DATE=11/19/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR - JUSTICE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256357
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The out-going head of the United Nations
mission in East Timor says Indonesian military
officers responsible for the September campaign of
violence in the territory should be brought to
justice. As Patricia Nunan reports from Jakarta, Ian
Martin also is urging the international community to
keep up the pressure on the Indonesian government to
return some 200-thousand refugees to East Timor.
TEXT: The former chief of the U-N mission in East
Timor, Ian Martin says the violence that took place in
East Timor last September was "planned and evil." Mr.
Martin stepped down last Friday and turned his job
over to Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Mr. Martin, who witnessed the militia rampage, says
Indonesian military officers allegedly involved in the
planning of the chaos should be brought to trial, and
not just those who carried out the violence.
Human rights groups say hundreds or perhaps thousands
of people were killed in East Timor in September, when
armed anti-independence militia groups backed by the
Indonesian military overran the territory. They were
reacting to the announcement that most East Timorese
voted to separate from Indonesia in a referendum
supervised by the United Nations.
The violence prompted almost half a million people to
flee their homes for the mountains or refugee camps in
neighboring West Timor.
Mr. Martin made his comments in a farewell news
conference attended by his replacement Sergio Vieira
de Mello.
Mr. Martin also wants the international community to
do more to help the 200-thousand people who are still
in camps in West Timor to return.
Indonesian authorities say the refugees are a
financial burden and have three months to decide
whether they will go back to East Timor or whether
they wish to become Indonesian citizens.
But aid groups say continued intimidation by militia
groups have prevented them from reaching all the
refugees. Aid workers also report that about 30
militia members attacked a convoy of refugees near the
town of Ataumbua, about 40 kilometers away from the
border with East Timor.
Officials from the U-N Human Rights Commission say the
violence is preventing the refugees from returning to
East Timor. (SIGNED)
NEB/PN/FC/PLM
19-Nov-1999 06:40 AM EDT (19-Nov-1999 1140 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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