Indonesia's Pres In E Timor Seeking Reconciliation (fwd)

["M.G.G. Pillai" <pillai@mgg.pc.my>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 29 Feb 2000 07:40:10
From: tapol@gn.apc.org
Reply-To: "Conference act.indonesia" <indonesia-act@igc.org>
To: Recipients of indonesia-act <indonesia-act@igc.org>
Subject: Indonesia's Pres In E Timor Seeking Reconciliation

From: TAPOL <tapol@gn.apc.org>
Subject: Indonesia's Pres In E Timor Seeking Reconciliation

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

Associated Press
February 29, 2000 

Indonesia's Pres In E Timor Seeking Reconciliation

DILI, East Timor (AP)--United Nation's troops fired two warning shots Tuesday 
after protesters tried to block a motorcade carrying Indonesian President 
Abdurrahman Wahid, who is on a landmark reconciliation visit to the 
devastated territory.

The president and his party weren't affected by the brief incident, and the 
head of state was cheered by a crowd of about 12,000 East Timorese when he 
drove up to U.N. headquarters a few minutes later.

Wahid, a democratic reformer, arrived in East Timor in a historic attempt at 
reconciliation with a nation destroyed by Indonesia's military during its 
savage, 24-year occupation.

He was met at Dili airport by Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, the territory's 
main independence leader, Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, U.N. chief 
administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello, and other senior officials running the 
world body's transitional authority in East Timor.

Protesters demanding to know the fate of resistance fighters captured by 
Indonesian troops after their 1975 invasion, attempted to block the road, but 
were pushed back by Portuguese U.N. soldiers who fired into the air to calm 
the crowd.

Gusmao welcomed Wahid saying the visit was important for both countries.

"You are a symbol of the universal principal of peace, justice, and 
democracy," Gusmao said. "You bring hope to East Timor because in your 
country you can create (conditions) for future dialogue and democracy."

Before being ushered into the building for talks with independence leaders 
and U.N. administrators aimed at improving ties between East Timor and its 
former master, Wahid briefly addressed the crowd in the local Tetum dialect.

"I feel I am still in my homeland because Indonesia and East Timor can't be 
separated," he said. "We are also people who have suffered."

Wahid was also expected to open an Indonesian representative office in Dili 
and lay wreaths at an Indonesian military cemetery and the adjacent Santa 
Cruz graveyard where Indonesian troops massacred 200 unarmed civilians in 
1991.

      Timor Leaders Call For Warm Welcome For Wahid

His trip comes as Indonesian prosecutors prepare to lay charges against 
military officers and militia members for the murder and destruction that 
gripped the territory in the aftermath of the Aug. 30 independence vote.

Before Wahid's arrival, hundreds of armed peacekeepers lined the 
seven-kilometer route from the airport to the center of town that the 
motorcade would take.

Though there is much resentment among the East Timorese towards Indonesia, 
independence leaders have called on their people to give Wahid a warm welcome.

"I am here because I want Wahid to say 'sorry,"' said Huanita da Costa, a 
Dili housewife waiting on the central square. "I want him to tell us where 
the missing people are. They should be able to come home."

About 120,000 East Timorese refugees remain in Indonesian-held West Timor, 
where they fled in September to escape the violence. The United Nations says 
army-backed militia thugs are running the refugee camps and preventing people 
from returning.

Wahid, who took office in October after an Australian-led multinational force 
had restored order in the half-island territory, has maintained close ties 
with East Timorese leaders and has backed the Indonesian probe into 
atrocities committed last year.

Wahid has vowed to bring those responsible for the human rights abuses to 
trial. So far, at least 250 bodies have been recovered.

The last Indonesian soldier pulled out of East Timor in October, 24 years 
after the world's fourth most-populous nation invaded and annexed the former 
Portuguese colony.

Human rights workers estimate that more than 100,000 people were killed or 
died as a result of the Indonesia's occupation.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 0181 771-2904   Fax: 0181 653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++