DATE=11/20/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA - EAST TIMOR (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256401
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Human rights investigators in East Timor say
the Indonesian military planned the systematic
destruction of East Timor
last September, when armed anti-independence militia
groups overtook the territory. As Patricia Nunan
reports from Jakarta, investigators say the former
head of the Armed Forces is at the top of a long list
of officials to be called in for questioning.
Text: Investigators say Indonesian officials were in
"complete" collusion with anti-independence militias
in the weeks before the East Timorese were to vote on
whether the territory should remain a part of
Indonesia. Investigators say that in a key meeting,
military intelligence officers instructed militia
leaders that if East Timor voted to separate from
Indonesia, all independence leaders should be killed
and every building in the territory destroyed.
Investigators say General Zaky Anwar Makarim attended
that meeting. The group also wants to question the
former head of the Indonesian Armed Forces General
Wiranto about what his possible role in the violence
might have been.
The inquiry was launched by an independent Indonesian
group, The Commission For The Investigatation Of Human
Rights Abuses In East Timor.
Anti-independence militia groups took over East Timor
for roughly two-weeks in September when the United
Nations announced that almost 80 percent of voters
chose to separate from Indonesia.
Hundreds or perhaps thousands of people were killed,
while dozens of towns were destroyed. UN officials,
who witnessed the militias' rampage, say Indonesian
soldiers participated in the violence.
Roughly half a million people fled their homes or were
forced to leave by the Indonesian military. Most of
them left for the safety of the East Timorese jungle
or for refugee camps in neighboring West Timor.
The U-S Ambassador to the United Nations Richard
Holbrooke, on a visit to the Indonesian capital
Saturday, urged the government to do more to return
the roughly 200 thousand people who remain in refugee
camps back to East Timor.
Aid workers say intimidation by militia groups has
prevented many refugees from being able to return to
East Timor safely. (Signed)
NEB/PN/PLM
20-Nov-1999 23:35 PM EDT (21-Nov-1999 0435 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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