DATE=2/18/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N - EAST TIMOR (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259304
BYLINE=GARY THOMAS
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
has left East Timor after seeing firsthand the
devastation wrought by last year's violence by pro-
Indonesian militias. As VOA Correspondent Gary Thomas
reports from Jakarta, Mr. Annan again warns that an
international war crimes tribunal on East Timor might
be set up if Indonesia fails to aggressively prosecute
the perpetrators.
TEXT: U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan was shaken by
the devastation left behind by pro-Jakarta militias in
East Timor. Speaking before leaving for Australia,
Mr. Annan said the destruction is far worse then what
he imagined from reports he read or television
pictures he saw.
Talking to a crowd of about five-thousand in the East
Timorese capital of Dili, Mr. Annan again called on
Indonesia to mount credible prosecutions of those
implicated in the violence. Otherwise, he said, the
U-N Security Council may set up an international
tribunal.
As he spoke, people held up signs calling for trials
of the Indonesian generals accused in the violence.
Pro-Jakarta militias went on a rampage of arson,
pillage, and murder following the overwhelming vote
August 30th for independence from Indonesia. No one
knows for certain how many people died, but thousands
of East Timorese fled their homes in terror.
Two inquiries - one by the Indonesian government and
another by the United Nations - accuse Indonesian
military officers of condoning, if not encouraging,
the militias.
Mr. Annan said that while in Jakarta, he received
assurances from Indonesian officials at the highest
level of the government's intention to prosecute human
rights offenders in East Timor.
Mr. Annan added that the task of rebuilding will be
enormous. More than 500-million dollars in
reconstruction aid has been pledged internationally,
but has been slow to arrive.
The United Nations is to take full control over East
Timor from a multinational peacekeeping force next
week. (SIGNED)
NEB/GPT/FC/PLM
18-Feb-2000 05:39 AM EDT (18-Feb-2000 1039 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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