East Timor Today

For updated daily news and pictures on what is happening in East Timor visit East Timor Today at http://www.easttimor.com/ See here what the site contains.

PHOTOGRAPHS

a) The night sky glows from burning homes in Dili. Automatic gunfire and fires spread over the East Timorese capital throughout the night as Indonesian security forces turned on the people, punishing them for the independence vote. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

b) Indonesian security forces charged with keeping the peace in Timor have turned on the Timorese people punishing them for the over- whelming vote for independence. (David Gray/Reuters)

c) Passengers unload their belongings from a truck before boarding a ship at Dili Sea-Port in East Timor Sunday. Violence escalated in the bloodied territory after the United Nations announced that the vast majority of East Timorese had voted in favor of breaking away from Indonesian rule. (David Gray/Reuters)

1) The butchery begins as Indonesian security forces punish Timorese people! 06/09/99 (AFP) "Thirty-six hours after the Timorese celebrated the victory of independence, Indonesia is preparing a plan of genocide and social disintegration to literally kill the independence movement," Lusa quoted the the statement as saying.

2) Indonesian security forces rampage after news of vote in Timor 06/09/99 (Associated Press) DILI, Indonesia—Indonesian security forces embarked on a new rampage of violence Saturday after the United Nations announced that East Timorese had voted overwhelmingly to become independent from Indonesia.

3) International community betrays the Timorese people. 06/09/99 (IFET-OP) Last night (Saturday) there was shooting throughout the night in the Dili suburb of Becora which continued till sun rise. Also early this morning hand grenades were heard to be exploding. Becora is now blockaded – nobody can get in or out. There is unconfirmed reports of many killings of men, women and children. An unconfirmed number of 77 bodies are reported to be scatted throughout houses, lane and water ways.

4) Witnesses: Scores Killed in E.Timor 06/09/99 (AP) "There is every indication that a massacre is taking place, staged by (Indonesian) military forces," Ana Gomes, Lisbon’s diplomatic envoy to Jakarta, told Portugal’s TSF radio. "Over 100 dead would be a conservative estimate."

5) Expelled activist tells of Indonesia’s payback. 06/09/99 (The Age) Dozens, if not hundreds, of East Timorese were being killed by the Indonesian military as a payback for last week’s independence vote, an Australian activist expelled from the territory said yesterday.

6) Timorese Militia Attack Nobel Prize Winner’s Home 06/09/99 (Reuters) JAKARTA (Reuters) - Pro-Indonesian militias rampaged through the East Timor capital, Dili, Sunday night, attacking the home of Nobel peace laureate Bishop Carlos Belo, torching the Catholic diocese office and burning houses, eyewitnesses in Dili said.

7) Militias Besiege E. Timor Capital 06/09/99 (AP) DILI, Indonesia (AP) - Tens of thousands of people crammed aboard ferries and planes to flee East Timor on Sunday, as pro-Indonesian militias besieged a U.N. compound and set fire to homes belonging to people who support independence for the province.

8) Refugees Flee As East Timor Burns 06/09/99 (AP) DILI, Indonesia (AP) - Pro-Indonesia militiamen and Indonesian security forces shot and burned their way through East Timor’s capital unchallenged Sunday, forcing thousands of terrified civilians to flee from violence set in motion by a vote overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Indonesia.

9) International donors question violence in East Timor 06/09/99 (IPS) The failure of Indonesian security forces to check anti- independence militias from rampaging against voters suspected of supporting an end to rule by Indonesia has unsettled the international financial institutions and governments providing loans and grants to Jakarta.

ENDS

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