July 19, 2004 7:13am
Associated Press WorldStream

DILI, East Timor_East Timor's president said Monday that Indonesian
security forces were responsible for the violence that swept his country in
1999 _ not the territory's last governor, who began serving a jail term in
Indonesia over the weekend.

Xanana Gusmao said former Gov. Abilio Jose Soares, who is ethnically East
Timorese, should not have been imprisoned for the violence that accompanied
the country's break from 24 years of Indonesian rule in 1999.

"He is a political scapegoat," Gusmao said. "A civilian governor was not
responsible for the violence at that time."

Soares began a three-year prison term on Saturday, becoming the first
person to be punished in Indonesia over the bloodshed.

Gusmao said Indonesian police and military officials should be blamed
because they signed an agreement before a U.N-sponsored referendum on
independence accepting responsibility for security during the ballot.

As many as 2,000 people were killed and much of East Timor was destroyed in
1999 by rampaging Indonesian troops and militia proxies which they armed
and trained.

Gusmao has not aggressively pushed Indonesia to punish those responsible
for the violence, saying that maintaining good ties between the two
countries was more important.

Former legislator Manuel Viegas Carrascalao, who lost his son in a militia
attack ahead of the vote, said Soares deserved the punishment.

"Maybe he did not kill anyone, but he let others kill," he said. "When the
militias killed my son, he stayed silent."

Soares was the first Indonesian official to be punished for the bloodshed
out of 18 mostly military and police officials originally put on trial. He
was convicted of failing to stop the violence.

Fifteen others have been acquitted. Appeals by two remaining defendants are
expected soon.

Critics say the string of not-guilty verdicts handed down in Indonesia
means it has failed to live up to its promises to punish those responsible
for the violence.