---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Irish Times [Dublin] Saturday, August 7, 1999 =20 Timor is 'hell' as voters register=20 By David Shanks, Foreign Desk Staff=20 The Indonesian military is "openly and clearly distributing guns in [the=20 eastern towns of Baucau, Laga and other places. They are turning Timorese=20 against Timorese. It is like hell," the Nobel laureate, Bishop Carlos Ximine= s=20 Belo, said yesterday. His comments came as 200 UN voter registration centres=20 closed in advance of an August 30th "popular consultation" on=20 autonomy/independence. With 439,580 voters so far listed - 12,390 of them from the diaspora -=20 registration has clearly been the success anti-independence militias have=20 tried to prevent. Attacks by anti-independence militias in East Timor over=20 the past six months have claimed 3,000 to 5,000 lives, according to=20 "authoritative" Catholic Church sources quoted by the Washington-based=20 Humanitarian Project on East Timor. Until now the figure was thought to be no more than 1,000. Mr Arnord Kohen, director of the Humanitarian Project and author of an=20 unofficial biography of the bishop, said that Bishop Belo told him by phone=20 yesterday that in remote areas, Kopassus (special forces) and militias were still=20 threatening people. The spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission=20 in East Timor (Unamet), Mr Hiro Ueki, reported two cases of harassment by=20 pro-Indonesian militias on Thursday that left at least one Unamet officer=20 injured. At one registration post in Batugade, on the border of West Timor, a=20 journalist yesterday witnessed 500 people claiming to be refugees arriving i= n=20 Indonesian military trucks with brand new identification cards. They were=20 sent back to get authentification documents, the journalist said. In Railuka= ,=20 a rebel mountain hideout in Manatuto district, a rebel commander said that 8= 0=20 of his men had been unable to register. Mr Tom Hyland of the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign said: "What a=20 pity that the courage of the East Timorese people in braving intimidation to=20 register has not been matched by Tony Blair and President Clinton who say=20 they believe in democracy." Mr Hyland supports sending armed UN peacekeepers= ,=20 a project under consideration at the UN, to help prevent expected heavy=20 violence after the voting. Tr=F3caire yesterday warned that the distribution of guns signalled "a crisi= s=20 point". Ms Fionnuala Gilsenan said: "If this is not acted upon it could be=20 the prelude to a massive bloodbath." - (Additional reporting by news agencie= s) =20 =20 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 7 Aug 1999 jam 13:43:09 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
