U.S. backs UN probe into Timor bloodshed

U.S. backs UN probe into Timor bloodshed

Agencies, Washington

The United States on Wednesday welcomed creation of a joint
Indonesia-East Timor commission on the 1999 bloodshed in the
former Portuguese colony, but made clear the necessity of a
separate UN inquiry as well.

U.S. officials said coordination of the efforts was the key
topic at a meeting here of Secretary of State Colin Powell,
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda and his East Timorese
counterpart Jose Ramos Horta on Wednesday.

Hassan and Horta unveiled on Tuesday their plan for a joint
commission to see if justice was meted out for the attacks by the
Indonesian army and its militia allies that left 1,000 people
dead in East Timor's drive for independence.

The two men, who met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in
New York, said their initiative could make redundant his plan to
dispatch a UN panel of experts. But Washington reacted coolly to
any preemptive Indonesian-East Timor investigation.

Powell and the two foreign ministers made no statement after
their meeting.

"I think we've seen both these things as valuable and they
just need to be coordinated," said State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher. "I think our view is that working together with
the UN and with them we could coordinate these things."

Boucher said Powell's meeting with the ministers centered on
coordinating Annan's commission with a joint commission
established by Indonesia and East Timor.

"We'll work with the UN and we'll work with them to ensure the
coordination and make sure that both of these processes can
contribute to finding the truth," the spokesman said.

Hassan and Horta both signaled their desire to avoid a UN
inquiry. Hassan said their joint panel was "meant as an
alternative to the idea of establishing a commission of experts
by the secretary general."

Al LaPorta, president of the private U.S.-Indonesia Society,
said the issue of accountability for past wrongs in Timor is at
best a difficult, complex and possibly flawed process.

"There are good arguments for judicial accountability on both
sides," the former foreign service officer said. "But based on
recent research and examination, the capacity of the Indonesian
judicial system is at best uneven.

"While it has been alleged there has been pressure and
influence brought to bear on the Indonesian judiciary, there also
are very legitimate concerns about the lack of capacity in
dealing with international legal and criminal matters," LaPorta
said in an interview.