---------------------------------------------------------- FREE Subscribe/UNsubscribe Indonesia Daily News Online 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 -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 Free Email @KotakPos.com visit: http://my.kotakpos.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post January 24, 2000 'No proof' Army Ordered Wave of Terror AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Dili Defence lawyers for six senior Indonesian generals implicated in the post-ballot violence that devastated East Timor left yesterday, saying they had no proof that the army as an institution ordered the wave of terror. "It is commonly known to the public that there is a relationship between pro-integration [militia] and TNI [the Indonesian military]. "This was also acknowledged by General Wiranto [armed forces chief at the time of the vote]," lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said. But the fact that "TNI had been seen with the militia, this doesn't mean that the TNI commander agreed to the destruction", he said. Mr Nasution was speaking in Dili after the defence team spent four days in East Timor trying to gather witness accounts relating to claims of military involvement in the murder and destruction that followed the August 30 independence vote. He said witnesses the team met in Dili had testified to the presence of members of the armed forces among the pro-Jakarta militias in September, when hundreds were killed, whole townships razed and more than half the population forcibly deported on military trucks, planes and ships. But he said this did not necessarily mean the Indonesian armed forces as an institution was guilty. "Such a relationship [with the militia], although it might be true, still needs clarification to involve the TNI as an institution. There must be evidence of an institutional decision . . . I believe we have a strong case," he said. The defence team's visit was soured from the start by the refusal of key witnesses, including the territory's two bishops, Carlos Belo and Basilio do Nascimento, as well as key figures in the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), to meet the lawyers. Mr Nasution said among those who rebuffed the defence team were also CNRT leader Xanana Gusmao and political co-ordinator Leandro Isaac. The lawyers questioned Father Francisco Beretto of the charity, Caritas, international force commander Major-General Peter Cosgrove, human rights activist Aniceto Guterrez and the head of the UN transitional administration, Sergio de Mello. The team also flew by UN helicopter to the devastated town of Manatuto, where not one building was left intact by the rampage. It was unable to land in the towns of Suai and Ainaro because of safety concerns, Mr Nasution said. Asked how the team would answer genocide charges, he said: "What really happened was only murder in some places, with victims from the same ethnic [group] having conflicting political views. This could not qualify as systematic unless there was further evidence that such murders were planned widely beforehand." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 27 Jan 2000 jam 05:27:46 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
