Campaign for an Independent East Timor (South Australia) Inc.
Affiliated to the East Timor Relief Association, the Australian Coalition
for a Free East Timor and the Australian East Timor Network
Global Education Centre
first floor, Torrens House
220 Victoria Square,
ADELAIDE
SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5000
17 April 1999
TO :
His Excellency
Mr Kofi Annan
UN General Secretary
Mr Bill Clinton
President of the US
Mr John Howard
PM of Australia
Mr Tony Blair
PM of the United Kingdom
Dear Sirs,
THE CRITICAL HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN EAST TIMOR
As you should be aware, murderous criminal gangs of pro Indonesian militias
who are armed, trained, coordinated and paid by the Indonesian military and
the Habibie-Alatas regime are rampaging through Dili wreaking death,
destruction and suffering to all pro independence Timorese.
At least 8 people have died today, including the nephew of the former
Indonesian appointed governor of East Timor, Mr Mario Carrascalao. On 6
April, there was a massacre of 57 people in the town of Liquica. The
victims were hacked to death or shot.
The latest news from Dili is that Mr Carrascalao, himself, is also under
threat.
Tomorrow, the militias claim that they will murder East Timorese Nobel
Peace Laureate and Catholic Church leader, Bishop Carlos Belo when he
conducts an open air mass at Taci Tolu. This site is the place where Pope
John Paul 2 said mass in 1989. It is also the location of a mass grave of
East Timorese murdered by the Indonesian regime.
This grave situation has come about because of the following reasons:
the Indonesian regime, currently headed by Dr Habibie and Mr Ali Alatas,
intends to thwart by any means the right of the East Timorese to have their
independence
the failure of the UN and western governments to curb the genocidal
activities of the Indonesian regime since it illegally seized power in 1965
in a blood bath that may have claimed the lives of 3 million people
the continuing military support and training by western governments to this
regime over the past three decades heedless of the crimes that it had
already committed in West Papua and parts of Indonesia by the late 1960s
the failure of the UN to force the military of this regime out of West
Papua after the brutal and so called Act of Free Choice in 1969
the activities of many corporations and arms manufacturers that profited
from the exploitation of the resources and peoples of East Timor, West
Papua and Indonesia or sold weapons to the Indonesian regime with the
connivance of governments that claimed to be committed to the principles of
democracy and justice
the turning of the diplomatic and political blind eye, the deaf ear or the
use of appeasing words by the UN and political leaders and diplomats of
western countries when they should have been speaking out and condemning
the actions of this criminal and genocidal regime
those UN and western government diplomats and politicians who have
callously refused a peace keeping presence in East Timor or resiled from
taking sanctions against Indonesia
those UN and western diplomats and politicians who refused to allow Xanana
and other East Timorese leaders to be involved with talks about the future
of East Timor and gave assurances that this regime would act honourably in
the matter of East Timorese independence
All of the above mentioned individuals, governments and organisations have
blood on their hands every bit as much as the actual perpetrators of the
bloody crimes - the Indonesian politicians and generals.
Questions that all citizens of the world who are devoted to peace and
justice want to ask you are these:
Are you all going to let these militias carry out their murderous and
criminal acts on behalf of this genocidal regime and do nothing?
Are you going to let them murder thousands of East Timorese and maybe even
a Nobel Peace Laureate and a former governor without taking any action -
not even a word of warning?
Are you going to allow this regime and its murderous militias to undermine
the process of self determination in East Timor?
As a matter of urgency, we strongly urge you to cooperate to:
1. Give a strong word of warning to Dr Habibie and Mr Alatas that their
regime will face economic sanctions unless they make immediate moves to
disband and disarm the militias and remove all Indonesian military
personnel from East Timor
2. Stop all military assistance and cooperation with Indonesia and urge all
nations to do the same
3. Immediately send a UN peacekeeping force to East Timor to achieve peace
and rule of law
4. Immediately send economic and humanitarian aid to support the terrorised
population
5. Ensure that any referendum on East Timor's future occurs only after
every Indonesian soldier has left the country and every militia has been
disbanded and disarmed
We appeal to you to act now to prevent further genocide, human suffering
and destruction in East Timor.
Yours hopefully
Andrew Alcock
Information Officer
on behalf of
the Committee of the Campaign for an Independent East Timor SA Inc
Phone: 61 8 83710480 (home) 61 8 82053259 (work)
Pager: 61 8 84157467
Facsimile: 61 8 82236509
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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