E Timor Abuse Inquiry 'Hampered' By Cautious UN Fri, 4 Feb 2000 08:39:57 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Joyo@aol.com South China Morning Post Friday, January 28, 2000 INDONESIA Abuse inquiry 'hampered' by cautious UN VAUDINE ENGLAND in Jakarta Investigations into the killing sprees which followed East Timor's vote for independence will be completed this weekend, but the prosecution of generals named by the Indonesian inquiry team could take another six months, human rights experts said. The Indonesian inquiry was also frustrated, the experts said, by the unwillingness of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (Untaet) to allow the Indonesians access to documentation about hundreds of cases, which could weaken the inquiry's ability to haul generals into court. "We had interviews with the senior military officers," said Munir, leader of the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and a member of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) team on East Timor. "But they lie, all of them," he said. "The information from the UN is very important and I think we need to know." "I am disappointed that Untaet is unwilling to share evidence and testimony that could provide crucial knowledge for us," said H. S. Dillon, a senior member of the National Human Rights Commission. In fact, the problem lay within the Indonesian political situation, Mr Munir explained, as he admitted that Indonesian law so far does not provide for adequate protection of witnesses in such cases. A parliamentary committee was now drafting a new human rights law and it should include an article on witness protection, argued Mr Munir, a committee member. The Indonesian inquiry has already announced its belief that senior generals, starting with former armed forces chief and now cabinet member General Wiranto, are responsible for the orgy of destruction and death in East Timor. It has enough evidence, investigators say, to prosecute just five cases - the massacres in Suai, Liquica and Los Palos, the attack on Bishop Carlos Belo's house in Dili, and the murder of the Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes. "It would be wrong to say that Untaet is not co-operative with Komnas HAM, but it is more correct to say that at the moment we are being careful and cautious," an Untaet representative in Jakarta, Jim Della Giacoma, said. Until Untaet had an agreement on the protection of witnesses and the protection of information and sources, it would continue to be cautious, he added. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytpac-02.04.00-08:39:55-2719