Subject: General admits arming death squads in East
Timor
From: "etisc" <etisc@indigo.ie>Source: The Observer,(UK)
Date: Sunday, February 7, 1999.
GENERAL ADMITS ARMING TIMOR DEATH SQUADS.
INDONESIA last week spread more confusion about its intentions in East Timor when the
army admitted it had armed paramilitary groups which have killed civilians.
The admission contradicting earlier denials came after the paramilitary comander Kansio
Lopez, a fanatical opponent of independence, said his irregulars had used army weapons in
an attack on a rebel post last month. Six people, including civilians, were killed.
Rebels claim that Indonesia which has said it may grant independence, is covertly
formenting civil war by arming militias which have thrown the countryside into fear.
An army spokesman admitted that militias had been given weapons in an interview on BBC
Radion 4's The World Tonight. He said he had no proof that they were using them to kill
civilians but added: "If that is what is happening, we should apologise for that,
that is very unfortunate."
He said the arms had been loaned "merely for protecting people against rebellion
in East Timor."
His admission followed a denial from the Armed forces Commander, General Wiranto. The
line that no arms would be given to militias was maintained yesterday at a press confernce
in Dili, the East Timor capital.
Provincial military commander Colonel Tono Suratman said the army would recruit 1,000
East Timorese and train them as a new civil militia but insisted they would not be armed.
He said: "This is part of the policy by the central government to maintain
security. Not only for the general elections [on June 7th], but also for security in
general."
Another officer said: "The recruits here will help the police. They are not
ciilians who will be armed. They will only be given clubs and handcuffs."
Bishop Carlos Belo, co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, who has long campaigned
for a peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor, says that in one parish 6,000
people have fled from their villages.
One farmer said five of his neighbours had been killed: "We dare not go
back."
Indonesia's policy is now highly ambiguous. Jakarta said last month that it may let
East Timor go if its people reject special autonomy giving them wide powers over their
affairs.
The move was an abrupt U-turn from Jakarta's refusal to even consider indpendence since
its troops invaded the eastern half of the island in 1975.
In Dili, students now campaign openly for an independent state, a freedomm enjoyed only
since last year. Though peaceful protest is possible in the town for the first time, in
the surrounding countryside all the talk is of civil war fuelled by Indonesian weapons.
A former rebel commander said: "The paramilitary troops who support integration in
the Indonesian republic have automatic weapons. So what kind of solution do they want to
choose for East Timor?"
Bishop Belo said: "For me it is better to fight with diplomacy, with intelligence,
with discussion, with dialogue, rather than guns."
East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign Suite 16, Dame House 24-26 Dame Street Dublin 2
Telephone 00 353 1 671 9207/ 677 0253 /623 3148 Mobile 087 286 0122 Fax 00 353 1 671 9207
Timorese Community in Ireland 00 353 1 453 1462 web http://indigo.ie/~etisc/ Offices in:
Dublin Belfast Laois Galway Claremorris
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