---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Precedence: bulk Sydney Morning Herald Monday, September 27, 1999 - PAGE ONE - Australian troops hunting for evidence of Timor war crimes By LINDSAY MURDOCH and MARTIN CHULOV in Dili An Australian-led multinational force in East Timor is documenting evidence of elite Indonesian troops leading anti-independence militia responsible for atrocities in the devastated territory. Military sources revealed yesterday that a man arrested last week by Australian troops and identified later as a militia platoon commander was found to have in his wallet a photograph of himself wearing the uniform of the Kopassus Indonesian special forces. Cainto Da Silva has been interrogated by Australian military intelligence officers whose evidence may be used in proposed international prosecutions of those responsible for atrocities. Mr Da Silva was in the custody of International Forces in East Timor (Interfet) at his own insistence, claiming he would be killed if released. The Herald has also found amid the ruins of a hotel in the capital Dili photographs of a meeting between Indonesia's former President Soeharto and Mr Eurico Guterres, the commander of one of the most feared militia groups. Human rights groups say there is uncontested evidence of the involvement of Mr Guterres in crimes against humanity, including mass murder. In April, Mr Guterres publicly ordered his men to "capture and kill if necessary" members of the prominent East Timorese Carrascalao family. Minutes later, 100 militiamen stormed the Dili home of the pro-independence leader Mr Manuel Carrascalao and killed 12 people, including his 18-year-old son. The United Nations yesterday announced the launch of the first official investigation into atrocities as countries prepared to vote at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva for a motion to set up a war crimes tribunal. But the UN's spokesman in East Timor, Mr David Wimhurst, said there was an urgent need for forensic experts to gather evidence of the atrocities. A force commander, Colonel Mark Kelly, said Interfet's commander, Major-General Peter Cosgrove, had made an urgent submission to the UN to provide resources to gather evidence on crimes against humanity. Mr Wimhurst said the bodies of two executed people found in Tibar, 15 kilometres west of Dili, had been video-taped in the first of what he predicted would be many investigations into atrocities. But since international troops started arriving in East Timor a week ago they have only recorded information and inspected scores of other suspected killing sites. Bodies have been decomposing untouched at massacre sites, including in the backyard well of Mr Carrascalao's gutted home. The head of the UN in East Timor, Mr Ian Martin, is believed to have pleaded with the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, to send a team of forensic experts to the territory to document the atrocities in the same away as the UN did recently in Kosovo. The mostly Australian Interfet troops are still experiencing difficulties maintaining order in Dili. The first UN and Interfet convoy that reached Baucau, the territory's second biggest town, at the weekend found most of the infrastructure had been destroyed. ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 30 Sep 1999 jam 16:04:14 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
