September 09, 1999 
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| September 09, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Southeast Asia World Bank, US tighten the vice on Jakarta By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON - The United States and the World Bank have stepped up pressure on the Indonesian government, suggesting that badly needed financial support may be denied Jakarta if its forces cannot restore peace to East Timor. In a statement released here the World Bank, which provides hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Indonesia, said it was ''deeply concerned'' by the violence which had engulfed the territory's inhabitants after last week's vote for independence. ''This issue was, and continues to be, of paramount concern to our shareholders, who constitute Indonesia's key international partners,'' the Bank said. The wording was a scarcely veiled reference to Jakarta's major donors which last July committed $5.9 billion to Jakarta's efforts to recover from its 1997 financial meltdown. At the same time, the US State Department denounced the continuing rampage by pro-Indonesian gangs and security forces in East Timor as ''appalling'' and said it would closely monitor the impact - if any - of Jakarta's declaration earlier on Tuesday of martial law in Timor. Spokesman James Rubin insisted that Washington expected the Indonesian military under General Wiranto to restore order to the former Portuguese colony, although he reiterated comments made by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Vietnam on Monday that an international peacekeeping force may have to be called in to stop the violence. Australia, Timor's closest neighbor which has been outspoken in favor of dispatching such a force, has volunteered to lead one. At the same time, Australian Prime Minister John Howard is reportedly pressing President Bill Clinton to commit US troops to the force, which has become the subject of an internal US administration debate. Top national security officials met on Monday to consider US participation in an East Timor force, but reached no decision, according to political sources. Senior Pentagon officials, arguing that the military is already overcommitted in regional hotspots, reportedly opposed a US role, while officials at the State Department and National Security Council said US soldiers should provide non-combat support, the sources said. Howard, expected to take part in a key meeting with Albright in New Zealand on Thursday, reportedly has insisted that Washington provide at least some combat troops. ''I would be very surprised if we end up contributing people who carry things that go 'bang','' one top US official told IPS. ''But, if the Indonesians can't get the situation under control very soon, I'm sure we'll provide support in logistics and intelligence like we have done elsewhere.'' The official US and World Bank statements came amid a worsening situation in East Timor, which was invaded by Indonesia in 1975. With a death toll well into the hundreds, pro-Indonesian militias, backed by police and some military units, have taken control of most of the territory's towns, including the capital, Dili. Latest news reports spoke of fires razing entire neighborhoods and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes in what has been described as a well-planned and orchestrated depopulation campaign. Militia units also attacked the homes and offices of prominent community leaders, including Roman Catholic Archbishop Carlos Belo, the 1996 co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who flew to safety in Darwin, Australia, where he appealed for international support. The World Bank's statement was designed to send a message to the authorities in Jakarta that Indonesia's financial donors were prepared to withhold aid unless the situation was quickly resolved. It followed a statement on Monday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it was ''closely watching the situation'' in East Timor. The IMF led a $43 billion financial bailout of Indonesia, and most of those funds already have been disbursed. The World Bank which, in the fiscal year which ended June 30 committed $2.74 billion in new loans, was more direct in its statement. It suggested that Indonesia's main bilateral donors, which also dominate the Bank's governing board, may freeze aid to Jakarta unless the violence ends. The Bank noted that the government of Indonesian President B J Habibie had promised that Jakarta would provide ''full support'' to the United Nations in overseeing East Timor's referendum. It also stressed that pledge was a ''critical component of (Indonesia's) policy commitment, setting the context in which the program of international assistance in July is to be realized.'' One Bank insider called the statement one of the strongest issued publicly by the agency in relation to the political situation of a member country. Under its charter, the Bank is forbidden from linking loan decisions to political issues and some human-rights activists, who had been urging donors for months to withhold aid to Jakarta until the military ceased its support for the pro-Indonesia militias in East Timor, expressed disappointment. ''It's useful that the Bank at least went on record,'' said Mike Jendrzejczyk, an Asia expert at Human Rights Watch here. ''But it's ambiguous as to whether it will now suspend funding that's been approved but not yet disbursed. That should be clarified.'' Lynn Fredericksson , the Washington director of the East Timor Action Network, was more dismissive, calling the Bank's statement ''pathetic in the context of an attempted genocide''. ''These loans need to be suspended. Now is the time for the United States, the World Bank and other international financinal institutions to completely cut off funding for Indonesia,'' she said. ''We need to have something happen immediately.'' Some US lawmakers agreed and called on the Clinton administration to urgently freeze all aid to Jakarta. ''The US should make clear that we will actively oppose any World Bank loan to Indonesia,'' said Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy. In the House of Representatives, Rep Jim McGovern called on Washington to ''take the lead in urging other nations to suspend their assistance to Jakarta and for the international financial institutions to freeze all loan disbursements on current projects.'' (Inter Press Service) | |||||||||
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