Indonesia's Wahid Apologizes To E Timor For Militia Acts (fwd)

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

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 29 Feb 2000 15:27:19
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 Wahid Apologizes To E Timor For Militia Acts

From: TAPOL <tapol@gn.apc.org>
Subject: Indonesia's Wahid Apologizes To E Timor For Militia Acts

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

Associated Press
February 29, 2000 

Indonesia's Wahid Apologizes To E Timor For Militia Acts

DILI, East Timor (AP)--Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid Tuesday 
apologized to East Timorese leaders for the damage wrought by pro-Jakarta 
militiamen and their Indonesian army backers following an independence vote 
in a U.N.-supervised referendum on Aug. 30.

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

Indonesian officials said Wahid apologized to East Timor's leaders for the 
destruction wrought.

Indonesia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab, who is accompanying 
Wahid, signed a joint communique with U.N. chief administrator Sergio Vieira 
de Mello, which paves the way for diplomatic relations between East Timor and 
its former master.

Later, Wahid laid a wreath at the Santa Cruz graveyard where Indonesian 
troops massacred 200 unarmed civilians in 1991. He also placed a wreath at a 
nearby cemetery where hundreds of Indonesian soldiers killed during the 
occupation were buried.

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 independence vote last year.

Security was heavy throughout the visit, with hundreds of armed peacekeepers 
lining the seven-kilometer route from the airport to the center of town. 
Dozens of troops, including sharpshooters, took up positions around the U.N. 
building and at the two cemeteries.

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

26 years - and still going strong 
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