---------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- Indonesian rights group seek international peace force for Timor ballot DILI, East Timor, Aug 24 (AFP) - An Indonesian rights group and a Nobel laureate Tuesday called for an international peace force to secure a free and fair ballot in East Timor as Indonesian supporters warned they could become guerrillas if the territory becomes independent. A report of the Committee for a Free and Fair Ballot of the Foundation for Human Rights and Justice urged a UN peacekeeping force for East Timor "because it is evident that the Indonesian government has failed to fulfill its obligations." "The security situation has become worse and worse, day after day, approaching the day of the ballot," on August 30, committee spokesman Joaquim Fonseca told journalists while releasing the report that detailed a series of attacks by pro-Indonesian militia over the past week. Without a real improvement in security conditions "the East Timorese will be forced to participate in a ballot which is not free and fair," the report said. Fonseca did not call for a delay or cancellation of the vote but urged a review of the May 5 agreements that gave Indonesian police responsibility for security and left UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) military and police liaison officers unarmed. "Under that agreement, UNAMET cannot do anything. The mandate is very specific," Fonseca said. "UNAMET obviously recognizes the problem of the violence but has not done anything to respond to it, much less prevent it from occurring," he said. Close to 430,000 people are registered in the territory to choose next Monday whether to accept or reject an autonomy option under Indonesia. Jakarta has said it may grant independence if the people of the former Portuguese colony it invaded in 1975 and annexed the following year, voted against autonomy. Fonseca's statement followed one by Roman Catholic bishop and 1996 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Carlos Ximenes Belo who was quoted in the New York Times as saying only international pressure on Indonesia's army can end the violence in East Timor. "I pray that the United States and other nations will do whatever possible to persuade Indonesian forces to allow this choice to be made freely, and, if independence is the result, to accept it without retaliating with violence," the bishop of Dili wrote in an article. Belo urged Washington to make it clear "that Indonesia will not receive any military assistance or the loans the country so badly needs unless the army ends its campaign of violence" in East Timor. "And Indonesian authorities must permit the entry of international peacekeepers," he said. Meanwhile, Tito Batista, who heads of the United Front for East Timor Autonomy warned that Indonesian supporters could become guerrillas if East Timor rejects autonomy in next week's ballot. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Aug 1999 jam 13:26:39 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
