UN, U.S. human rights officials to visit E. Timor

JAKARTA (JP): Two high-ranking foreign officials, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck and United Nations special envoy Jamsheed Marker, are due in East Timor this week on separate fact-finding missions on the human rights situation.

Shattuck, who is the assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor, arrived here quietly Sunday with no formal announcement from officials in Jakarta.

However, his trip soon grabbed media attention with Monday's visit to the National Human Rights Commission and yesterday's visit to detained labor rights leader Muchtar Pakpahan, who is undergoing treatment at Cikini Hospital, Central Jakarta.

Shattuck is due in Dili, East Timor, today for a two-day visit.

National Human Rights Commission member Marzuki Darusman said he welcomed Shattuck's visit to the province.

He said it would enable the assistant secretary to obtain first hand information on developments in Indonesia's youngest province.

"The visit will not only be useful to the United States but also Indonesia," he said.

During Monday's meeting with the commission, Shattuck not only sought information on East Timor but also political developments in Indonesia.

Shattuck's office, the bureau of democracy, human rights and labor, released in January its annual human rights report which included an extensive criticism of human rights violations in Indonesia.

The report also highlighted the suppression of labor activists here.

An official at the unrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union, which Pakpahan founded and leads, told The Jakarta Post that Shattuck visited Pakpahan at the hospital yesterday.

The official said Shattuck wanted to see how Pakpahan's treatment was progressing and learn more from the labor leader on workers' conditions here.

Pakpahan is currently serving a four-year sentence for inciting a labor riot in Medan, North Sumatra, in 1994. He was admitted to hospital earlier this month for what could be a lung tumor.

UN special envoy Jamsheed Marker is scheduled to arrive here tomorrow.

A foreign ministry official said the 74-year-old envoy would be leaving Saturday for a three-day trip to East Timor.

Marker, Pakistan's former ambassador to the UN, was appointed a special envoy on East Timor by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan earlier this year to inject life into the UN-brokered talks between Jakarta and Lisbon.

The ninth meeting between the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers, scheduled for last December, was canceled due to the imminent change of the UN Secretary General.

Jakarta integrated the former Portuguese colony of East Timor into Indonesia in 1976. However, the UN still recognizes Lisbon as the administrative power there.

The foreign affairs official said that while in Jakarta Marker would also be meeting with foreign minister Ali Alatas and members of the National Commission on Human Rights.

The official added that, while in East Timor, Marker is expected to meet with Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares and military commander Col. Mahidin Simbolon. (mds)