---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ++ Pemilu Online: http://www.indo-news.com/pemilu/ ++ ---------------------------------------------------------- ANTARA, JULY 9 1999 E. Timor: No Need For UN Peacekeeping Force - Rights Activist Dili, E Timor, July 8 (ANTARA)- The head of the National Human Rights Commission's representative office here on Thursday affirmed that there has been no large-scale armed offense in East Timor that would necessitate the presence of a UN peacekeeping force. Florentino C Sarmento was commenting on the issue of whether or not there is a need for a UN peacekeeping force to be sent to East Timor to secure the autonomy ballot scheduled to be held late next month. Sarmento said all criminal actions in East Timor are being handled by the Indonesian Police, which is the sole body responsible for the security of the province during the ballot. "The Indonesian Police should be encouraged to maximize its role in handling criminal cases," he said. Sarmento also confirmed the statement made by Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Alatas that the agenda on the sending of a UN peacekeeping force to East Timor is the agenda of the foreign press. According to him, the imbalanced reporting being done by the foreign press is reflected in their news stories which tend to take the side of the pro-independence group. He noted that the foreign press have never reported about the brutal actions of the armed pro-independence group, Falintil, against the East Timorese. "Even the report on the kidnapping of the wife of a member of the armed forces in today's issue of the 'Suara Timor Timur' (Voice of East Timor) daily was not proportional," he said. (T.PTU-05/DLI-01/INT-KT/15:10/int-cl/16:40/fn01/19:05/TB06) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 13 Jul 1999 jam 05:58:17 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
