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DATE=11/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR FUNERALS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256570
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
Intro:  More than two-thousand people gathered today 
(Sat.) in the East Timorese capital Dili for the 
funerals of three Roman Catholic priests killed when 
anti-independence militias took over the territory for 
two weeks in September.  As Patricia NUNAN reports 
from Jakarta, the priests' remains were among 26 
bodies found in mass graves in neighboring West Timor.
Text:  East Timorese spiritual leader Bishop Carlos 
Belo described the dead clergymen as "martyrs" for 
defending the local people against violence and 
intimidation by armed militia groups. Bishop Belo also 
said the priests knew they were going to be killed by 
the militias, because one of the Roman Catholic 
clergymen telephoned the Bishop on the fifth of 
September and said it would be the "last night" for 
them. 
The Bishop, a Nobel peace laureate, was speaking at 
the funeral of three priests whom human rights groups 
believe were killed along with roughly 200 other 
people in the East Timorese town of Suai, some 70 
kilometers south of the capital Dili.  The funeral 
ended with hundreds of weeping mourners lining up in 
order to kiss the coffins of the three priests.
The bodies of East Timorese clergyman Father Hilario 
Madeira and Father Francisco Soares, and that of an 
Indonesian Jesuit priest Father Tarcisio Dewanto were 
among 26 discovered in three mass graves in West Timor 
Thursday by Indonesian human rights investigators. 
It was the largest discovery of mass graves since 
anti-independence militia groups went on a rampage of 
killing and destruction in reaction to the news that 
most East Timorese voted for the territory to break 
free of Indonesian rule. 
Officers from the Indonesian Commission for the 
Investigation of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor say 
they believe there could be more mass graves in West 
Timor. And they allege that Indonesian soldiers 
participated in the killings of the people found in 
the mass graves and that military vehicles were used 
to transport the bodies across the border from East 
Timor. 
Both allegations have been denied by the Indonesian 
military.(Signed) 
NEB/MPN/PLM 
27-Nov-1999 08:57 AM EDT (27-Nov-1999 1357 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.