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".