---------------------------------------------------------- Live and work in the USA legally: Register for the GREEN CARD LOTTERY! Visit http://www.us-immigration.org -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 Indonesia Daily News Online http://www.indo-news.com/ Free Email @KotakPos.com visit: http://my.kotakpos.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------- Australian Broadcasting Corporation AM News - Tuesday, September 12, 2000 8:18 -transcript- Indonesian militia leader claims West Timor now safe COMPERE: The militia leader accused of leading last week's deadly assault on foreign aid workers in Indonesian West Timor says that it is now safe for international staff who fled the province to return. Eurico Guterres is blamed for an attack on a United Nations office in the town of Atambua in which three foreign aid workers were hacked to death. Indonesia correspondent, Mark Bowling reports. MARK BOWLING: Speaking by telephone from West Timor, Eurico Guterres says there is no problem if foreigners return. They should not fear for their safety. But after the brutal murder of three UN aid workers in Atambua last Wednesday, that is not the view of the United Nations which says, not even the arrest of 15 people suspected of being part of the violence is enough for its staff to resume duties. Indonesia must first disarm and disband the militia gangs. Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, last week blamed Eurico Guterres for leading the pro-Jakarta militias in West Timor. Mr Downer went further, naming Guterres as one of those involved in leading the assault in Atambua. Now Eurico Guterres has answered his critic. EURICO GUTERRES [interpreted by Mark Bowling]: If he accuses me of being the man behind the killings, he's wrong, says Eurico Guterres. Let's now join together. If the foreigners want to come back to Kupang, the capital of West Timor, we can guard them. MARK BOWLING: Guterres says the UN is responsible for humanitarian work. But militia sentiments turned against the organisation because of suspicions that some aid workers were spies. He claims the UN had two senior ranking military officers and police working under cover. At the same time he says a former Australian soldier was suspiciously posing as a businessman or student to gather information in Atambua after crossing the border from East Timor. There are those who claim Eurico Guterres lives a charmed life. Last year he led the feared Aitarak militia which ransacked Dili after East Timor's vote for independence. However, he has not been named as a suspect in an Indonesian criminal investigation into the atrocities committed and that has raised sharp criticism from international human rights groups. On Thursday this week Guterres will be called as a witness in the case and there is still a chance that evidence may later result in him being charged. Investigators have already begun questioning the first of 19 suspects which include generals, militia leaders and former government officials. Yesterday Colonel Yayat Sud Razhad [phonetic], former chief of East Timor's feared intelligence task force, was among three suspects questioned behind closed doors. This is Mark Bowling in Jakarta for AM. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 18 Sep 2000 jam 05:42:07 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
