U.S. congressmen warn Indonesia on poor East Timor security
U.S. congressmen warn Indonesia on poor East Timor security
JAKARTA (JP): A failure by the Indonesian government to maintain security in East Timor prior to and during the Aug. 30 direct ballot could damage its ties with the United States, U.S. congressmen said on Friday.
"This is a test case for the Indonesian authorities, particularly the military, whether or not they can conduct a safe and fair election," Democratic Senator Jack Reed said on arriving in the East Timor capital of Dili with two other U.S. senators.
"It is a test of whether we will continue to support their efforts, both in terms of financial support to Indonesia and also in increasing ties to their military," he said.
Fellow Democrat Tom Harkin said: "The eyes of Congress are really watching what happens here in terms of what our relationship with Indonesia is going to be in the future."
Reed, Harkin and Jack McGovern, another Democrat, arrived aboard a U.S. Air Force jet for a visit which will last until Saturday, AFP reported.
Their visit coincided with the 24th anniversary of the founding of the armed East Timorese separatist group Falintil.
The congressmen were due to meet leaders of pro and anti- independence groups, the church, the military and the police, as well as the head of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET).
More than 450,000 East Timorese in and outside the former Portuguese colony will go to the polls on Aug. 30 to decide whether to accept the government's offer of wide-ranging autonomy or independence.
UNAMET chief Ian Martin said on Thursday the UN still had "very serious security concerns", particularly in the western towns of Maliana, Suai and Viqueque, where violence and intimidation blamed on prointegration militias remained unabated.
The Indonesian police are responsible for security in East Timor, according to the agreement signed by Indonesia, Portugal and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York in May.
In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer renewed his warning that the postballot period would be "a very sensitive time" in East Timor.
Speaking at the Asian Research Center at Murdoch University in Perth on Thursday, Downer said Australia hoped Indonesia would agree with a proposal to deploy reinforcement UN civil police personnel and military liaison officers in East Timor after the ballot.
Downer said that in such a crucial period a peacekeeping force might be needed and Australia would be ready to join it, Antara reported.
President B.J. Habibie has in principal approved the UN proposal to increase the number of UN military liaison officers and civilian police officers to about 710 personnel.
The personnel will augment 460 officers from the National Police's Mobile Brigade, plus 3,900 local police.
The reinforcement force is aimed at ensuring peace and security in the territory during the period between the ballot and the November General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly which will confirm the vote results.
Meanwhile, East Timorese leaders have agreed to establish a 25-person commission to foster reconciliation and cooperation in the territory until the results of the ballot are implemented.
The UN said in a release the commission members would be nominated by the pro and anti-independence sides and appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The members will be installed on Aug. 31.
Separately, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged Indonesia on Thursday to free East Timor independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao and withdraw its troops from the territory ahead of the direct ballot.
"I call for the immediate release of Xanana Gusmao, currently under house arrest in Jakarta; the withdrawal of the Indonesian military from East Timor; their replacement by a UN peacekeeping force and an end to terror and violence in the region," Reuters quoted Tutu as saying in a statement released by his office at Emory University in Atlanta where he teaches theology.
Indonesia has said it will release Gusmao, who has been in jail since 1992 for leading a rebel movement, only after the Aug. 30 vote.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former head of the Anglican Church in South Africa, also called for an end to violence by progovernment militias ahead of the ballot.
"The whole process is being subverted by violence and intimidation perpetrated by groups linked to the Indonesian military," he said.
Tutu said Indonesia's recent embrace of democracy "had a positive spin-off for East Timor, which has suffered so grievously under Indonesian repression".