DATE=11/29/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA - EAST TIMOR (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256602
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao blames
a top Indonesian general for the destruction of
East Timor that followed its vote for
independence. Patricia Nunan reports from Jakarta
that Mr. Gusmao made the comment after returning
to the Indonesian capital for the first time
since he was released from almost seven years of
prison and house arrest for fighting for the
territory's freedom.
TEXT: East Timorese independence leader Xanana
Gusmao says Indonesia's former Minister of
Defense is responsible for the violence that took
place in East Timor.
/// FIRST GUSMAO ACT ///
I believe that General Wiranto as Minister
of Defense was responsible for [it] ---
because I conveyed to him several times,
the message, please -- please avoid the
destruction in East Timor.
/// END ACT ///
Much of East Timor was laid to ruin when anti-
independence militia groups, allegedly backed by
the Indonesian military, rampaged throughout the
territory. Estimates of the number of people
killed in the violence range from the hundreds to
the thousands, while almost half a million were
forced to flee their homes.
The militias were reacting to the announcement
that the majority of East Timorese people voted
for the territory to separate from Indonesia in a
special referendum.
Mr. Gusmao says the generals from Indonesia's
elite special forces known as "Kopassus" also had
a hand in the violence.
/// SECOND GUSMAO ACT ///
I have to say that the Kopassus generals
are very, very involved with the
destruction.
/// END ACT ///
General Wiranto held both the positions of
Minister of Defense and head of Indonesia's Armed
Forces in the period surrounding East Timor's
Independence referendum in August.
An independent Indonesian human rights group said
last week that it believes the Indonesian
military was involved in a massacre of up to 200
people in the East Timorese town of Suai, after
three mass graves were discovered.
A team of human rights investigators from the
United Nations is also in East Timor to determine
whether a war-crimes tribunal should be formed to
deal with allegations of crimes against humanity
by Indonesian generals in the territory.
But the spokesman for the Indonesian Armed
Forces, Major General Sudrajat says it is unfair
to blame General Wiranto for the violence in East
Timor.
/// SUDRAJAT ACT ///
This is not fair, because the problem took
place in East Timor. They should start with
the problem that happened on the ground and
ask them. Because General Wiranto says that
the military has not a policy, has not any
single policy that we are going to help the
militia. So if that's the incident or
happened on the ground level, they should
go to the ground level and ask the
soldiers.
/// END ACT ///
Also in Jakarta with Mr. Gusmao are East Timorese
Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos-Horta and guerrilla
commander Taur Matan Ruak. The group is planning
to meet with Indonesian President Abdurrahman
Wahid Tuesday.
/// REST OPT ///
The East Timorese leaders are expected to press
for the release of the last 18 remaining
political prisoners from the territory held by
the Indonesian government.
Mr. Gusmao, a former guerrilla commander, spent
almost seven years in prison and house arrest in
the Indonesian capital before he was released in
September, as part of the East Timor peace
process.
NEB/PN/FC/gm
29-Nov-1999 04:22 AM EDT (29-Nov-1999 0922 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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