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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Turning over a blood-drenched leaf
By Scott BurchillIndonesia seems finally to have accepted the loss of East Timor, but not before the orgy of violence took its toll. On 19 October Indonesia's People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) formerly revoked the 1978 decree which incorporated East Timor into Indonesia. Indonesia has therefore officially renounced any sovereign claim to the territory. East Timor is now in the hands of the United Nations, which will help it prepare for independence over a period of two years or more.
On 23 October, the United Nations Security Council is expected to established a transitional administration for East Timor and name Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello as its administrator. Vieira de Mello is currently UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs. One of his first tasks will be to organise the handover from the InterFET forces to a formal UN "blue helmets" peacekeeping mission -- UNAMET -- towards the end of this year.
On 22 October, resistance leader Xanana Gusmao arrived back in East Timor after seven years absence, where he received a tumultuous welcome. Two days earlier, in another event which may prove rich in significance, Indonesia's People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) surprised observers and the people by electing Abdurrahaman Wahid, or Gus Dur as he is popularly known, as the republic's fourth president. The favoured candidate, secular nationalist Megawati Sukarnoputri, was elected vice president the following day.
Wahid, 59, who is physically frail -- he is blind, and has suffered two strokes in the last year -- is head of the country's largest Muslim organisation Nahdatul Ulama (NU). Educated at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, and in Baghdad, Wahid was not expected to win the presidency. But the incumbent, B.J. Habibie, withdrew from the ballot shortly before it commenced. Wahid's party received only a third as many votes as Megawati's party in the 7 June elections.
Although popular across all sectors of Indonesian society, and widely respected as both a reformer and a moderate of great religious tolerance, very little is known about Wahid's policy platform. The world, and East Timor, will therefore have to wait and see what Indonesia's first democratically-elected president has to offer them.
Timor's independence came at a terrible human cost, however. Before the referendum giving the East Timorese the choice of independence or integration with Indonesia was held on 30 August, Colonel Tono Suratman, the TNI (Indonesian military) commander in Dili, warned of what was to come: "If the pro-independents do win, all will be destroyed. It will be worse than 23 years ago."
The colonel was as good as his word. Within hours of the announcement on 4 September that a decisive 78.5 per cent of the population had voted for independence, pro-Jakarta militias began roaming the streets of East Timor, killing suspected independence supporters and locally engaged UN staff, harassing and attacking journalists and evacuating provincial towns. Two hundred thousand East Timorese were forcibly driven into West Timor, where many were attacked by militias, while others were deported to outlying provinces within Indonesia. Many more fled to the hills seeking the protection of FALINTIL, the army which has resisted Jakarta's occupation for 23 years.
Death squads appeared, with licence to exact revenge against anyone associated with the ballot. They were clearly the creation of Indonesia's security forces, were directed by Indonesian intelligence operatives and, courtesy of the local Indonesian police, were immune to prosecution and agreements demanding their disarmament.
Prior to the arrival of the multinational InterFET forces on 20 September, East Timor thus rapidly descended into state-organised anarchy as Indonesia's security forces openly colluded with the militias in the slaughter of the population throughout the territory. The foreign media and eventually the United Nations were driven out of the province. More than half the population was estimated to have been internally displaced, triggering an enormous humanitarian crisis. At the United Nations, Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told the General Assembly that, although Jakarta had made some mistakes, it would leave East Timor "honourably, peacefully and amicably".
On 15 September, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1264 (1999). Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council authorised the establishment of a multinational force "to restore peace and security in East Timor, to protect and support UNAMET in carrying out its tasks and to facilitate humanitarian assistance operations". The multinational force was empowered by the UN to "take all necessary measures" to fulfill its mandate. The resolution also stressed that it was "the responsibility of the Indonesian authorities to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the safe return of refugees to East Timor".
This force, called InterFET, was largely put together by the Australian government at the APEC heads of government summit in Auckland, with support from New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and a number of ASEAN countries including the Philippines and Thailand. InterFET is not a UN peacekeeping mission. Rather, it is a "coalition of willing states" which was hastily mobilised and deployed in anticipation of the handover to a properly constituted UN mission later this year.
Under the leadership of Australian Major-General Cosgrove, InterFET has been remarkably successful in restoring law and order in East Timor. At the time of writing, InterFET had secured almost all the major and provincial towns in the territory, removing the threat of the militias who have fled to West Timor (Indonesia), while securing the departure of most TNI troops, reducing their numbers from over 20,000 to 1500. Just as importantly, InterFET's deployment has enabled UN and NGO relief agencies to distribute humanitarian assistance to a population which has had much of its basic infrastructure destroyed. Life is very slowly returning to normal in East Timor, although over 400,000 people are still unaccounted for. It is presumed that they are still hiding in the mountains, too frightened to return to what is left of their homes.
InterFET has only encountered armed resistance on three occasions. Two weeks ago, when a militia truck attempted to pass through a road block, two militiamen were killed and two Australian troops slightly injured. On 10 October, InterFET and TNI/militia forces exchanged fire on the West Timor border, and one Indonesian soldier was killed. The cause of the clash was a dispute over just where the border between East and West Timor was, and who shot first. Although it appears that this particular incident will be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides, it is clear that cross-border raids by TNI/militia forces against InterFET forces will be the most likely source of future tension and conflict between the protagonists. The greatest concern for InterFET and a future independent East Timor is how the western border can be secured against TNI-backed militia who wish to continue their struggle for control of the territory by launching attacks from within the sanctuary of Indonesian West Timor. On 17 October three militia were killed on the outskirts of Liquica when they attempted to ambush InterFET forces.
Meanwhile, over 200,000 refugees who were driven into camps in West Timor are only now slowly starting to return to their homes. Many who were suspected of being independence supporters have been attacked by the militia, who have been allowed to take control of some of the camps. The Indonesian Government has been slow to allow relief agencies such as the Red Cross and the UNHCR access to these camps, some of which are reported to be in a desperate condition. Last week, the UN signed an agreement with Jakarta for the safe return of these people, and the first significant numbers of refugees arrived back in East Timor on 22 October.
Meanwhile, investigators are racing against time to uncover and examine the evidence of mass slaughter in the territory. As the wet season starts to set in, the task of finding bodies, determining the causes of death and tracing those responsible is becoming much more difficult. Given that half the population is still missing, there can be no reliable estimate of the number of people who lost their lives in East Timor during the first two weeks of September.
