RIGHTS-EAST TIMOR: UN Gives Indonesia Time To Show Results

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 9 1999 (IPS) - Despite growing international support for the dispatch of international troops to East Timor, the United Nations continued to wait Thursday to determine whether Indonesia would restore order in the strife-torn territory.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Indonesia believed it would be able to control the violence in East Timor after its imposition of martial law, and noted that Wednesday night was “relatively quiet, perhaps the quietest as they’ve had.”

Annan warned, however, that if the situation did not improve dramatically within the next two or three days, the UN Security Council would consider alternative strategies to halt the violence.

He added that the time frame for Inonesia to show results in ending the violence in East results should not be open-ended. “I don’t think it should be extended,” he said.

UN officials had plans to deploy possibly 6,000 international troops, led by Australia, and reportedly had received commitments from Malaysia, Canada, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Brazil to contribute to the force.

The United Nations, however, continued a strategy of waiting and monitoring the situation Thursday after it became clear that the 15-nation Security Council would take no immediate action to authorise the force.

The Council also is waiting for a report from the Council’s five-member diplomatic team, led by Namibian Ambassador Martin Andjaba, which is scheduled to visit East Timor on Saturday.

Andjaba’s team arrived in Jakarta earlier this week but failed to persuade Indonesian President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie to accept the deployment of an outside force – although the United States, China and other Council members deemed Jakarta’s acceptance to be essential.

The violence – in which pro-Indonesia militias have reportedly killed hundreds of pro-independence East Timorese and forced more than 250,000 people from their homes – has been linked to the Indonesian military by independent observers but Jakarta insisted it could be trusted to maintain security.

“The situation on the ground is worrisome,” acknowledged Makarim Wibisono, Indonesia’s UN ambassador. “But we have declared a military emergency there…the situation is improving.”

Wibisono claimed that, despite the violence, Indonesia could be trusted to respect the results of last week’s self-determination ballot in East Timor, in which nearly 80 percent of voters opted for independence from Indonesia’s 24-year rule.

“We are determined to see that the future of East Timor will be dependent on the wish of the majority of East Timor,” he said.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard added that the world body was willing to give Indonesia a chance to show it could halt the violence by the militias because of signs of an easing of the attacks over the past 24 hours.

“We’re beginning to see some improvement,” Eckhard said. “Let’s give it a bit more time.”

Yet Eckhard admitted that the members of the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) who remained in the capital, Dili, have seen widespread signs of destruction.

“Much of downtown Dili has been looted and burned, a significant proportion of the population has been displaced, and perhaps hundreds of people have been killed,” he said.

Nevertheless, UNAMET on Thursday changed its plans to withdraw most of its remaining personnel in Dili, with roughly half of the 200 staffers volunteering to stay on, Eckhard added.

UN officials, worried about the safety of some 2,000 East Timorese who had taken refuge in the UNAMET compound, decided this week to “thin out” the staff in Dili rather than to withdraw all personnel. But the UN staffers still reported restrictions on their movement by the militias.

Despite the slight improvement, UN officials believed that the situation in East Timor was still unacceptable, with armed militias roaming freely – sometimes in stolen UNAMET vehicles – and harassing the population.

East Timor’s independence leader, Xanana Gusmao, who was released from house arrest by Indonesia this week, urged the United Nations to send peacekeepers immediately, with or without Indonesia’s acceptance.

Wibisono said that the United Nations is supposed to take responsibility of East Timor’s security in “phase three” of the process outlined in the May 5 peace agreements between Indonesia and Portugal. That phase does not begin until Indonesia’s assembly accepts the ballot results, as it is expected to do in November.

In the current period – “phase two,” or the interregnum between the Aug. 30 ballot and Indonesia’s formal approval of it – Indonesia was authorised to control the security situation.

But Portuguese Ambassador Antonio Monteiro blamed the Indonesian army for the violence, arguing that it had formed and armed the militias which went on a rampage following the ballot.