DATE=9/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TIMOR / U-N EVAC (L)
NUMBER=2-266219
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations has evacuated nearly 200-
humanitarian workers from Indonesia's West Timor
province after militiamen killed three aid workers
Wednesday. The international community is widely
condemning the attack that witnesses say Indonesian
security forces did nothing to prevent. Patricia
Nunan has the details.
TEXT: The evacuations began with the withdrawal of
100 aid agency workers from the West Timor capital,
Kupang. They were flown to the resort island of Bali.
Another 96 aid-agency staff members were trucked into
East Timor from the border town of Atambua.
A fleet of four helicopters pulled 54 aid workers from
Atambua late Wednesday after thousands of militiamen
rampaged through the city, killing three staffers from
the U-N High Commissioner for Refugees.
The U-N describes the assault as one of the worst
attacks on its civilian personnel anywhere in the
world. Witnesses say militiamen stabbed the three
aid-workers and then dragged their bodies into the
street where they set them on fire.
/// OPT /// One of the slain U-N workers, a Puerto
Rican, sent an e-mail to friends hours before his
death in which he described fearing for his life. ///
END OPT ///
Indonesian security forces say they have begun
arresting suspects in the murders. They also say they
have sent military reinforcements to the area.
The Indonesian government is also defending itself and
the military against charges they have done little to
control the situation in West Timor. The Minister for
Political Affairs and Security, Bambang Yudhyono, says
the Indonesian military should not be judged based on
this one incident.
/// BAMBANG YUDHYONO ACT ///
We have for a year protected the U-N-H-C-R and
other international elements in that area. And
this is special case. This is one incident.
/// OPT /// It does not mean that we do not do
everything for 12-months in protecting the
refugees, in securing the area, in solving the
problems in the vicinity of Atambua and Kupang.
/// END OPT ///
/// END ACT ///
This is not the first incident. The United Nations
temporarily suspended aid operations last month after
three of its aid-workers were beaten by militia
members.
Aid-workers have complained that the Indonesian
military has failed to clamp down on militia leaders
hiding in West Timor refugee camps since the refugee
crisis began. These same militias sparked the problem
by going on a murderous rampage in East Timor after
its vote for independence from Indonesia last year -
forcing hundreds-of-thousands of people to flee their
homes.
Western diplomats in Jakarta have condemned the aid-
workers' deaths. An official with the Canadian
Embassy, Scott Gilmore, says Indonesian President
Abdurrahman Wahid should be concerned that the
instability in West Timor could spread to other parts
of the country - and that the government should work
harder to prevent that possibility.
/// GILMORE ACT ///
You would think that this would be one of their
highest priorities, to try to maintain
stability, because members of the Indonesian
government and military have publicly conceded,
or publicly admitted that there are entire
regions of West Timor that they no longer
control.
/// END ACT ///
Indonesian officials have also voiced concerns that
the attack on the U-N staff may have been a deliberate
attempt by President Wahid's political enemies to
discredit his government while he attends the U-N
Millennium Summit in New York. (SIGNED)
NEB/HK/PN/JO/RAE
07-Sep-2000 07:45 AM EDT (07-Sep-2000 1145 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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