| Subject: CSM: Talking
spares an East Timor city from ruin The
Christian Science Monitor [Boston] Friday, October 29, 1999
Talking spares an East Timor city from ruin
After the independence vote, much of the territory was
destroyed. But in Baucau, dialogue among all sides reduced the violence.
Cameron W. Barr
Baucau, East Timor
Nestled on a hillside overlooking the sea, Baucau is a
place of palm trees, shimmering vistas, and notably intact buildings.
At a schoolyard near the city's cathedral, women sell small
bunches of garlic, green tomatoes, and hefty breadfruits. A minibus tout beckons potential
passengers. Men discuss the affairs of the day. Life in this East Timorese city seems
pretty much back to normal.
"Well, I can't say it's normal," says Alphonse da
Silva Frietas, a government worker who lacks a job because there is no government for the
moment, "but it's getting there."
Baucau is East Timor's second city, the administrative
capital of a region known for supporting independence and its Roman Catholic seminary. But
it also stands out as one of the few places in the territory that emerged largely
unscathed from the terror of last month.
The lesson of Baucau seems to be that communication can
stave off violence in times of civil unrest.
On Sept. 4, voters in East Timor heard the result of a
UN-sponsored referendum in which they had just participated: overwhelming support for
independence from Indonesia. This outcome ignited reprisals from militia members and
Indonesian soldiers opposed to independence, who destroyed most of the capital, Dili, and
other towns. They forced hundreds of thousands of East Timorese into West Timor, a part of
Indonesia, and killed an unknown number of people.
Baucau was not immune. Perhaps a quarter of the city's
structures were demolished or burned. Most were Indonesian government offices; departing
officials did not want to leave anything useful behind. Soldiers stripped the control
tower at the military airport of all its technology, leaving nothing but chairs and a few
water bottles filled with urine.
Baucau's residents had to flee, but most went into the
surrounding hills at the behest of the city's leaders, a precaution that saved many from a
forced trip to West Timor. There were killings here, but in all likelihood on a lesser
scale than in other parts of the territory.
Today, there is much reason for gratitude. The city's old
town seems essentially untouched. As residents return, the city is springing back to life
more quickly than other places in the territory. Junior high school students are back in
their classes, a sign of normalcy nearly impossible to see elsewhere in East Timor.
Some credit the local Roman Catholic bishop, Basilio do
Nascimento, for protecting the city. "Don't believe it," says the bishop, a
bald-headed man with a mellifluous voice and a demeanor that veers between kindly and
stern.
"What we were trying to do is establish a dialogue
among all forces - the government, the police, the army, the political parties and the
militias."
The Indonesian military created East Timor's militia groups
in two phases - some many years ago to fight pro-independence guerrillas and others late
last year to intimidate East Timorese voters into choosing to remain within Indonesia.
Baucau benefited from having older militia groups whose
members had ties to the city and who kept away newer, more violent militias based in
Dili.The local groups, says Kieran Dwyer, the United Nations civil affairs coordinator
here, "played a much more protective role than most militias." He also credits
the town administrator, an Indonesian-appointed Timorese, and the local leader of the
pro-independence National Council of Timorese Resistance for their work in maintaining
dialogue in the runup to the vote and afterward. These leaders and the bishop kept open
lines of communication with local police and military officials.
Re-integrating those who favored remaining within
Indonesia, whether they were violent or not, is a thorny issue for East Timorese leaders
and their UN backers.
In Dili, the mere accusation that a person is a militia
member can draw a hostile crowd and in some cases a brutal beating.
But Bishop Basilio sees a day when the town administrator,
Virgilio Marsal, and one of the local militia leaders, Joanico Belo, will return to the
city.
"I think they have no problem with Baucau and Baucau
has no problem with them."
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