DATE=9/27/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=E. TIMOR ATROCITIES
NUMBER=5-44335
BYLINE=AMY BICKERS
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Recent media reports point to a lack of
evidence of many of the atrocities and mass killings
alleged to have taken place in East Timor. As Amy
Bickers reports from Jakarta, humanitarian aid
officials and refugee protection experts expect more
evidence to come to light as peacekeepers are able to
secure more of the territory.
TEXT: The allegations are horrible and sinister. Aid
workers say scores of young East Timorese men who
voted for independence from Indonesia in
August's referendum are disappearing from refugee
camps in West Timor. A boat carrying more than 30
refugees leaves port, and reportedly returns
empty. An Australian aid worker says she has seen
bodies piled up to the ceiling in the cells of an East
Timorese police headquarters.
These stories, and scores of others, are chilling. But
in many cases, international peacekeepers and aid
workers agree, there is so far a lack of evidence to
substantiate many of the crimes. While some bodies
have been found, peacekeepers have yet to uncover mass
graves.
J. Kelly, a specialist in refugee protection issues,
says it is too early to establish the number of
victims of the violence that rocked
East Timor after the ballot.
/// KELLY ACT ///
There are a lot of reasons for why there might not be
evidence, apart from (the possibility) that they did
not actually happen. One is that Interfet, the
multinational peacekeeping force, has not gotten out
beyond Dili and Baucau, and the reports are that a lot
of the massive acts of violence took place outside of
those population centers and more in the villages, so
obviously the jury is still out until the
multinational forces can get out to those areas.
/// END ACT ///
Estimates on the number of dead range greatly. The
Indonesian government says about 90 people perished in
the bloodshed, while the United Nations says there
have been up to seven-thousand deaths.
Urs Boegli (prono: Orse Berglee), Spokesman for the
International Committee of the Red Cross, says the
East Timorese capital is rife with rumors about
gruesome crimes perpetrated by Pro-Indonesia militias
against townspeople and numerous members of the
territory's Catholic clergy. He acknowledges that
inspections of some of the supposed sites of mass
violence in Dili have failed to yield forensic
evidence.
Mr. Boegli says some of those feared dead may be alive
but in hiding. An unknown number of East Timorese have
fled to Jakarta, Bali and other
parts of Indonesia and tens of thousands remain in
East Timor's hills to avoid attacks by militiamen.
/// Boegli Act ///
The critical path is now access to the countryside.
Because there we will either be told where mass graves
are or we will have a different
situation. In the long term, it will be about talking
to families and seeing who is missing.
/// End Act ///
On Sunday, a U-N aid team, under military escort,
toured some of the territory's towns. Many are
deserted and in ruins and aid workers say
there is great concern about the residents'
whereabouts.
But because peacekeepers have yet to secure the vast
majority of the territory and aid organizations are
busy with airdrops and other forms of assistance, in-
depth probes into reported killings and atrocities
have yet to begin.
In anticipation of that process, The Red Cross is
opening tracing centers in East Timor, West Timor and
across Indonesia, so that people
can be accounted for and families reunited. The United
Nations High Commission for Refugees is also
establishing a presence in those places,
and one of its mandates will be to help locate the
missing.
But aid workers say the process is being waylaid
because they cannot gather testimony, even from
refugees in camps in West Timor. Aid officials say the
camps are under the militas' control, with support
from the Indonesian military, and the camp residents
are too frightened to
speak up.
Michael Frank of Catholic Relief Services says the
militiamen are blocking aid workers from talking with
the refugees, and have even
threatened aid agency representatives who would
otherwise document refugees' accounts of the violence.
/// FRANK ACT ///
What is scaring people is the threats they perceive by
the militias.
It is obvious that the militias are looking for pro-
independence people. They are knocking on doors of
different organizations who they suspect
may be hiding these refugees. That is the fear.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Kelly, the refugee protection specialist, agrees
that refugees will not share their knowledge at this
time.
/// KELLY ACT ///
People will not begin to speak out until they feel
safe and with someone they trust, and that has not
happened yet.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Boegli of the Red Cross believes the collection of
witnesses' accounts will be hampered until they are
back in East Timor and under the protection of
international peacekeepers.
/// BOEGLI ACT ///
If the refugees can come back once conditions are
conducive to their return, then a clear picture will
emerge, but it will emerge as a result
of systematic work, of talking to hundreds of
thousands of people and asking them very simple
questions. Where is your family, what do you
know about relatives, where are your friends? And then
we will make a patchwork.
/// END ACT ///
International peacekeepers and aid agencies say they
are unsure whether the extent of the violence has been
exaggerated. But as the peacekeepers establish
themselves throughout East Timor, the Red Cross says
there will be more evidence of killings, particularly
in towns like Liquica (prono: lee-qwee-sha) and Suai
(prono: zwhy) where the militias were reportedly most
vicious. (Signed)
NEB/AB/FC/PLM
27-Sep-1999 05:00 AM EDT (27-Sep-1999 0900 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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