Associated Press September 14, 2000

East Timor's Xanana Calls For Sanctions Against Indonesia

DILI, East Timor (AP)--East Timor's independence leader Thursday demanded donor countries withhold crucial economic aid from Indonesia until it disbands pro-Jakarta militia gangs in West Timor.

Jose "Xanana" Gusmao said in a statement the militias were still roaming Indonesian-controlled West Timor with impunity after killing three U.N. foreign aid workers and three Indonesians Sept. 6.

Gusmao said the world should stop supporting Indonesia financially until it "proves its goodwill and determination by dismantling the terrorist training camps on Indonesian territory (and) disarms and arrests all those responsible for the present violence in West Timor."

He called on the World Bank to postpone a planned mid-October donor meeting of the Consultative Group of Indonesia to force Indonesia to crack down on the militias.

The group is made up of donor nations as well as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. It had previously approved $5.6 billion in much-needed loans this year to prop-up Indonesia's crisis-ridden economy. It is scheduled to meet in Tokyo to discuss the disbursement of the money.

Indonesia's government is burdened with $135 billion in debt and relies on foreign loans to maintain state services.

Gusmao's call for sanctions comes six days after World Bank President James Wolfensohn warned Indonesia that the success of the Tokyo donor meeting was dependent on an improvement of the situation in West Timor.

Last week, a militia mob attacked an office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in the West Timor border town of Atambua, killing three foreign staffers and prompting about 400 aid workers to flee the territory.

On Thursday, the bodies of the three victims were being airlifted to Australia before being sent home to their respective countries.

East Timor's U.N. administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello is expected to meet later Thursday with Indonesia's security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the tourist island of Bali to discuss the situation in West Timor.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, prosecutors questioned East Timor's former police chief Brigadier General Timbul Silaen about his alleged role in last year's devastation of East Timor.

The territory was hit by a wave of anti-independence militia violence a year ago after the majority of its people voted in a U.N.-supervised ballot to end 24 years of Indonesian occupation.

The military stood by during the rampage and the violence only ended with the arrival of international troops. Some accuse sections of Indonesia's army of aiding the militias.

Prosecutors have named 19 people as suspects in last year's rampage. One of them, a militia leader has since been killed.

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