09-03-2005
12:15:00. Fonte LUSA. Notícia SIR-6815437
Temas:
East Timor: Dili, Jakarta launch truth commission
for war crimes of 1999
Jakarta, March 9 (Lusa) - Indonesia and East Timor agrred Wednesday
to set up a truth and friendship commission to deal with human rights
abuses surrounding Dili's vote for independence from Jakarta in
1999.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Timorese
counterpart, Xanana Gusmão, signed the accord to create the
Commission of Truth and Friendship at the presidential palace in
Jakarta.
"We chose
the commission as the best and most viable system of resolving problems
between Timor and Indonesia", said Yudhoyono after the signing
ceremony, adding the new body would "allow more intense ties
between Dili and Jakarta".
Gusmão,
in turn, said the aim of the Timorese people is to know the truth
in order to face their future in an independent nation.
"I am
neither judge nor lawyer. We are not seeking the guilty", said
the Timorese leader, stressing the commission's objective was to
uncover the truth behind his country's bloody breakaway from Jakarta's
Indonesian rule.
Timor and Indonesia,
which occupied its tiny neighbor for over 25 years from the mid
1970s, unveiled plans December for the Commission of Truth and Friendship
in an effort to preempt a parallel United Nations initiative.
Under the rival
UN scheme, an independent panel of experts would have been set up
to investigate judicial progress, or lack of it, in making those
responsible for the violence in Timor accountable for their actions.
Indonesia says
the UN's plans for a separate review are redundant and the world
body has so far refused to support Dili and Jakarta's atrocities
commission.
The Commission
of Truth and Reconciliation is due to begin its two-year mission
in August.
After Timor's
independence ballot in 1999, Timorese pro-Jakarta militias, backed
by the Indonesian military, unleashed a deadly rampage that killed
over 1,000 people and destroyed most of the territory`s infrastructures.
In an effort
to bring justice for Timor's war crimes victims, Dili and the UN
set up a special court that jailed 74 Timorese culprits, but was
powerless to extradite Indonesian commanders.
Over 300 people
indicted for war crimes by the Dili court remain out of Timor's
jurisdiction in Indonesia.
A separate
court set up by Jakarta only convicted two Timorese civilians and
acquitted all but one of 18 Indonesian military and police officers
charged with war crimes in Timor.
MV/CJB.
Lusa
Copyright ©
2003 Agencia Lusa. Todos os direitos reservados.
www.lusa.pt
End. |
