UN to release Timor probe Fri, 4 Feb 2000 08:43:59 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Joyo@aol.com The Age [Melbourne] Saturday 29 January 2000 UN to release Timor probe By MARK RILEY with MARIAN WILKINSON NEW YORK The United Nations plans to release the findings of its human rights inquiry into East Timor on Monday, but without formal recommendations from the Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, on whether an international war crimes tribunal is necessary. The Indonesian Government has lobbied heavily over the past two weeks for the UN to delay consideration of a tribunal until its own inquiry into the East Timor atrocities is completed. The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Mr Alwi Shihab, met Mr Annan and key diplomats last week to press his Government's case. The Indonesian Attorney-General, Mr Marzuki Darusman, also discussed the progress of the Indonesian inquiry in New York this week. He told UN officials that Indonesia would set up a national human rights tribunal to prosecute anyone accused of abuses. UN officials said yesterday that the Indonesians had asked that their ability to investigate the atrocities be respected and warned that they would not feel bound by rulings of a UN tribunal imposed against their will. The debate comes as a UN official in Dili said the death toll from last year's Timor crisis could reach 2000. Ms Sidney Jones, the UN human rights official, said that although this figure was a "guesstimate", there were nearly 500 allegations of deaths still to be investigated, in addition to several hundred cases already under review by the UN's civilian police. "One thing is certain and that is the number of reports of people being killed and the number of reported grave sites is steadily increasing," Ms Jones said. The Secretary-General is not bound to issue a formal response to the UN report. But officials said the Security Council was unlikely to consider a war crimes tribunal without a recommendation from Mr Annan. He issued a copy of the report to the Indonesian Government last week for comment. The Indonesian inquiry, with a report also due for release on Monday, has been examining whether former military chief General Wiranto and his senior commanders were implicated in a strategy of violence and destruction carried out by Indonesian-backed militias in Timor. ================================================================= 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-02.04.00-08:43:57-3447