| Subject: LUSA: Pro-Indonesia Militia Surrounds
Convent, Threatening to Kill Nuns Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 09:18:20 -0500 From: "Sharon R.A. Scharfe" <pet@web.net> 16 MAR 99 - 13:15 East Timor: Pro-Indonesia Militia Surrounds Convent, Threatening to Kill Nuns Dili, March 16 (Lusa) - Pro-Indonesian militiamen have surrounded a Catholic convent west of the East Timorese capital and threatened to kill any nun who leaves the premises, a Catholic priest said Tuesday. Rev. Francisco Barreto, director of the Catholic relief agency Caritas, said a paramilitary group called Besi Merah Putih, or Red and White Steel in English, surrounded the Carmelite convent in Maubara, some 60 kms west of Dili, Monday night and remained in place Tuesday. The militia threatened "to kill any nun leaving the convent" because they were allegedly "working for the (nationalist) resistance," Rev. Barreto said. He denied the charge, saying the nuns were providing aid to anyone in need, "regardless of color, ideology or religion." -Lusa- Copyright© 1996 Agência Lusa E-Mail Agência Lusa Back to March Menu |