UN rights commissioner's envoy visits East Timor
UN rights commissioner's envoy visits East Timor
JAKARTA (JP): The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights'
special envoy to East Timor, Soli Sorabjee, is scheduled to start
a four-day visit to the province on Thursday to assess the human
rights conditions in the troubled territory.
Sorabjee told The Jakarta Post here on Wednesday that his main
mission to East Timor was to gather information from various
sources about the situation in the territory ahead of the UN-run
independence vote on Aug. 8.
"I want to listen to all sides involved in the East Timor
issue about their genuine aspirations for the territory's
future," he said.
He said that his appointment as an envoy to East Timor was to
follow up an agreement between Indonesia and Portugal in early
May that the territory would be free from violence and
intimidation before and during the vote.
"I'm not a policeman for a criminal investigation. I'm not a
judge who wants to try criminals in the territory. My main
mission is to listen to all sides, including the conflicting
factions, to help stop the mass killing," he said.
He said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson
was very concerned with human rights violations, including recent
violence between conflicting factions.
"The two sides have agreed to hold a peaceful ballot to know
the East Timorese people's genuine aspirations, whether they will
accept the special autonomy offered by the Indonesian government
or be separated from Indonesia," he said, citing the poll could
not be held if the violence continued and the local people were
not free from intimidation and terror.
Dozens of East Timorese people have been killed in clashes
between pro-independence and pro-integration groups since the
government announced in January the province could be independent
if the people rejected the special autonomy offer.
Sorabjee, also India's attorney general, said he would make a
report to the UN human rights commissioner, who was expected to
make recommendations on the human rights situation in the
territory.
He said he was scheduled on Thursday to meet with East Timor
Governor Abilio Osoario Soares and Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe
Ximenes Belo and the East Timorese Peace and Stability
Commission.
"On Friday, I will make a field tour to Liquica, Suai and,
likely, Baucau," he said.
Sorabjee, who met National Commission on Human Rights chairman
Marzuki Darusman upon his arrival here on Saturday, said he would
also meet Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, government ambassador-at-
large to East Timor FX Lopez da Cruz, local NGO representatives,
journalists and foreign diplomats. (rms)