| Subject: Age: Indon
military `purges' militia to cover up atrocities The Age Monday 11 October 1999
Indons `purge' militia
By PAUL DALEY
DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT
Australian intelligence agencies have new evidence that
Indonesian military officials are systematically covering up their East Timor atrocities,
with a program to intimidate and kill pro-integration militiamen who carried out much of
the carnage.
Defence and diplomatic sources have told The Age that
Australia has received detailed signals intelligence about the Indonesian military's plans
to cover its tracks before a proposed United Nations human rights investigations.
Senior Federal Government figures have been made aware of
the evidence, which has been analysed by other intelligence agencies after collection by
Australia's Defence Signals Directorate, the sources said.
The intelligence is believed to detail conversations
between senior Indonesian Army (TNI) figures in Bali, West Timor and possibly Jakarta
about silencing senior and middle-ranking militiamen who may be persuaded to assist the UN
with inquiries.
The intercepted conversations add to a growing body of
evidence that senior TNI figures were arming and organising the militias before
encouraging them to kill pro-independence supporters after the 30August East Timor
autonomy vote.
"The (intelligence) indicates a very deep concern by
senior people in TNI about the possibility of war crimes and human rights inquiries, and
shows that they will go to great lengths - any length - to cover their tracks ahead of
such inquiries," a source told The Age. "The information is on the lines that if
any militia guys show signs of splitting from the (TNI) program ... or show signs of
talking to UN investigators, then the militia members will be taken out, liquidated.
"There are suggestions that deaths have already
occurred there (in West Timor)."
The sources said Australian intelligence agencies also had
photographs and other satellite imagery showing large numbers of East Timorese refugees
being killed at sea.
"There are images of Indonesian boats leaving port
filled with people and arriving at another port ... with hardly anybody on board," a
source said. "There are more specific images which ... show people, believed to be
East Timorese, being dumped at sea."
The Defence Minister, Mr John Moore, yesterday refused to
discuss the material, telling The Age: "I can't comment on intelligence." A
spokeswoman for the Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, also declined to comment.
The existence of the material could heighten pressure on
the Government to disclose information held by Australian intelligence agencies to the
UN's commission of inquiry into human rights abuses in East Timor.
While Australia co-sponsored the UN resolution calling for
the inquiry and expressed willingness to cooperate, the Government has not yet specified
what form its assistance will take.
On Friday the Australian branch of Amnesty International
wrote to the Prime Minister urging the Government to demonstrate its "commitment to
justice" by supplying the commission with "all intelligence and other
information" about violations of human rights in East Timor.
Australia's relationship with Indonesia could be further
strained if the Government agrees to provide the UN with its intelligence about Indonesian
military abuses.
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