Transition & reconstruction

East Timor army takes over district from UN force

Agence France Presse - July 23, 2002

Jakarta -- East Timor's army on Tuesday replaced United Nations peacekeepers in one district of the new nation -- the first step in a 20-month handover which will see the blue berets bow out.

The army took over responsibility for the Lautem district in the east, the UN said.

The UN force commander in East Timor, Thai Lieutenant General Winai Phattiyakul, described the handover as "another landmark in the history of East Timor."

Winai, quoted in a statement received in Jakarta, said the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) "will continue to support East Timor as per its UN mandate and is committed to maintaining a calm and stable environment throughout East Timor."

The territory became independent on May 20 after 24 years of harsh Indonesian rule and 32 months of UN stewardship.

The army will gradually take over the remaining 12 districts over the next 20 months before UNMISET winds up in June 2004. The UN mission now has 5,000 troops, 1,200 police and 100 civilian experts.

But UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned in April that the gradual reduction of the peacekeeping force up to June 2004 "is premised on the key assumption that the threat from the militia elements will gradually reduce."

Pro-Jakarta local militias, organised by the Indonesian army, waged a campaign of intimidation before the August 1999 independence vote and a "scorched earth" revenge campaign afterwards.

More than 1,000 people were killed, whole towns were destroyed and more than 250,000 people either fled or were forced across the border into Indonesian West Timor.

In the face of world condemnation Indonesia accepted an Australian-led peacekeeping force and in October 1999 the UN took over the territory.

President Xanana Gusmao, army chief Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak and local UN chief Kamalesh Sharma attended the handover ceremony.

East Timor's army, currently 650-strong, was largely recruited from the ranks of Falintil, the guerrilla force which once battled Indonesian occupation.

It is due to grow over three years to reach 1,500 regulars and 1,500 reservists. Recruits are being trained by members of the Australian, South Korean, Portuguese and New Zealand contingents.

West Timor/refugees

East Timorese to lose refugee status by end of 2002

Jakarta Post - July 27, 2002

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta -- The Indonesian government has again extended the deadline for the repatriation of East Timorese refugees living in squalid camps in West Timor.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said Friday the refugees would lose their refugee status by December 31, 2002 -- the third such deadline.

Briefing the press after accompanying President Megawati Soekarnoputri to a meeting with United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNMISET) chief Kamalesh Sharma, Hassan said East Timorese refugees had to decide before the deadline whether they wanted to stay in Indonesia or return to East Timor.

"The UN has also decided that by December 31 the refugee status of East Timorese in West Timor will be withdrawn," Hassan said.

According to East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet A. Tallo, 50,000 East Timorese refugees were still living in makeshift camps in Atambua and Kupang regencies, even though the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) earlier put the figure at 35,000 people.

As many as 250,000 East Timorese fled to West Timor in September 1999 after thousands of military-backed militia members went on a bloody rampage to protest the results of a United Nations- organized referendum in which East Timorese overwhelmingly voted to break away from Indonesia.

The rampage claimed the lives of an estimated 1000 people and destroyed almost 80 percent of the infrastructure in the former Portuguese colony.

Minister Hassan also said Friday that beginning Sept. 1 Indonesia would no longer be involved in the repatriation of East Timorese refugees, leaving UNHCR as the only agency responsible for their return to East Timor.

Hassan stressed that the two dates were needed to force the refugees to decide whether to stay in Indonesia or to return to East Timor.

"We have agreed that we are going to settle all East Timor refugees by the end of the year," the minister said.

In the meeting with President Megawati, Sharma urged both Indonesia and East Timor to immediately resolve lingering problems between the two countries.

Sharma said the Indonesia-East Timor joint commission should immediately solve the issues through discussion.

"We understand that the Indonesian government is now waiting for a response from the East Timor government as they are yet to appoint representatives to the commission," Sharma said. Hassan said the joint commission would hold its first meeting either in September or October.

Meanwhile, Antara reported from Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara that some 250 East Timorese refugees were leaving for Dili on Friday, and another 2,000 people were scheduled to return in early August.

It is still uncertain, however, if makeshift refugee camps in West Timor would be really closed down by December 2002.

The government had made several deadlines before but extended them as the refugees have failed to make up their minds as to whether to stay in Indonesia or to return to their ancestral land.

Last year, the government announced that the camps would be closed in January 2002, but delayed the closure till June. Now, it has set the deadline at Dec. 31.

Hassan also revealed that the government and UN had set up a US$6 million trust fund to give one-time payments to former Indonesian civil servants, security officers and police personnel.

However the amount was still far away from the US$22 million needed to pay pension funds to thousands of former Indonesian civil servants.

"UNMISET will further try to persuade donor agencies to increase the contribution," Hassan said.

The journey home: Repatriation from West Timor

Jesuit Refugee Service -- 23 Jul 2002

On 22 July more than a thousand East Timor refugees set off on their journey to cross the border from West Timor and return home.

JRS in West Timor reports that there were 47 returnees from Kupang, 84 from Soe, 5 from Kefa, and hundreds from Atambua. The returnees from Kupang had a long journey to make: firstly they went to Atambua the day before, stayed overnight in the cold air before being delivered to the border with hundreds of other returnees. "You are just about to move your bedroom. Last night you still slept in camps. Tonight you will sleep in your home country," an Indonesian military commander told the hundreds of assembled returnees. At 9.30 a.m. hundreds of vehicles loaded the returnees and their belongings and began the journey towards the border.

It has been nearly three years now since the mass exit from East to West Timor -- a population movement sparked by violence and large-scale destruction during and after a traumatic vote for independence in East Timor in August 1999. While the majority of the refugees have since returned home, thousands still remain in the camps in West Timor. Since the beginning of 2002, the number of people returning home to East Timor has increased substantially. This has been due in part to the desire to return home for the recent presidential elections and the celebration of Independence. However, since January 2002, the government of Indonesia has cut humanitarian assistance to East Timor refugees, thus adding a further incentive to return.

"When did you dismantle your place in the camp?" a JRS staff member asked a female returnee from Atambua camp. "Yesterday," she answered shortly. "At what time did they pick you up?" "Early dawn, at about three?" "Where did you sleep then last night?" "We didn't sleep at all. We just sat, waiting for the truck to take us to the border," she explained.

JRS joined one of the buses and was surprised to find only one family, a mother with three children, on board. A JRS staff member asked the mother about her reasons for going home.

"Life is getting more difficult here. I could hardly support my four children. I could get vegetables or food easily from my garden in East Timor, but here, I couldn't find any for free. Everything has to be paid for. This land doesn't belong to us, East Timorese," she replied in a plain manner.

Nurlela had been living in Lakafehan camp since 10 September 1999 with her four children -- her husband died due to illness. She relied on government food assistance to sustain her family, but since the government stopped the assistance she started selling fish at the market.

"I usually got 15 to 20 thousand rupiah per day for the fish, but not every day. I have to support four children, pay their school fees, transportation, monthly payment for electricity," she said. She was carrying her baby -- not more than a year old. Her eldest son kept an eye on their belonging in the truck and on the other two younger children. When we passed through Lakafehan camp, they waved their hands at some people they knew. Nurlela shed a few tears. "Why did you leave the camp and return to East Timor?" JRS asked one of Nurlela's children, Dewi Ratnasari (10).

"Because they want us to leave. If we stay, they will shoot us" she said. "Who said that? Did you hear that yourself?" JRS asked again. She smiled her uncertain answer.

"We were asked to gather on Thursday night, and were asked to leave the camp. They talked a lot, but I didn't understand what they were talking about," Rudy (15), the second son of Nurlela said.

"Now, only a few refugees stay there," he said while waving his hands and calling out the names of his friends in the camp in Lakafehan.

When we reached the border town, there were already around 80 people crossing the frontier. JRS delivered lunch packages to all the returnees and accompanied three mothers with their new-born babies, one pregnant mother, and a very old couple to the junction point where a doctor from IOM had been waiting for them.

East Timor refugees return home

International Organisation for Migration - July 23, 2002

Jean Philippe Chauzy (Extract) -- Yesterday some 1,100 East Timorese refugees returned home to East Timor from the towns of Soe and Atambua in West Timor.

The movement, organised by the Indonesian West Timor Refugee Taskforce (Satlak) and funded by IOM, followed successful reconciliation talks between refugee leaders and government of East Timor.

Soe's refugee camps were previously regarded as a stronghold of the pro-Indonesian militias responsible for the widespread destruction in East Timor in September 1999.

The group included 60 former East Timorese members of the Indonesian army (TNI), as well as civil servants and their extended families.

Indonesian General Willem Da Costa, who was instrumental in encouraging the group to return, received the former soldiers' uniforms at a ceremony in Atambua yesterday, before they joined trucks to travel to the nearby Batugade border crossing point.

In Batugade, IOM trucks picked up the 352 families to take them on to their final destinations in Bobonaro, Ermera, Liquica, Dili and Los Palos districts. A second cross border movement of some 200 refugees is expected to take place at the southern border crossing point of Salele today.

Da Costa warns against impeding return of refugees

Lusa - July 23, 2002

The Indonesian commander of West Timor said Tuesday there were "one or two people" among his forces who "continued efforts" to derail the repatriation of East Timorese refugees, actions he would "not tolerate".

The army was already investigating the case and could interrogate those responsible for hobbling repatriation efforts soon, Indonesia's Antara news agency quoted Major General Willem da Costa as saying. "I've already said that I would not tolerate any action aimed to impede the return home of refugees. If it is proved they are doing this I will take harsh measures", Gen. da Costa reportedly said.

The military intelligence service was also investigating civilians suspected of intimidating refugees from returning to East Timor, he added.

In a related development, Antara also reported Tuesday that former anti-independence militia leader Joao Tavares said he was willing to stand trial after returning home, but "not immediately", as speedy trials could discourage others from returning. "All this has to be discussed in advance. Only then will the return of thousands be realized", Tavares reportedly said.

His comments came ahead of a planned fourth round of talks with Dili officials over reconciliation and repatriation. Of the estimated 250,000 East Timorese who fled or were forced by pro- Jakarta militias into Indonesia in 1999, between 30,000 and 40,000 are thought to remain, primarily in West Timor.

TNI general bids farewell to refugees

Jakarta Post - July 23, 2002

Yemris Fointuna, Atambua -- As many as 1,175 East Timorese refugees, or 335 families, including 35 Indonesian soldiers and civil servants, left East Nusa Tenggara on Monday for their newly independent homeland.

The repatriation of members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) moved Udayana Military Commander Maj. Gen. William T. da Costa, who led their farewell ceremony at the border area of Atambua.

"I am extremely moved by this event because one of them, Chief Capt. Joachim do Santos, is my best bodyguard. He has worked with me for three years and now he has chosen to return to his homeland," he said.

Their departure for East Timor was marked by the removal of official TNI and civil servant badges. They received compensations of Rp 15 million to Rp 17 million each.

Up to 50,000 East Timorese are still staying in camps across this province. The repatriation is expected to finish by the end of the year.

William asked the returning refugees to start a new life, in harmony with other East Timorese residents, and live in peace with their Indonesian neighbors.

"For sure, you are no longer Indonesian citizens. Please go home and abide by all the regulations there. Respect your flag and sing the national Timor Lorosae anthem. But one thing that you should not forget is that we are all Timorese people," he said emotionally as the refugees sobbed.

Apart from household belongings, some of the returning refugees also carried the skeletons of members of their families and relatives who had died at refugee camps.

"Less than 20 human skeletons are being taken home with the refugees," Wirasakti military chief Kol. Moeswarno Moesanip, who oversees security in the NTT capital of Kupang, told journalists after the farewell ceremony. Lt. Col. Tjuk Agus Minahasa, chief of the Belu district Military Command, said more refugees would be repatriated on August 17.

Soldiers discourage East Timor repatriation: da Costa

Agence France Presse - July 22, 2002

An Indonesian general admitted on Monday that some soldiers and civilians have been trying to discourage the tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees in Indonesian West Timor from returning home.

"From the ranks of the TNI [the Indonesian armed forces] there are one or two people who are making efforts to change the wishes [of refugees] to return home because they are still emotional," Major General William da Costa said.

Speaking in the West Timorese border town of Atambua, Da Costa was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying that the military had already summonsed these individuals.

"I told them that whatever they do to prevent the refugees from returning home I will not allow ... if they are proven to do so, I will take firm actions," he said.

Da Costa said civilians also had been discouraging the refugees from returning. He gave no details but said the intelligence service would root them out and they would be firmly punished.

Da Costa, who heads the Udayana military command which also oversees West Timor, was speaking after seeing off 1,163 refugees who left for home in East Timor.

More than 250,000 East Timorese either fled or were forced by pro-Jakarta militias across the border into West Timor when Indonesia pulled out of the territory in 1999 amid widespread militia violence.

There have been numerous reports in the past that the militias were intimidating people in the camps from returning. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in January that although the threats were continuing, economic factors were now the main reason why many were reluctant to go home.

Many who once served with the Indonesian army or civil service in East Timor feared the loss of pensions or severance pay. A fund has been set up to help meet some pension payments.

The UNHCR now says fewer than 50,000 refugees are still in Indonesia, of whom 30,000-35,000 are expected to choose to return.

Da Costa called on the remaining East Timorese to take advantage of the 750,000 rupiah (83.3 dollars) per capita financial assistance given by the government to each returnee until August 31. Another mass repatriation is to be held on August 17, Indonesia's independence day, he said.

East Timor became independent on May 20 and has encouraged its people to return.

Government & politics

Urging more debate, Gusmao vetoes government's tax bill

Lusa - July 26, 2002

President Xanana Gusmao vetoed the East Timorese government's tax-hiking fiscal bill Friday, in his second clash this month with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri over financial and economic policies.

Gusmao announced his veto in a nationally broadcast radio address, justifying his decision with what he said were "contradictions" in government policies of simultaneously seeking to boost tax revenues and to bolster economic activity by attracting investors.

There was no immediate official reaction from the government. But leaders of Alkatiri's Fretilin party, which holds 55 seats in the 88-member legislature, told Lusa it was unlikely the government or parliament would substantially alter the bill.

Jacob Fernandes, the acting speaker, said Gusmao's veto was, itself, "contradictory", as it was intimately linked to the government's budget that the president signed two weeks ago. Gusmao held the budget back for two weeks before promulgation, criticizing Alkatiri for having used his legislative majority to speed its approval in parliament with limited debate.

The fiscal bill, approved earlier this month by parliament, unfairly penalized the least privileged sectors of society and was frightening away foreign investors, Gusmao said in his speech. He suggested belt-tightening measures to limit the need for higher taxes, such as reducing the planned purchase of a fleet of government vehicles.

"It is not my intention to push the government into a ravine", he said, adding that his only intention in vetoing the bill was to "motivate discussion" and help build a "strong and capable civil society".

Analysts in Dili underlined what they said was a lack of regular communication between the president and prime minister of the 10-week-old independent nation. On running for president in April elections -- which he won with more than 80 percent of the vote, Gusmao rejected the offered backing of Alkatiri's dominant Fretilin party, which he once led. He indicated at that time that he wanted to be a political counter-weight to aid democratic development.

Justice & reconciliation

Former militia boss prepared to be tried, but not yet

Agence France Presse - July 23, 2002

Jakarta -- The exiled former commander of militias in East Timor said Tuesday he and his followers are prepared to face justice after they return home, but only following a period of readjustment.

"If we come home en masse and are immediately arrested, who's going to want to return to East Timor? That has to be discussed first and then the return of thousands of people can become reality," Joao da Silva Tavares said, according to the state news agency Antara in a report from Atambua in Indonesian West Timor.

Tavares, who led an umbrella group of Indonesian-supported armed gangs in East Timor, is negotiating with authorities in newly- independent East Timor to return home with what he says are thousands of his followers.

"I am also ready to be processed [in a court] if that is the desire of various related parties there, but not immediately the moment we arrive in East Timor, " said Tavares, who commanded the Integration Fighters' Force (PPI).

Since June Tavares has had three meetings with East Timorese authorities to discuss his return. He first asked that all the refugees be allowed to stay in a large transit camp just inside the border. Then he modified his request and asked for transit camps in each of East Timor's 13 districts.

"Later in the third meeting we no longer demanded all sorts of things, only that they show some attention to the matter," he said, referring to his wish for a delay in the arrest of alleged human rights violators. Tavares said he hopes a follow-up meeting can be held soon.

East Timor's Attorney General Longuinhos Monteiro has warned that those who were responsible for the violence in 1999 and throughout Indonesia's 24-year rule of East Timor would eventually face justice.

Indonesia's militia proxies waged a campaign of murder and intimidation ahead of East Timor's August 1999 vote to separate from Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

After the vote the militia campaign, backed by Indonesian security forces, escalated to a scorched-earth policy of looting, arson and murder. More than 250,000 people either fled or were forced into West Timor.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says fewer than 50,000 refugees are still in Indonesia, of whom 30,000-35,000 are expected to choose to return. Most of those remaining in the camps are former soldiers, police, civil servants or militia and their followers.

Tavares has so far avoided punishment and is not one of the 18 people facing charges in Jakarta for gross human rights violations in East Timor. Although Tavares headed the PPI, his deputy, Eurico Guterres, handled the day-to-day running of the militias. Guterres is on trial in Jakarta.

Amnesty proposal aims for free, 'national debate': Alkatiri

Lusa - July 22, 2002

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has rejected domestic and international criticism of a government amnesty and sentence reduction bill under discussion in the East Timorese legislature, saying the proposal aimed precisely to encourage "national debate".

Alkatiri, in comments to Lusa in Dili Friday, also said his ruling Fretilin party would not impose partisan discipline over the issue in parliament, permitting lawmakers to vote "their conscience".

"If there is an issue that deserves national debate it is this, because it touches the family nucleus", Alkatiri said of the controversial proposal. Foreign critics should "shut up" and "not try to influence the national debate", he added, saying he was "not worried by the criticism".

The amnesty and sentence reduction bill for certain offences, excluding crimes of blood, was proposed as a compromise between the tougher government stance and the more forgiving position of President Xanana Gusmao, according to officials.

The bill has been criticized at home and abroad, including by US- based Human Rights Watch, for allegedly hobbling justice in East Timor's search for reconciliation between adversaries in the quarter-century struggle for independence from Indonesian occupation.

Human rights trials

Timor trial prosecutors demand ten years for police chief

Agence France Presse - July 25, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesian prosecutors have demanded a prison sentence of more than 10 years for East Timor's former police chief, saying he did nothing to prevent or to halt militia massacres in 1999 in which police and troops took part.

Timbul Silaen, 53, had been found "guilty, legally and convincingly" of gross human rights violations in East Timor, prosecutor James Pardede told judges at the human rights court, who have yet to reach a verdict.

Pardede, summing up the prosecution case, said evidence had shown that Silaen, who is now with national police headquarters, was guilty of crimes against humanity because of the numerous civilian victims.

Silaen is accused of failing to control his subordinates and failing to take appropriate steps within his authority to halt five massacres of civilians in April and September 1999 in which more than 100 died. The charges are punishable by between 10 years' jail and death.

Pardede said the recommended sentence of 10.5 years was based on Silaen's failure to "carry out his role and duty in a maximal way" and to control his subordinates.

He said Silaen had ignored information that some soldiers and policemen had taken part in several attacks on civilians in the capital Dili and the towns of Liquica and Suai. Silaen, the prosecutor said, also failed to order an inquiry into the involvement of police or soldiers.

"The attacks involved personnel from the TNI [the Indonesian armed forces,] the Brimob [police elite force] and police," Pardede said, adding that security personnel had fired shots during the attacks.

Several witnesses, including some flown in from East Timor, have told various trials at the court that several policemen and soldiers were involved in the attacks on civilians at churches in Liquica and Suai and at the Dili diocese and the residence of the Dili bishop in April and September 1999.

Their testimony contradicts the officially accepted Indonesian version of events. This portrays the violence before and after East Timor's independence vote on August 30, 1999, as spontaneous clashes between pro- and anti-Jakarta local factions, which the military could not control.

Prosecutors said that as police chief Silaen was responsible for security before, during and after the ballot in which East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to break away from Indonesia.

"I am convinced that I did my best," Silaen told reporters after the trial session. "I am convinced, and the facts in court show ... that the police institutions, especially me, did the best for the state."

Pro-Jakarta militiamen, nutured and supported by Indonesian military elements, waged a brutal campaign of intimidation before the vote and a revenge campaign afterwards. An estimated 1,000 people died that year.

Silaen is one of 18 military and police officers, officials and civilians who have been brought before the rights court.

Prosecutors have recommended a similar jail sentence for former East Timor governor Jose Osorio Abilio Soares over the same charges. There has been no verdict in his case yet.

The trials were held to deflect pressure for an international war crimes tribunal. They are being closely watched internationally for proof that Jakarta will punish those behind the violence.

Former army chief accused of post-referendum rights abuses

Agence France-Presse - July 24, 2002

A senior Indonesian military officer was accused of ignoring massacres of at least 39 civilians by army-backed pro-Jakarta militias following East Timor's vote for independence in August 1999.

Prosecutors in Indonesia's human rights court said Wednesday Colonel Nur Muis, as East Timor's military chief between August 1999 and March 2000, failed to stop militias and their army supporters from killing civilians seeking refuge in the Dili diocese, the home of East Timor's bishop and a church in September 1999.

Muis is the last of 18 soldiers, policemen and civilians to be brought before the court for crimes against humanity in the territory. No verdicts have yet been given.

The attack on the Dili diocese left at least three people dead while that on the residence of Nobel peace laureate Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo claimed 10 lives or more, said the indictment.

At least 26 people, including three priests, were killed in the attack on the Hail Mary church at Suai, it said. All the three places were filled with pro-independence East Timorese fleeing the violence.

The militia attacks came a few days after it was announced that almost 80 percent of East Timorese had voted for independence from Indonesia in a vote sponsored by the United Nations.

"Nur Muis as a military commander can be held responsible for crimes committed by forces under his effective command and control ... because those crimes stemmed from his failure to exercise appropriate control," the indictment said.

Prosecutors said Muis, 49, declined Belo's request for trucks to transport refugees from East Timor's capital Dili to Baucau district. "We have no vehicles," the indictment quoted Muis as having told Belo.

His trial was adjourned until August 7. Muis' predecessor, Brigadier General Tono Suratman, is also on trial for abuses before the independence vote.

The militias, created and supported by Indonesian military elements, waged a campaign of intimidation before the vote for independence and revenge afterwards. At least 1,000 East Timorese are estimated to have died and whole towns were burnt to the ground.

Indonesia set up the court to deflect pressure for a UN tribunal into the violence. The trials are being closely watched by the world for proof that Jakarta will punish those behind the violence.

Indonesian soldiers participated in Timor raid: witness

Associated Press - July 24, 2002

Jakarta -- An East Timorese farmer testified Wednesday that he saw Indonesian soldiers fire on a pro-independence leader's house during the violence that engulfed the territory in 1999.

Alfredo Sanches said that moments after the April 1999 shooting, anti-independence militiamen forced their way into the home of separatist leader Manuel Carrascalao where hundreds of people were sheltering.

Twelve people were killed in the raid on the house in East Timor's capital, Dili. "I saw armed militiamen shoot fellow refugees to death," said Sanches, who was in the house and was shot twice and stabbed during the attack.

He made the comments during the trial of former Dili police chief Col. Hulman Gulton. He, and 17 other security and government officials, are being prosecuted for alleged crimes against humanity. The defendants have all denied the charges.

UN officials and human rights activists have accused Indonesia's army and pro-Jakarta militias of being responsible for killing nearly 1,000 people and destroying much of the territory after the majority of East Timorese voted to secede from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored August, 1999 referendum.

Trial witnesses have testified that Indonesia's government funded the militias and some soldiers and police officers either allowed the attacks to take place or actively participated in them.

The last of the 18 men facing prosecution over the violence started his trial Wednesday. Col. Nur Muis oversaw Indonesia's military in East Timor during the ballot.

He is accused of failing to prevent his subordinates and militiamen from attacking a church and the homes of two pro- independence leaders in raids that left at least 40 people dead.

Indonesia

Ramos Horta praises improved Jakarta ties

South China Morning Post - July 27, 2002

Peter Kammerer -- Relations with Indonesia are progressing strongly, with issues such as the return of refugees to be settled within months, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said yesterday.

Mr Ramos Horta, on a private visit to Hong Kong before the Asean Regional Forum in Brunei on Monday, said Dili and Jakarta were involved in numerous negotiations.

There had been no border incursions since East Timor became the world's newest nation on May 20 and diplomatic visits proved the relationship was improving.

Indonesia's sometimes brutal 24-year occupation of the former Portuguese colony ended in 1999 after an overwhelming vote for independence by East Timorese. The referendum was marred by killings and violence by Jakarta-backed gangs which forced thousands of people to flee to the neighbouring Indonesian province of West Timor.

Relations with Indonesia remained frosty until Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri attended Dili's independence celebrations. Last month, her East Timorese counterpart, Xanana Gusmao, went to Jakarta, where he called for reconciliation.

"Xanana got a warm welcome," Mr Ramos Horta said. "No problems exist with Indonesia. Only about 400 refugees remain in West Timor and all those who want to return will be back within a few months."

He was hopeful the Jakarta-based criminal court trying generals and senior officials accused of being behind the 1999 unrest would reach a fair verdict.

He said some people were sceptical that the court would provide proper justice, but he was confident the international community would ensure the correct outcome.

However, ties with Australia seem less smooth. Although an agreement has been signed on revenues from oil reserves in the Timor Gap, talks on a disputed boundary have yet to begin.

Mr Ramos Horta said negotiations would start next month and although East Timor held just 20 per cent of the territory containing the rich oil and gas reserves and was seeking 100 per cent, he was sure a deal would be reached.

An agreement already signed with Australia guarantees East Timor 90 per cent of the revenues from the Timor Sea oil and gas reserves. Within two to three years, they will generate between US$20 million and US$40 million a year for East Timor, which is among the world's poorest countries.

Mr Ramos Horta also was confident his nation would be granted observer status with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations within months and full membership in about five years. His call earlier this year for the release from house arrest of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi infuriated the ruling junta, which vowed to block East Timor's membership.

Mr Ramos Horta said he would meet his Myanmar counterpart in Brunei and was confident the issue could be resolved.

He also said Hong Kong philanthropist Sir Eric Hotung had accepted the post of East Timor's honorary consul in the SAR and would take up the position in September. He praised Sir Eric for his support of East Timor and said he had also been appointed to an ambassadorial role under which he would promote East Timor in the region and the United States.

Dili's UN chief holds wide-ranging talks with Megawati

Lusa - July 26, 2002

The head of the UN mission in East Timor met Friday with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri for discussions aimed to "consolidate and intensify" relations between Dili and Jakarta.

Megawati and UNMISET`s Kamalesh Sharma debated a wide-range of issues, including delimitation of borders, the repatriation of refugees, justice and the launching of a previously agreed bilateral commission, according to an UNMISET communique.

Sharma met with Megawati on the final day of his four-day visit to Indonesia, during which the Indian UN diplomat held talks with several senior members of Jakarta's government.

News & issues

In the shoes of Mary Robinson, the new guardian of the world

Melbourne Age - July 27 2002

The diplomat who nursed East Timor to nationhood is the new UN Human Rights Commissioner. Jill Jolliffe recalls his reign in Dili.

In October, 1999, Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, a handsome, elegantly dressed man, arrived in Dili for the first time. The task he had been given by the UN was enormous, but his first priority was to redeem the world body's credibility from the smoking ruins of militia-devastated Dili.

After promising never to desert the Timorese, his predecessor Ian Martin was forced to withdraw by a violent militia siege of the UN compound after the independence victory in the August 30 plebiscite.

De Mello was to lead the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), in preparation for independence. At first, East Timorese leaders deemed him an excellent choice. A Portuguese- speaker, he spoke their language both literally and in a wider sense. He was an experienced UN career diplomat, having occupied key positions in Cambodia and Kosovo, and was on the up and up. This week, he was named Mary Robinson's successor to the post of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

What kind of man is he? His reign in East Timor provides some clues. Soon after his arrival, de Mello made friends with resistance hero Xanana Gusmao and homecoming Timorese diplomat Jose Ramos Horta.

The Brazilian later hosted a press conference to farewell Ian Martin, who urged the world not to forget the violence and to ensure the guilty were tried. "I know Sergio strongly intends to uncover the full truth of the violence before and after the ballot," he asserted, "and put to justice those with prime responsibility not just for its execution but for its planning."

De Mello's achievements in the following two years were formidable. He built a nation from scratch, restoring East Timor's economy and supervising two elections. By independence on May 20, he had a success story on his hands -- at least to the casual observer. He had, however, failed to bring leading perpetrators of the 1999 violence to trial, and it now seems unlikely they will ever be tried.

Joaquim Fonseca, a youthful founder of Yayasan Hak, the country's leading human rights foundation, feels cheated. "I think it is ironic that the UN is appointing Sergio Vieira de Mello as the Human Rights Commissioner, given his record in East Timor and his failure to bring justice," he says. "East Timor was for many years a high-profile case, and it promoted his profile."

The great fear of Fonseca's generation is that failure to judge the guilty will create new lawlessness. "We have lost a very valuable opportunity. People want justice, and they may take it into their own hands."

In fairness, de Mello was working in a human rights framework weighted against success. He had been lumbered with a near- unworkable Security Council resolution which stipulated that Indonesia should be given the chance to try its own officers accused of war crimes, although the UN could also hold trials in Dili. If these trials failed, the resolution stated, an international court could then be set up.

The Serious Crimes Unit was formed in Dili, with strong support from the administrator, to charge human rights violators. Arrest warrants were issued for Indonesian officers but Jakarta refused extradition, despite an April, 2000, agreement with UNTAET. Under UN regulations, they could not be tried in absentia.

The result was that although UNTAET has obtained convictions for crimes against humanity, including the December, 2000, verdict for the horrific Lospalos massacre, only East Timorese have been sentenced. (In that case, 10 militiamen were jailed for between four and 33 years.) By mid-2001, Dili prosecutions were stalled. Deals were being discussed in border talks between prosecutors and accused militia leaders, who promised to bring thousands of refugees back from camps in West Timor in exchange for leniency.

A UN inquiry was set up under jurist Mary Fisk. By August, UNTAET's new deputy administrator, Dennis McNamara, had re- organised the justice section, in keeping with her sweeping (but never-published) recommendations. The reformed system has produced a new spate of indictments, but the rot that set in in 2001 cost valuable time, and de Mello had final responsibility for it.

During his time in East Timor, he had both ardent fans and strong detractors. By early 2002, the UNTAET mission was increasingly divided between pro and anti-Sergio factions. He was liked for his sociability, brimming intelligence and hands-on approach to problems. He never hesitated to travel to a trouble spot rather than deal with it from the air-conditioned comfort of Dili.

His detractors considered that his perfectionism went hand-in- hand with arrogance and intolerance to criticism, especially from the press. He once devoted much of a press conference to tearing strips off Timorese leader Joao Carrascalao for telling the BBC that he considered 50 per cent of UNTAET staff incompetent, a view shared by many other Timorese.

By the time he left East Timor, not one Indonesian had been convicted in either the Jakarta or Dili courts, although there was little he could do about Indonesian intransigence. Eighteen senior Indonesian figures are on trial in Jakarta. No verdicts have yet been delivered, but observers say the mandate is too limited to produce results.

Human rights optimists hope de Mello's special knowledge of East Timor and his legendary sensitivity to criticism may mean he can bring a fresh approach to the issue in his new role.

Soldiers investigated over assault on UN employee

Sydney Morning Herald - July 23, 2002

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin -- Three Australian soldiers are being investigated over an alleged assault on a United Nations employee outside a bar at a military barracks in the East Timorese capital, Dili.

A UN police media officer, Antonio da Silva, said a complaint against the soldiers had been laid by an Irish civilian working for the UN administration.

He said he was attacked by the soldiers on Friday night after a slanging match between them and other civilians in the bar of Obrigado Barracks, the Dili headquarters for UN peacekeepers.

"From what we know, they began insulting each other, and it degenerated into violence", Mr da Silva said. Brazilian military police were then called in to restore order.

A witness who asked not to be named said the three Australians, who were in uniform and armed, attacked the man in the car park as he was leaving, after the argument had finished.

"Two of the Australian soldiers proceeded to get the man onto the ground while the other proceeded to kick the man", the witness alleged. He said the victim was treated at Dili Hospital for a broken finger and bruised ribs.

Emma Diffen, a spokeswoman for the Australian Defence Force in Canberra, said Australian military police were also investigating. She would not elaborate on the alleged assault.

International relations

Gusmao at summit in Fiji says poor should spend less on arms

BBC World Monitoring - July 20, 2002

Poor countries should spend less money on weapons and seek to resolve their internal differences or differences with their neighbours via dialogue, says East Timor's President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao.

The monies saved from weapons and huge standing armies should go to education and health care for the poorest of our societies, he said.

"The weapons-producing countries must redouble their efforts to curtail weapons exports to the developing world and in particular to regions in conflict," President Gusmao said. "We do not wish to oversimplify the root causes of the many conflicts plaguing our regions, but the facts are that the weapons exacerbate these conflicts and export weapons business thrives when peoples are at war with each other. If it is morally repulsive the business of drug smuggling that kills so many in the rich countries, why there is such a blaze attitude towards the equally repugnant business of weapons exports that kills and maims so many in the developing world? Would it be because the millions killed, maimed, blown off by land mines, are peoples of darker skin?"

In East Timor, government was spending almost 30 per cent of its national budget on education and public health. He said this figure would go up in the next few years while the defence budget would consume less than one per cent of the budget.

"We are embarking on a national sustainable development strategy that resulted from a wide consultation process involving the government, civil society and the donor community. This is a pro-poor strategy aiming at eradicating poverty in two generations," President Gusmao said. "We believe that the best ways to insure peace and security in our country is through a sustained effort in national dialogue and reconciliation to heal the wounds of the past, eliminate violence for our daily lives, promote a culture of peace and non-violence, promote respect for human rights and the rule of law."

"We are less than two months old as an independent state and we are conscious that the road ahead is going to be a very bumpy one in all aspects. We have a functioning parliament with 12 political parties and an almost 30 per cent women representation. However, our parliament and the political parties are incipient, lack experience and resources and a true culture of democracy." An independent judiciary was one of the necessary foundations of democracy and rule of law, he added.

[Source: Fijilive web site, Suva, in English July 20, 2002.]

Economy & investment

Advice, warnings greet newest IMF member

Inter Press Service - July 25, 2002

Emad Mekay, Washington -- Two very distinct welcomes have greeted the newest member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF): free-market advice from the Fund and World Bank and warnings from civil society groups about who controls its money.

The Democratic Republic of East Timor, the world's newest country, officially signed on with the two financial institutions this week, making it eligible for funds from the donor community and the Bank. The former Portuguese colony -- annexed by Indonesia in 1975 -- became independent May 20.

Even before the signing, a controversy had emerged over who should control the hundreds of millions of dollars that donors have pledged to the island nation of less than one million people.

The money went to the World Bank, which collects and disburses aid to members, but leaders in the capital Dili say they want the United Nations to keep the funds because they fear the IMF and World Bank would only make it available with strings attached.

The leaders and anti-debt activists believe the UN is more likely to allow East Timor to take the money in the form of unconditional grants rather than loans. The Bank and the Fund, they charge, would favour loans that would saddle the fledgling government with long-term debt.

"East Timor's sovereignty was hard fought for and we hate to see it diminished," said John Miller, media coordinator with the East Timor Action Network (ETAN), a US rights group. "A small country like that would have very little leverage against big institutions like the World Bank and the IMF," he added. "They really do not want to mortgage their future."

But IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler said the nascent South East Asian nation faces many economic difficulties and he saw only one path out of its hardship: working with the IMF.

"East Timor's transition to independence has been impressive, yet the future holds many challenges. East Timor begins its life as one of the world's poorest countries," he said.

To turn that around, the IMF chief said, the transitional government in Dili must follow "sound economic management, in order to establish the conditions for economic growth and stability, not least, by harnessing the benefits of future oil and gas revenues". Donors agree that East Timor will receive money in the form of grants for the first three years of the new country's life. After that, if the government requests money it will most likely be given as concessional or 'soft' loans.

By 2004 the country is expected to be generating about 70 million dollars a year in oil and gas revenues form sizeable offshore reserves.

Anti-debt activists, distrustful of the records of the IMF and World Bank in debt-ridden nations, immediately warned that giving them greater control could land the country in debt, the fate of other poor nations.

At least for the next few years, the economy will need to rely on technical and financial assistance from the international community, making the country vulnerable to conditions imposed from outside, says East Timor-based 'La'o Hamutuk'.

On its website, the group says it has investigated several World Bank projects and found their planning and execution wanting. The role that the Bank and IMF played in Indonesia also does not bode well for the new country, it adds.

Relations between the IMF and Indonesia broke down after the 1997 Asian economic crisis, when the Fund insisted that the state sell its assets to attract private investment.

But the IMF and the Bank say they are simply helping the country towards financial stability, "through an open and market-based economic system", and say that they have already helped shape the country's economy.

It was the IMF, for example, that led efforts to make the US dollar East Timor's official currency during the reconstruction period, perhaps its most controversial public role thus far in the territory.

The Fund was also behind the establishment of the Central Fiscal Authority (CFA), which is designing the new government's overall fiscal strategy.

In addition, the IMF urged Dili to levy taxes on revenues from coffee, hotels, and restaurants and to fix low wages for East Timorese civil servants in order to keep spending in line. After East Timor declared independence, donors met in Dili in May and pledged money to help meet a projected budget shortfall of around 90 million dollars for the next three years.

The Bank says it is best placed to manage the donor's money and set up safeguards to ensure that taxes are collected efficiently and the revenues and donations are used for their intended purposes.

But these are the very same conditions that civil society groups fear. "East Timor is too poor for the world community to impose any kind of conditions even within concessional loans," said Miller.

Half of the country's budget goes toward health and education, he said, adding he was concerned the IMF could later force cuts on that spending.

"If you look at most countries that have suffered under IMF conditions, those are the first areas [health and education] that the Fund urges be cut so that some money can be freed up to pay off foreign lenders," Miller said.

Earlier this month, the impoverished nation suggested to the United Nations that it be designated a "least developed country" (LDC), a status given to the poorest countries in the world that provides some preferential trade and aid treatment.

In a study released in June, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said that East Timor would be among the world's poorest nations. Its human development index -- based on life expectancy, education and income per person -- is on par with three LDCs: Angola, Bangladesh, and Haiti.

IMF, World Bank membership as 'historic day': Alkatiri

Lusa - July 24, 2002

East Timor formally joined the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Tuesday, with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri describing the event in Washington as "an important day for us, a historic day".

He thanked the two institutions for their pivotal help during his country's three-year transition, under UN administration, to independence from Indonesian occupation.

The World Bank announced it was granting Dili USD 5 million to aid poverty-reduction and private sector-development programs. Meantime at home, UN agencies announced that more than 4,000 refugees had returned to East Timor from Indonesia so far this month, including a group of 60 former soldiers in the Indonesian army.

Between 30,000 and 40,000 refugees are thought to remain in Indonesian West Timor of the estimated 250,000 who fled or were deported by pro-Indonesia militias during anti-independence rampages in 1999.

East Timor to join IMF and World Bank

Deutsche Presse Agentur - July 22, 2002

Washington -- East Timor, the world's youngest nation, was due to join the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on Tuesday, the lending institutions said.

At a Washington ceremony, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was scheduled to sign the Articles of Agreement for the Asian country of 800,000 people to join the twin organizations.

East Timor became a sovereign state, the Democratic Republic of East Timor, on May 20 after four centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and 24 years of Indonesian occupation.

Jakarta invaded the territory in 1975 and annexed it the following year. During an occupation marked by bloodshed, disease and starvation, some 200,000 people were killed.

An overwhelming vote for independence in a 1999 UN-organized ballot sparked an orgy of violence by pro-Jakarta militias on the territory that borders Indonesian West Timor. After international peacekeepers intervened, Jakarta relinquished East Timor to the United Nations in October of the same year.

East Timor will have access to more than 440 million dollars pledged by over 25 nations over three years for programmes to fight poverty and promote economic growth, the World Bank said in May.

The UN Development Programme rates East Timor as among the poorest countries, on par with Angola, Bangladesh and Haiti.

East Timor's per capita income is 478 dollars, and nearly half the population survives on less than 55 cents a day, says the UNDP. More than half of all adults are illiterate, over half of infants are underweight and the average life expectancy is 57 years.

East Timor moves to attract investors

Radio Australia - July 27, 2002

East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta says the legal framework needed to attract foreign investment will be established by the end of this year.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong, Mr Ramos-Horta said East Timor had a budget deficit of 30 million US dollars this year, which had been filled by contributions from donor countries.

He said although East Timor wanted to reduce its dependency on foreign aid, its only source of export revenue was through coffee products.

Mr Ramos Horta said by November or December, the new administration hoped to produce legislation to establish the legal framework necessary to entice foreign investors to East Timor.

He said the country had received interest from companies from the United States, Spain, Portugal and Australia.