UN special envoy meets with local NGO activists

JAKARTA (JP): Special Rapporteur from the United Nations' Human Rights Commission for Execution Without Trial, Bacre Waly Ndaye, yesterday met with representatives from various non- governmental organizations to get their views on the current situation in East Timor.

Ndaye had previously met with the Secretary General of the Minister of Defense and Security Lt. Gen. Sugeng Subroto, Chief of Jakarta's Military Command Maj. Gen. Hendropriyono and Director General of Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Izhar Ibrahim.

In the evening, he met with representatives of NGOs grouped in the Indonesian Joint Committee for the Defense of East Timorese.

"We talked about the human rights situation in East Timor after the (1991) Dili incident and the improvements which have taken place since then," Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara from the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, told The Jakarta Post.

Other members of the joint committee who attended the meeting were Harjo Putranto from the Social Research and Development Studies Institute, Edi Raintung from the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, Warsito from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation and Herbin Siahaan from the Joint Committee secretariat.

Hakim said the committee also informed Ndaye of the limited access to the province given to NGOs, especially those intending to carry out advocacies.

Hakim explained that Ndaye, who was accompanied by two U.N. staff members, would submit his report of this visit to the Human Rights Commission for publication.

"The government should give Ndaye more elbow room during this mission, because everything he (Ndaye) observes will be reported to the world public," he said.

He explained that the joint committee also advised Ndaye to talk not only to government officials in East Timor but also to community leaders, such as Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo.

"Ndaye has sound background information on East Timor ... He is also an expert on summary execution reports, so he is quite qualified for his job," said Hakim.

Ndaye yesterday refused to be interviewed, saying that he would hold a press conference after his visit to East Timor. He was scheduled to leave for Dili, the province's capital, early this morning. (pwn)