(New York-September 5, 1999) Human Rights Watch today
charged that Western governments were not doing all they could to
stop the violence spreading across East Timor in the wake of the
vote in favor of independence there last week.
"Indonesia seems bent on leaving East Timor the same bloody
way it went in," said Sidney Jones, Asia director of Human
Rights Watch. "Western governments will be complicit in the
killing if they fail to use any and every means possible to force
the Indonesian government to either stop the militia violence or
allow international peacekeepers in."
Jones dismissed as "nonsense" the suggestion that the
militias—created, supported, and armed by the Indonesian army—were
beyond Jakarta's control or that they were acting at the behest of
"rogue" elements of the armed forces. "The
only evidence one needs of Jakarta's involvement is that some
15,000 army and police are in East Timor doing absolutely nothing
to stop the terror, arrest the perpetrators, or protect the
victims."
"This shows every sign of being planned and coordinated
beforehand," she said. "The Indonesian army may be
trying to teach a lesson not only to the East Timorese but to the
people of Aceh and Irian Jaya. The lesson is: if you seek
separation from Indonesia, even if support for separation is
overwhelming, we will destroy you, and no outside power will come
to your aid." She said it was absurd to explain the violence
simply in terms of the pro-Indonesia militias being poor losers.
The increasing invective over the last week in the Indonesian
press and on the part of Jakarta-based politicians against the
United Nations, Australia, and the U.S. was serving to discredit
those most visibly involved in the referendum process.
Human Rights Watch said Indonesia's major donors and trading
parners, including the U.S., Australia, Japan, and the European
Union should agree on coordinated and targeted sanctions,
including suspension of direct budgetary support and other forms
of non-humanitarian aid. That aid would be resumed if and when the
violence was brought under control. Since it appeared that the
Indonesian army had no intention of bringing the militias to heel,
Human Rights Watch said, the leverage should be used to persuade
President Habibie to accept an emergency international
peacekeeping force.
Military training and transfers of equipment—such as U.S.$5
million in aircraft parts pending from the U.S.—should also be
halted. At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit
convening in New Zealand later this week the crisis in East Timor,
and coordinating sanctions should be a top priority.
The main arguments against a peacekeeping force thus far have been
that Indonesia would never agree (and without Indonesia's
agreement, the Security Council would never approve), and that it
would take too long to deploy. Australia, New Zealand, Portugal,
and the United Kingdom have been reported at various times to be
considering such a force that some have termed a "Coalition
of the Willing," the bulk of whose forces would almost
certainly have to come from Australia. If Indonesia gave a green
light, a rapid deployment would probably be possible. But as of
Sunday afternoon New York time, there was no evidence that the
Indonesian government had changed its stance of rejecting
international peacekeepers.
In the meantime, East Timorese are being attacked in the schools
and church compounds where they have sought refuge, most
international journalists have left, and by Sunday evening Dili
time, the militias were in control of most of the territory.
"The international community paid for this referendum to
happen," said Jones. "It sent more than 1,000 expatriate
staff to Dili as part of the United Nations Mission in East Timor
and hired more than 4,000 local staff, all of whom are in serious
danger of militia attack because of their UNAMET association. Its
failure to even try to use maximum leverage has turned these
people into sitting ducks for militia gunfire." |
Document
compiled by Dr S D Stein