UN in Timor "incredulous" at Wiranto's vote charge
JAKARTA, April 5 (Reuters) - The U.N. authority in East Timor said on
Friday
it was "incredulous" at reported remarks by former Indonesian
military chief
Wiranto that bloodshed there in 1999 was allegedly sparked by an unfair
independence ballot.
Barbara Reis, spokeswoman for the U.N. administration in East Timor,
urged
Wiranto to show more regret at the actions of pro-Jakarta militias who,
with
backing from elements in the Indonesian military, went on a killing spree
after the territory voted to break from Indonesian rule.
On Thursday, Wiranto pointed the finger at the U.N. for the rampages
after
giving testimony to a Jakarta court trying suspects over the carnage.
The
U.N. organised the August 1999 ballot.
"If the reports of what Wiranto said are in fact true, it's simply
incredulous that a man who was the overall commander of security in East
Timor at that time is willing to blame the ballot for the total and
systematic destruction of East Timor and ignore his own failings of
leadership," Reis said.
"I would expect more humility and regret rather than reaching for
cheap and
patently false excuses," she told Reuters by telephone from the East
Timor
capital Dili.
Some Indonesian officials have long muttered about U.N. bias during the
August 1999 vote, although then-Foreign Minister Ali Alatas soon after
pronounced the ballot generally fair.
The U.N. has insisted the vote was fair. It has also estimated more than
1,000 people were killed before and after the ballot.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Wiranto said:
"There is a burning question, why did chaos break out? Sadly there
was one
trigger which we did not count on -- unfairness in implementation of the
ballot."
Wiranto did not name the United Nations directly.
He was military chief when the machete-wielding militias rampaged after
the
vote result was announced. The run-up was also marred by violence, most
blamed on the militias.
Indonesia opened its first trials into the Timor violence at the special
human rights court on March 14, but Wiranto's absence from a list of 18
suspects was slammed by rights groups and added to scepticism that Jakarta
will bring those responsible for the bloodshed to book.
In early 2000, an Indonesian commission of inquiry linked Wiranto to
the East
Timor chaos and included him in a list of 33 names submitted to the
attorney-general for investigation.
Wiranto has denied any wrongdoing and on Thursday praised those under
his
command at the time in East Timor.
East Timor will formally declare independence on May 20.