---------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times, OCT 14 1999 UN Finds No Evidence Of Mass Murder It says killings occurred but suggests the reports of thousands dying were exaggerated and most of the 400,000 unaccounted for are hiding in the hills DILI -- The United Nations said yesterday that it had uncovered no evidence to support allegations that pro-Jakarta militia engaged in mass murder in East Timor. While there have obviously been murders, to date, only about 50 bodies, some of them dismembered, have been discovered by international peacekeepers (Interfet) and journalists in the parts of the country which have been secured. "We've heard horrendous stories for which so far there's not a shred of evidence," said Mr Michel Barton, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance. "There have been murders. There have been terrible things that have happened here. "But we don't believe that people in the thousands have been killed and their bodies buried or thrown in the sea. If this had been the case, we would have found evidence of this by now, and none has been found," said Mr Barton. Militia groups rampaged through East Timor last month, burning, looting and destroying virtually every city, town and hamlet after the population voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence in a UN-supervised referendum. Mr Barton suggested that reports often exaggerated the extent of killings, citing a report by one foreign journalist that 40 bodies had been stuffed in a well in a Dili suburb, when in fact only one body was found. "Stories tend to be exaggerated, which is apparently a traditional phenomenon in this country," he said in Dili, adding that investigations would continue when UN civilian police reestablished a sizeable presence. About 400,000 of the territory's 890,000 people remain unaccounted for. Aid officials say some are dead, but the vast majority remain in hiding in the hills, awaiting assurances that it is safe for them to return to their homes. Since the deployment of Interfet on Sept 20 -- and the resulting easing of militia activity in major towns -- only about 150,000 East Timorese have returned to their homes. Mr Andrew McNaughtan, a Timor activist and a doctor with the relief group Timor Aid, said: "I don't think the killings can explain this huge discrepancy of missing people. "The majority of those missing are surviving or trying to survive in the hills and mountains." Interfet troops have been pouring into the western regions of East Timor along the border with West Timor for the past week, hoping to stamp out the last militia activity and secure the region for badly needed humanitarian assistance. Indonesian defence forces chief General Wiranto has issued a statement saying Indonesia would not let West Timor become a base for "any activity or struggle" against supporters of East Timor's independence or the peacekeepers. He has also ordered his troops to disarm the militia that had poured over the border into West Timor. -- Reuters, AFP No Proof of Horror "We've heard horrendous stories for which so far there's not a shred of evidence...There have been murders. There have been terrible things that have happened here. "But we don't believe that people in the thousands have been killed and their bodies buried or thrown in the sea. "If this had been the case, we would have found evidence of this by now, and none has been found." --Mr. Michel Barton, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance - ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 19 Oct 1999 jam 08:36:55 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
