U.S. sees political progress in Indonesia
U.S. sees political progress in Indonesia
WASHINGTON (Reuters): The United States said on Friday the
political situation in Indonesia improved in 1999 but it listed a
slew of human rights violations in East Timor which was engulfed
in violence after it voted for independence.
After President Abdurrahman Wahid took over the government
from B.J. Habibie in October 1999, the Indonesian political
system was "revamped to provide for separation of powers," the
State Department's annual report on human rights said.
"The Habibie government committed serious human rights
abuses," the report said. "While there was significant progress
in institutionalizing democracy during the year, serious problems
remained under the Wahid government, although overall abuses
decreased markedly," it said.
Early in 1999, parts of the security forces and militias that
opposed an independent East Timor, armed and supported by the
military, were responsible for "numerous" killings in East Timor,
the report said.
A wave of violence that swept through East Timor in September
after residents voted for independence in a UN-organized
referendum on Aug. 31. Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese
colony in 1975 and later annexed it.
Australian-led peacekeeping troops were sent in to calm the
volatile situation and the United Nations is now administering
the territory with the goal of helping it to independence.
"There were numerous reports of disappearances in East Timor
and from refugee camps in West Timor following the flight of over
250,000 East Timorese civilians in September," the report said.
The report listed human rights violations in East Timor by
security forces and military-backed militias against pro-
independence supporters.
Those included executions, massacres, massive deportation,
attacks on women and children, houses and buildings destroyed and
attacks on property of international organizations, the Catholic
Church and the only functioning medical clinic in Dili.
"More than 250 bodies were found in Dili and other areas," the
report said.
It also cited "serious abuses" by pro-independence groups in
East Timor, including the killing of security personnel.
In Aceh military forces and police committed killings and used
"excessive force" to quell separatist movements, the report said.
On the other side, the separatists were believed to have
murdered and abducted low-level civil servants, police, and
military personnel in Aceh, the report said.
Violence against women, child abuse, child prostitution and
female genital mutilation were also cited in the report.