July 02, 1999
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| July 02, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Southeast Asia Indonesia draws criticism for militia attack on UN office By Farhan Haq UNITED NATIONS - Indonesia has drawn sharp criticism fora Tuesday morning attack on a UN office in East Timor, in thestrongest sign yet that plans for an August referendum on EastTimor's self-determination may be in danger. UN officials, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the 15-nation Security Council, quickly condemned the attack, reportedlyby pro-Indonesia paramilitaries, on the regional office in Malianaof the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET). Annan held the Indonesian government ''accountable for allowingsuch an attack to occur, and deems any assault on UNAMET personnelor property completely unacceptable,'' said UN spokesman FredEckhard on Tuesday. Annan and the Security Council - which expressed its concern onEast Timor's security situation in a Tuesday statement - bothdemanded a thorough investigation of the incident. Eckhard said that approximately 100 people, believed to be''pro-integration militia members,'' threw rocks at the UNAMEToffice in Maliana, seriously injuring about a dozen people,including a UN election officer from South Africa. The officeitself was damaged, UN officials added. ''The indications are that this was not a spontaneous event,''argued Ian Martin, the UN special envoy in East Timor, in a pressconference in Dili. ''Indeed, the large size of rocks thrown at our office suggestsit wasn't spontaneous,'' Martin said. ''There had also beenindications that such action would be taken, which we reported tothe police beforehand." He added that the attack was ''certainly a shock,'' although henoted that ''we have had a number of threats against UNAMET." For UN officials, the Maliana attack signalled an ominous risein hostilities between UNAMET and East Timorese militia groups,which favor a continuation of Indonesia's 23-year occupation ofthe former Portuguese colony. In recent days, Martin noted, some groups have accused theUnited Nations of lacking neutrality in the East Timor conflictand favoring the side that supports the territory'sindependence. The United Nations has denied such accusations. Still, as violence by the pro-Indonesia militias continues,some UN officials are worried that the vote on East Timor's status -which already has been delayed by two weeks from its initialscheduled date of August 8 - could be in peril. Martin called for Jakarta to provide additional security to allUN offices, and said UNAMET is ''reviewing whether any furtherrestrictions on our activity may be necessary as a result of this." Annan, meanwhile, emphasized that ''such actions of provocationand vandalism will not deter UNAMET from fulfilling itsobligations,'' Eckhard said. Yet the violence directed against the UN staffers represents aworsening of the climate in which dozens of pro-independenceTimorese have been harassed and killed by the militias in recentmonths. (In one recent report, Amnesty International cited atleast 34 cases of what it deemed to be executions of independencesupporters by the militias.) UN officials had hoped that the deployment of some 900 UNofficers - including some 270 unarmed police - by next month wouldcalm the situation enough for the vote to be held by late August.But despite an easing in the East Timorese capital, Dili, theTuesday attack shows that tensions remain high. Security Council President Baboucarr-Blaise Ismaila Jagne ofGambia voiced the body's concern that ''militias and other armedgroups have carried out acts of violence against the localpopulation and exercise an intimidating influence over them." The unity of the council's 15 member states came after severaldays in which some nations sitting on the council, includingMalaysia and Bahrain, had pushed for softer language about theviolence, sources told IPS. But the attack on Maliana stepped uppressure for the council to weigh in against the pro-Indonesiagroups, the sources added. The UN preparations for voting began after a May 5 agreementbetween Indonesia and Portugal, East Timor's former colonialpower, which would allow East Timorese above the age of 17 to optfor either autonomy under Indonesian rule or independence. Yet the violence directed against the pro-independence movementhas led some UN officials to worry that Jakarta is still unwillingto allow a ''free and fair'' vote in which it could lose theisland state, which it invaded in 1975 and annexed the followingyear. Meanwhile, logistical delays have stalled the arrival ofUNAMET, which is now expected to complete its deployment by Jul. 10. The Security Council urged UNAMET to proceed with itsdeployment and warned that all sides must allow ''complete freedomof movement for UNAMET within East Timor in order to carry out itstasks." (Inter Press Service) | ||||||||||||
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