13 September 2000
Holbrooke: Indonesian Government Must End Timor Violence
Security Council ready to help Wahid government By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations -- The international community must take action to prevent violence from returning to East and West Timor, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke said September 13. Commenting on the murder of three U.N. aid workers in West Timor last week, Holbrooke said that "elements within the Indonesian military are directly or indirectly responsible" for the murders. "We run the risk here of the two halves of Timor exploding into a new era of violence unless swift and strong action is taken by the international community and by the Indonesian military authorities," the ambassador said. Holbrooke, who was on his way into a closed Security Council meeting on Timor, told journalists that "the Security Council does not believe that we can leave such an event ... unresponded to except with words (eulogies) in cathedrals." "We are more than deeply concerned," the ambassador said. "We don't want to see the island of Timor -- both East Timor and West Timor -- deteriorate into another round of violence. We need to head this off." "The primary responsibility for security in West Timor is, of course, with the Indonesian government, Holbrooke said, "and the Security Council is there to help the Indonesian Government in that task." Holbrooke, who is the chief U.S. delegate to the United Nations, said Secretary of Defense William Cohen is leaving for Jakarta September 13 to meet "with Indonesian and U.N. officials to discuss these issues." "The Indonesian government leadership we do not believe was directly responsible for this. The United States fully supports President Wahid and his civilian leadership ... at another one of the many crisis moments that that great and complex country has faced in recent years," Holbrooke said. "We're very concerned and careful in stressing our support for the civilian leadership of Indonesia and stating that elements of the Indonesian military are indirectly responsible for this. I don't know which ones. It is a very complex situation, but they know who it is. They certainly know," Holbrooke said. The United Nations plans to send a fact-finding mission to East Timor and Indonesia to examine the problem of the militias opposing East Timor's independence. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which was working in the West Timor refugee camps in East Timor, has said that it would not return to the camps until the militias are removed from the area. Holbrooke said that he was not aware of Indonesian officials' comments that they would not allow the U.N. mission. The Security Council mission "is an important part of this process and I hope and assume it will go forward," Holbrooke said. "The Indonesians say that they are sending a special envoy to New York to talk to us first. It is appropriate for the Security Council to hear the views of that envoy before the mission sets out to Jakarta if the schedule works out correctly," he said. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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