TIMOR TODAY 22/12/99

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STORIES

1. Indonesia Panel To Query Wiranto About Timor Violence 22/12/99 JAKARTA (Associated Press)--State investigators have summoned IndonesiaÆs former military chief Gen. Wiranto to answer questions Wednesday about an orgy of violence that gripped East Timor three months ago, one of the investigators said Tuesday. "We will now start to summon all military officers who we allege knew the atrocities were taking place in East Timor but did nothing to stop it," said Munir, a member of the Investigative Commission for Human Rights Abuses in East Timor.

2. Indonesian rights team enlists foreign experts in East Timor probe 22/12/99 JAKARTA, (AFP) - An Indonesian team probing the post-ballot violence in East Timor is seeking to enlist the assistance of three foreign human rights experts, a member of the team said Tuesday. Todung Mulya Lubis, member of the state-backed Commission of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor (KPP HAM) said the commission was seeking to enlist the expertise of three foreigners, the Detikcom online news service said.

3. TNI officers seek clarifications from KPP-HAM The KPP had been set up to avoid the possibility of the generals being investigated and indicted before an international tribunal. æBoth teams should continue with their activities,Æ the minister said. æIf we dont have a human rights court to handle the cases, the officers could end up being tried before an international court. If the officers refuse to be tried, Indonesia could be isolated by the international community, like Iraq and Libya.

4. Troops Search New Grave Site: 14 Bodies Discovered 22/12/99 (Washington Post) Australian troops in East Timor are examining a newly discovered grave site in the Oe-Cussi enclave that may contain the remains of as many as 50 victims of last SeptemberÆs bloody rampage by Indonesian army troops and allied militias, which followed the territoryÆs overwhelming vote to secede from Indonesia. The head of the intervention force today predicted the final death toll from the violence would likely be in "the lower hundreds," not the thousands as initially feared.

5. Commission warns militia leaders of æobstruction of justiceÆ 22/12/99 - JAKARTA (JP): The government-sanctioned commission of inquiry into human rights abuses in East Timor (KPP HAM) warned prointegration militia leaders on Tuesday if they failed to adhere to the inquiryÆs summonses they could be considered to be "obstructing justice". The warning came after militia leaders failed to attend questioning on Tuesday.

6. Refugees in West Timor living in fear: Amnesty 22/12/99 CANBERRA, AAP - More than 100,000 refugees in West Timor were trapped in makeshift camps and living in a state of constant fear under the rule of the militia groups that destroyed East Timor, an Amnesty International report said today. The report was based on information collected by an Amnesty International team that returned recently from the region. It found many refugees were unable to return to East Timor, where the Australian-led Interfet troops had helped restore security following post-independence poll violence.

7. Bodies in lake believed to be church massacre victims 22/12/99 (AFP) - UN divers have found six bodies in a lake near Liquica in East Timor and fear nine more could lie beneath the mud, victims of a militia massacre, UN police said Tuesday. "WeÆre told there are 15. WeÆve discovered six at the moment," an investigator told AFP on Tuesday. The find has heightened long-held rumours that the lake was where militias dumped the bodies of people killed during an April massacre at a church in Liquica town, 35 kilometres (22 miles) west of here.

8. Norwich University to End Training of Indonesian Military 22/12/99 (ETAN) The East Timor Action Network today praised the decision by Norwich University, a private military university in Vermont, to sever ties with the Indonesian military. In October, Terry J. Allen writing in the Boston Globe, revealed that 13 Indonesian students were receiving ROTC military training. Eleven had a billing address at the Kopassus elite forces, one of the most notorious and brutal units of the Indonesian military.

9. Rock concert for peacekeepers and East Timorese in Dili 22/12/99 (AFP) - Rock music blasted across the burned-out buildings of this East Timorese city Tuesday afternoon as Australian musicians performed a free concert for international troops and local residents. Hundreds of East Timorese climbed trees, perched atop army trucks on the road or sat on the rusted corrugated metal roofs of nearby buildings to catch a glimpse of the three-hour show inside Dili Stadium. Thousands of others stood on the muddy soccer field and mingled with troops in front of a giant stage flanked by two large video screens and draped in camouflage netting.

PHOTOS

a) International Force for East Timor forensic experts examine bones and other human remains exhumed from a shallow grave in Dili. The Security Council should consider setting up an international tribunal to try those suspected of war crimes in East Timor if Indonesia fails to investigate its army's involvement in atrocities there, UN human rights investigators said in a report Tuesday. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)

b) Australian soldiers part of the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) react when Australian singer Kylie Minogue sings Tuesday Dec. 21, 1999 in Dili, East Timor. Interfet landed on the island on Sept. 20 to regain control of the province from pro-Indonesia militia who went on a rampage of destruction after it was announced the people had voted for independence in a United Nations-supervised ballot on Aug. 30. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

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