UN wants continued effort against W. Timor militias
UN wants continued effort against W. Timor militias
DILI, East Timor (AFP): The UN chief administrator in East Timor on Sunday hailed efforts by Jakarta to disarm and disband militias in West Timor, but said the United Nations wanted to see proof of a sustained effort.
Head of the UN Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET), Sergio Viera de Mello told the visiting delegation that his office had heard from non-UN sources that actions were being taken against the militias in West Timor by the Indonesian armed forces and police.
"What we would like to be reassured of, is that this is a sustained effort on the part of the Indonesian authorities that will truly lead to the disbanding and disarming of militias, including their command and control structure," he said.
He cited reports of clashes between Indonesian security forces and militias that led to the return of a gun taken from a New Zealand private serving in the UN forces who was killed during a recent militia attack in the border area in East Timor.
De Mello also said that the arrest in Jakarta of former militia leader Eurico Guterres last month was "one step in the right direction ... But it is insufficient in terms of removing the head of the monster."
"Disarming and disbanding (the militias) are useless unless you disband the command and control center," he said.
After de Mello's briefing, the head of the visiting UN Security Council delegations, Martin Andjaba said examining how to get an estimated 130,000 refugees out of the squalid camps in West Timor was a top priority of the mission's two days in East Timor.
The refugees were part of the over 250,000 who were forced to flee East Timor following the violent post-ballot campaign of destruction and killings by the militias in September last year.
The seven-member UN mission is on the first leg of a six-day trip to East Timor and Indonesia to assess the territory's progress towards nationhood, and Jakarta's approach to East Timorese refugees and anti-independence militia on its western half of Timor island.
Nobel peace laureate and the transitional cabinet's foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta, said he would tell the delegation that their very presence was increasing pressure on Indonesia to deal with the refugees.
"The fact that they are here and going to West Timor and Indonesia that's already a friendly pressure on Indonesia to make sure the Indonesians live up to their responsibilities," Horta told journalists before briefing the delegation.
He also advocated praise for Jakarta's efforts to rein in the militia and deal with the refugees, pointing to the militia as the main obstacle in bringing them home.
"The Indonesian military do seem to be trying to stop intimidation but the militias continue to be pervasive in the camps.
"I hope that the military will be able to stop the militias from intimidating those who want to return," Horta said.
Andjaba said that East Timorese leaders and UN administrators here had told them that difficulties still plagued the territory, 14 months after its rejection of Indonesian rule.
Thousands of East Timorese clutching flowers and photos followed independence leader Xanana Gusmao in a procession through Dili's still-rubbled streets on Sunday in the largest ever commemoration of a massacre in the city's Santa Cruz cemetery nine years ago.
On Nov. 12, 1991 Indonesian soldiers opened fire on protesters in the cemetery, killing what activists say were more than 200 people, while the Indonesian military put the official figure at between 50 and 60.
Video footage of the cemetery attack was broadcast around the world and drew international attention to the brutal oppression that East Timorese were living under during Indonesia's 24 rule over their half-island territory.
Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta, now the territory's foreign minister, said at least 500 people were killed, based on information from the church, Dili's Bishop Belo, and pro- independence fighters.