over the former Portuguese colony
in 1975.

Martin was joined at the news conference by Vieira de Mello
and Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, the top leader of the
territory's independence movement.

Martin, his staff and about 2,000 refugees shared several
stressful nights at the UN compound in September when they were
besieged by the marauding gangs who were destroying much of the
East Timor's capital in the wake of the independence vote.

Peacekeeping troops arrived on Sept. 20 to end the turmoil,
and Indonesia ceded control to the United Nations.

Martin said in an earlier interview that he had "absolutely no
doubt" that Indonesian officials expected the vote to go for
continued ties with Jakarta, "partly because they genuinely
underestimated the strength of pro-independence sentiment, and
partly because they believed that the sort of coercive tactics
that were being applied would work."

It was UN efforts to curb intimidation that led to Indonesian
accusations that its mission was biased in favor of independence
supporters, he said.

The UN could be criticized for holding a ballot in conditions
that were not free and fair because of Indonesian intimidation,
he said, but in that case, "We would have denied the Timorese
possibly the one chance they were going to get to exercise their
right to self-determination."