RIGHTS: UN Warns Violence Spreading in East Timor

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 1999 (IPS) - UN officials agree with what human rights groups have been saying for months: violence by militia groups in East Timor is growing against the pro-independence movement – but they differ on what should be the United Nations response.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a report to the 15-nation Security Council, warned Tuesday that “credible reports continue to be received of political violence, including intimidation and killings, by armed militias against unarmed pro- independence civilians.”

Violence has spread in recent days by militia groups who favour a continuation of the 23-year Indonesian occupation of East Timor, has spread in recent days, Annan said.

“There are indiciations that the militias, believed by many observers to be operating with the acquiescence of the (Indonesian) army, have not only in recent weeks begun to attack pro-independence groups, but are beginning to threaten moderate pro-integration supporters as well.”

In such a climate, Annan wrote in a report, most pro- independence leaders have gone into hiding, just weeks before the United Nations is organising an Aug. 8 ballot in which Timorese can either opt for autonomy under Indonesian rule or choose eventual independence.

UN officials and rights activists have warned that the violence could derail the August ballot but they are divided on how such a prospect can be prevented.

Annan still trusts Indonesia to be in charge of security for the vote, while some critics warn that only the deployment of UN peacekeepers can ensure a credible ballot.

Oxfam, the international aid group, warned Tuesday that the United Nations must “immediately boost its presence in East Timor” to prevent what it contended was the “sabotaging” of the process by the pro-Indonesia militias.

“An election under the guns of the militias is not a free election,” said Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam. “The consultation process must be conducted in an atmosphere free of fear and intimidation.”

Yet Offenheiser said that pro-independence groups have been harassed and intimidated by the militias, with many key groups and individuals in East Timor going underground and some 35,000 displaced people reportedly living in camps dominated by the militias.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Indonesian military are arming, training and directing militia forces,” he said. “The militia appears intent on sabotaging the election by creating a climate of fear and intimidation.”

“East Timor has become a law-free zone, where Indonesian- backed militias murder and commit mayhem with impunity,” agreed Charles Scheiner, UN representative of the International Federation for East Timor, in a letter sent to Annan.

The United Nations, Scheiner wrote, has been failing in its responsibility to ensure the safety of Timorese in the run-up to the August ballot. As a result, he argued, the world body needs to send peacekeepers to East Timor immediately, to prevent the peace process from becoming “a cruel hoax.”

Yet Annan, in his report to the Security Council, warned that “unrealistic expectations of the UN role exist among some East Timorese which cannot be met in full.”

Although the United Nations will speak out against intimidation by any party in the Timorese peace process, he added, it is Indonesia’s responsibity to provide security and bring armed militias under control.

That division of responsibilities was spelled out in the peace agreement signed May 5 by the Indonesian and Portuguese governments, which provided for the UN-organised vote but did not grant any peacekeeping role to UN troops.

Instead, the world body is set to deploy a UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), consisting of 241 international staff, 420 volunteers, some 280 civilian police and 4,000 local staff.

The police are intended to monitor Indonesia’s security arrangements and help train Jakarta’s forces for the ballot, but are not expected to carry any substantial weaponry or to use force.

As General Wiranto, head of the Indonesian armed forces, said recently, the UNAMET police “will only give suggestions to the Indonesian police.”

For critics of Jakarta’s occupation of East Timor, that is not enough. “The Indonesian military and its civilian leadership are playing the international community for fools, and the credibility of the United Nations itself is at stake,” Scheiner argued.

UN officials, however, are hemmed in by the need to secure approval of the Indonesian government for any deployment of troops – something Jakarta is not prepared to do.

The one real card Annan can play, if the violence continues , is to inform the Security Council that conditions for a fair vote do not exist – a recommendation which would likely cancel the current voting arrangements and embarrass Indonesia.

In his Council report, Annan pointedly noted, “I intend to carry out that responsibility (to certify the security situation) with the utmost care.”