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01 September 1999

United Nations Report, Wednesday, September 1, 1999

(East Timor, Democratic Republic of the Congo) (520)
UN SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS EAST TIMOR VIOLENCE
The UN Security Council has condemned "in the strongest terms" the
violence that has occurred in Dili, East Timor, since the region's
UN-sponsored referendum on independence and demanded that local and
Indonesian authorities take immediate steps to maintain security.
The Council was briefed by UN officials during a closed-door session
September 1, and then issued a statement through its current
President, Ambassador Arnold Peter van Walsum of the Netherlands.
The Council members "underlined the need for the popular consultation
process and its follow-up to be completed in an atmosphere of peace
and security without further violence," Walsum said.
The Council members "demanded that the local authorities in East Timor
take steps to arrest those responsible for the violence and bring them
to justice (and) demanded also that the Indonesian government take
immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the
future," he said.
Secretary General Kofi Annan also urged Indonesia to curb the
violence.
In a statement issued by press spokesman Fred Eckhard, the Secretary
General called on the "Indonesian police to arrest those responsible
for the violence and to take immediate steps to ensure that it does
not happen again."
But Eckhard said "it doesn't sound to me like the bandwagon is
rolling" in the direction of UN intervention to save the agreement
under which the referendum took place.
British Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock said the Security Council has
not decided to send a mission to Dili but "everybody is talking about
looking at sensible options, but we are not in a decision-making mode
yet."
At least five people were killed when anti-independence armed mobs
rampaged near the UN compound in Dili, firing shots and chasing
journalists into the compound. A UN worker was killed and two others
are missing and presumed dead in other incidents.
The August 30 referendum was conducted to allow East Timor residents
to vote on whether they wish to gain independence from Indonesia or
remain part of that country.