United Nations News, September 10 1999

Secretary-General urges Indonesia to accept international help to restore order in East Timor at a moment of "great crisis."

Security Council members endorse Secretary-General's appeal to Indonesia on East Timor.

Saying that East Timor was in a moment of "great crisis" as it descended into anarchy, Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed the time has clearly come for Indonesia to seek the help of the international community to bring order and security to the territory. In a statement on Friday at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General urged the Indonesian Government to accept the offer of assistance from several governments, including Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Malaysia, "without further delay."

Secretary-General Kofi Annan at UN news conference on Friday

If the Indonesian government refuses to do so, Mr. Annan told a packed press conference room, it cannot escape the responsibility "for what could amount, according to reports reaching us, to crimes against humanity."

The Secretary-General emphatically denied that the United Nations was abandoning the people of East Timor. "The situation has clearly got far beyond what a small mission, which was sent to organize the popular vote and never equipped or mandated to enforce law and order, can possibly be expected to cope with," he said.

The 5 May Agreements that paved the way for last month's autonomy vote called for Indonesian forces to maintain law and order in East Timor during and after the ballot and until the results have been accepted by the new Indonesian parliament. "Regrettably, Indonesia has failed to fulfil that responsibility, even with the introduction of martial law," the Secretary-General said.

As proof of ongoing lawlessness, the Secretary-General cited last night's incident when militia members fired weapons in the air and threatened to invade the UN mission's compound as the Indonesian military assigned to protect the headquarters did nothing. "So far, they have been either unable or unwilling to take effective steps to restore security," he added. "I am ready to take any decision necessary to ensure the safety of UN personnel."

In the past week, hundreds of thousands of East Timorese have abandoned their homes and many others have been forcibly relocated to West Timor and other parts of Indonesia, the Secretary-General said. The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) has also been forced, on security grounds, to evacuate 12 of its 13 regional centres and to concentrate its remaining presence in the capital Dili, where it has been subjected to repeated threats.

Mr. Annan said he authorized his Special Representative, Ian Martin, to move about 480 people, including 350 local staff members and their immediate dependants, from the compound to Darwin, Australia. A skeleton crew of about 100 international UN staff remains inside.

In response to a reporter's question, the Secretary-General said that in negotiating the 5 May Agreements, it was necessary to trust in the Indonesian Government's ability to uphold its guarantees of security. The UN was not naïve about the history of violence in East Timor during the past 24 years, he said.

"Nobody in his wildest dreams thought what we are witnessing could have happened," Mr. Annan stressed. "We knew there were security problems but not the carnage and the chaos we have seen."

The Secretary-General said he was "shocked" by what had happened and felt great sympathy for the people of East Timor "who for the first time in 24 years get the chance to express themselves and speak eloquently and loudly as to what they want their destiny to be." "Suddenly they are in a sea of violence in a very chaotic situation," he said.

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Members of the Security Council on Friday expressed their full support for Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement earlier today urging the Indonesian Government to accept international assistance to restore order and security in East Timor.

In a press statement, Council President Ambassador Peter van Walsum of the Netherlands said the members welcomed the fact that a number of Governments have already indicated to the Secretary-General their willingness to participate in an international force.

Council members also remained appalled at the growing humanitarian crisis in East Timor and reiterated their deep concern about the fate of internally displaced persons, Ambassador van Walsum said. "They renewed their call on the Indonesian authorities to enable the return of humanitarian agencies in safe and secure conditions," he said.

The delegation sent by the Council to meet with the Indonesian authorities was set to visit the East Timor capital of Dili on Saturday and would return possibly as soon as Monday, Ambassador van Walsum said. In the meantime, the Council will begin an open debate tomorrow on the situation in East Timor, but will await the mission's report before taking any formal action.