UN return to W. Timor still not possible

JAKARTA (JP): A visiting UN official said here on Tuesday the security situation on the Indonesian side of the Timor border remained volatile, making it difficult for international relief workers to return there.

"It is very important that the security situation in West Timor can be guaranteed (so that) the UN workers can return," said Harri Holkeri, the president of the UN General Assembly.

"But at the moment it is not possible because of the presence of militia forces," he said after meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Three UN relief workers were killed in a militia attack in the East Nusa Tenggara town of Atambua on Sept. 6.

The deaths sparked international outrage and resulted in the exodus of some 400 foreign aid personnel who were working with about 130,000 East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara.

"What happened in Atambua is not encouraging the UN workers to return until better security guarantees are given," Holkeri said.

The UN Security Council has called on Jakarta to disband and disarm the militias, which fled across the border into West Timor when foreign troops arrived to quell the violence in East Timor following the August 1999 UN-sponsored self-determination referendum.

Holkeri said Abdurrahman told him the UN and Jakarta had a common goal of establishing peace on the border between East Timor and Indonesia.

"The final goal must be that the border between East Timor and Indonesia will be a normal peaceful line with free access for people to come and go and to have social, political and economic contacts," Holkeri said.

Earlier, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman admitted there were still "obstacles" in disbanding and disarming the militias.

He said, however, the government had taken some action against the militias, referring to the trial of notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres.

The trial of Eurico began in Jakarta on Jan. 2, with prosecutors accusing him of inciting people to oppose security authorities, a crime that is punishable by up to six years in jail.

Eurico is on trial for allegedly ordering his men to take back weapons they had handed over to the authorities during a ceremony in Atambua in September.

Marzuki said he told Holkeri "the situation (in West Timor) is already under control", adding that the government did not recognize the existence of militia units and had declared that they had been disbanded.

But he admitted "the weapons surrender has not yet been completed", although it is impossible to say how many weapons were in the hands of the militias.

Suspects

In a related development, the North Jakarta District Court postponed on Tuesday the trials of the six prointegration East Timorese charged with murdering three United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) staff as some of the defendants were sick.

The six defendants are tried in two separate trials for their alleged roles in the murder of three humanitarian workers, Fero Simundza, Carlos de Seros and Samson Aregafoe, in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, on Sept. 6 last year. Prosecutors said the defendants also burned the bodies of the victims.

The trials, which were scheduled to hear defense lawyers' response to the indictment, will resume next week.

Lawyer Suhardi Somomeolyono told The Jakarta Post that one his clients, Julius Naesama, told him on Sunday by phone that he was sick and had asked the Selemba Penitentiary doctor to examine him.

"But my client's request was ignored," Suhardi said. He took Julius on Monday to the National Police hospital in East Jakarta for a medical check up, and the doctor said Julius was positively suffering from dengue fever.

He said that three other defendants were also ill and requested the judges to pay attention to their health conditions. (01/byg)