---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times, 14 July 1999 Jakarta's Alatas disputes nature of Timor attacks UNITED NATIONS - Indonesia's foreign minister today disputed allegations that loyalist militia were responsible for most of the violence in East Timor and said criticism of Jakarta's security forces was inaccurate. In a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan released yesterday, Ali Alatas said some of the bloodshed reported against U.N. staff was provoked by pro-independence groups as much as by those wanting East Timor to remain part of Indonesia. "Unfortunately, these reports have not always adhered to strict standards of objectivity and impartiality with the results that they have not been totally accurate," he said. Alatas also said U.N. staff in East Timor were perceived as being partial to pro-independence campaigners and had allowed them to take refuge inside their compound. The United Nations is organising an August ballot that would allow East Timorese to choose between independence and autonomy within Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and annexed it a year later. But Annan last month delayed the vote by two weeks because of the violence and will decide on Friday whether to hold the vote on Aug. 21 or 22, or push it back again. U.N. Security Council members yesterday called on Indonesia to make "concrete progress" in improving security arrangements so the vote could take place on time. It also said the militia operated with impunity. Alatas reviewed several demonstrations and attacks against U.N. staff, the most serious being in Liquica on July 4 when militia assaulted and fired shots at a U.N. aid convoy. While condemning the violence, he said the United Nations convoy had not followed procedures and was escorting supplies from voluntary groups who operated without permission. Consequently a misunderstanding arose over protection by Indonesian police of staff from the U.N. Mission in East Timor, know as UNAMET. "Had UNAMET followed the advice of the Indonesian Task Force by securing permission of the competent local authorities and establishing cooperation and coordination with them, the unfortunate incident at Liquica would not have happened." Alatas said the Liquica attack was probably related to an ambush by a pro-independence group against its opponents at nearby Hatorete village a day earlier when a loyalist was shot to death and two of his companions injured. He said a demonstration at UNAMET's office on June 30 in Viqueque by pro-integrationists involved an ultimatum that the United Nations retrieve the body of a killed faction member. While such demands were unreasonable, the attitude of the demonstrators' was "provoked by a perception that UNAMET was partial to the anti-inregrationists," Alatas said. UNAMET had retrieved the body of an independence campaigner killed a few days earlier but did not do the same for the loyalists. Alatas said Indonesia condemned "the senseless violence in Maliana, the demonstrations in Viqueque, the ambush killing in Hatorete village and the assault against the convoy in Liquica" and was determined to "bring the perpetrators to justice regardless of which group they belong to." Many foreign observers have accused loyalist militias of killing dozens of people in their battle to derail the ballot or discourage East Timorese from voting for independence. Indonesia recently shifted security responsibilities in East Timor from the army to the police and will send in another 1,300 police later this month. - Reuters ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 16 Jul 1999 jam 06:53:04 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
