DATE=10/14/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR / RIGHTS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255002
BYLINE=GARY THOMAS
DATELINE=DILI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In the territory of East Timor, evidence is
starting to emerge of murders during September's wave
of violence by pro-Indonesian militias. Information
remains sketchy, as international peacekeepers are
only able to fan out slowly across the territory. As
VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports from East Timor,
United Nations officials are concerned they still lack
the resources to properly investigate human rights
abuses.
TEXT: Australian Major General Peter Cosgrove,
commander of the international force for East Timor or
INTERFET, confirmed Thursday that some bodies have
been discovered on East Timor's southern coast.
//COSGROVE ACT//
At Suai where we took into custody some militia we are
starting to find bodies, bodies that have been dead
for some time. Not in huge numbers, but people have
obviously died a violent death. Those bodies will be
re-interred and marked, awaiting the arrival of a more
complete and larger or experienced investigative team.
But those bodies at Suai create in my mind the image
of some minor tragedies, maybe a major tragedy that
will require further investigation.
//END ACT//
No one knows for certain how many people were killed
by the militias, angered over the East Timorese vote
for independence from Indonesia. Rumors have been
circulating for weeks. But no evidence has emerged of
the kind of mass murders that occurred in Kosovo.
As Michel Barton, head of the United Nations Office
for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance here, says
the truth is hard to find.
//BARTON ACT//
If there were mass graves on this island, I feel
certain that resistance and other people would have
led us to at least some of those. Not a single mass
grave has been uncovered. There have been groups of
people murdered, there is no question about that, but
no where I believe have 10 or 12 have been found in
any one place. I don't believe more than 100 bodies
have been discovered to date.
//END ACT//
As a military force, INTERFET is charged with finding
and securing evidence of human rights abuses. Probes
into suspected human rights abuses in East Timor are
to be carried out by United Nations human rights
investigators. So far however those investigators
have not arrived.
Ian Martin, head of the U-N mission in East Timor,
says he is concerned evidence will deteriorate or
disappear with time. But he says his office does not
have the manpower or the expertise to do detailed
investigation of human rights abuses.
//MARTIN ACT//
UNAMET of course has a good deal of information from
our presence here to date and that information
continues to accumulate as our current staff are
involved in securing evidence in cooperation with
INTERFET and carrying out more recent investigations.
But I wouldn't suggest that UNAMET at the moment is
carrying out anything like comprehensive or even
substantial investigations into serious human rights
violations that have occurred.
//END ACT//
U-N officials estimate 400 thousand of East Timor's
pre-referendum population of 890 thousand are still
unaccounted for. Most of them, however are believed
to be still hiding in the hills. (signed)
NEB/GPT/GC/FC
NEB/
14-Oct-1999 05:07 AM EDT (14-Oct-1999 0907 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
