Washington Times
U.N. perseveres on East Timor violence
By Ian Timberlake
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
JAKARTA, Indonesia - The United Nations in East Timor is taking a tougher
line against Indonesia's refusal to extradite those charged in an orgy
of
violence as the territory moved toward independence 2½ years ago.
For the first time, U.N. prosecutors are seeking warrants from the
international police network, Interpol, for a number of militiamen and
Indonesian soldiers charged with crimes against humanity.
U.N. officials based in the East Timor capital of Dili now serve as
advisers to a fledgling East Timorese government in the half-island
territory as it prepares to become the world's newest independent state
on
May 20.
In that capacity, U.N. prosecutors on Monday charged the region's most
notorious militia leader, Eurico Guterres, with crimes against humanity.
In addition to Mr. Guterres, the indictment named eight other militiamen
and eight Indonesian soldiers in connection with a murderous rampage on
April 17, 1999, when 12 persons were beaten, stabbed and shot to death
at
the home of independence leader Manuel Carrascalao in Dili.
Despite the indictment, Mr. Guterres remains free to stroll the streets
of
Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, where he readily gives interviews to
reporters. Indonesian authorities say there is no written agreement
governing extraditions to East Timor.
"I won't surrender myself to them because I'm Indonesian,"
Mr. Guterres
told The Washington Times.
Indonesia signed an agreement pledging to cooperate with East Timor in
judicial matters but has refused to extradite any suspects named in earlier
U.N. indictments for crimes against humanity.
Along with Mr. Guterres, all of the other accused in the latest indictment
are believed to be in Indonesia.
Although it is not yet an independent state or a member of Interpol,
East
Timor recently obtained the right to send arrest warrants to the
international police agency, meaning that Mr. Guterres and the other 16
accused will now be subject to arrest if they leave Indonesia.
Mr. Guterres, 33, is charged in his capacity as leader of the Dili-based
Aitarak militia as well as deputy commander of the so-called
Pro-Integration Forces, which grouped all East Timor's militias ahead
of
the Aug. 30, 1999, referendum in which East Timorese overwhelmingly voted
to separate from Indonesia.
The U.N. indictment states that he urged his followers to capture
supporters of independence and shoot them if they resisted. He reportedly
said he would take full responsibility for his orders.
The indictment against Mr. Guterres includes one count referring to the
12
deaths at Mr. Carrascalao's house. Another count deals with the persecution
of civilians as part of widespread attacks in an unsuccessful attempt
to
influence the outcome of the independence referendum.
The indictment marks the latest in a series of steps to expand U.N.
oversight of human rights abuses. In The Hague, former Yugoslav strongman
Slobodan Milosevic is on trial for war crimes. A separate tribunal has
been
established for the 1994 Rwandan massacre, and the United Nations is in
the
process of setting up a tribunal to prosecute crimes committed during
Sierra Leone's civil war.
Recently the United Nations pulled out of a five-year attempt to set
another tribunal for Cambodian genocide during the 1975-1979 rule of the
Khmer Rouge.
Unlike other U.N. attempts to prosecute human rights abusers, the East
Timor indictments do not involve a specially created tribunal but rather
separate trials before a panel of judges specially designated to hear
these
cases.
Mr. Guterres was recently seen in the spectators' gallery of a Jakarta
courthouse, where he was observing the trial of another militiaman, Yacobus
Bere, who is charged with manslaughter in the death of New Zealand
peacekeeper Pvt. Leonard Manning in July of 2000. Mr. Manning was gunned
down while patrolling for militia along East Timor's border with Indonesian
West Timor.
West Timor police later arrested Mr. Bere.