-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew McNaughtan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sunday, April 18, 1999 4:51 PM
Subject: Demonstration against Downer's inaction.
>PRESS RELEASE. 18/4/99
>
>MASSACRES IN TIMOR - DOWNER INEFFECTUAL.
>
>The threatened mass killings commenced in Dili yesterday. The death toll
>cannot be assessed at present as it is still riding and it is currently
>impossible to get the full picture from the ground.
>
>The population is terrified and hiding behind barricaded doors. The latest
>information is that there has been a further massacre in Liquica . The
>bodies are said to have been taken away in 4 trucks. The killings at
>Manuel Carrascalao�s house may be as many as 100. His son was killed,
>reportedly by decapitation.
>
>All this is being done with the support of the Indonesian armed forces who
>are taking no steps to stop the killing. When military commander Tono
>Suratman was contacted desperately by Manuel Carrascalao to stop the
>killing in his house he said he wasn�t willing or able to do anything and
>it wasn�t his problem. The Indonesian army are the problem, not the
>solution in East Timor . The malaise goes right to the top - to General
>Wiranto.
>
>Our Foreign Minister and Prime Minister have been warned extensively of
>this impending disaster for many months by many parties. The threats have
>been evident and explicit. They have understated and misrepresented the
>problem - first by saying the problem was one between Timorese factions
>when the Indonesian army was clearly the source of conflict . Then they
>implied the problem was �rogue elements' within the Indonesian army when
>the problem clearly went to the top.
>
>All the time Downer has ridiculed and belittled the constant calls by many
>parties for a UN peacekeeping presence. The net effect of his actions has
>been to deflect and defuse international concern and give the Indonesian
>armed forces and their proxy militias the space to expand their activities.
>Now we are reaping the consequences of their inaction. Downer and Howard
>have been putting the brake on international action when they should have
>been pressing the accelerator. They are at least partially responsible for
>the massacres now occurring whilst the world stands by.
>
>That is why there is a demonstration against Alexander Downer today -
>Sunday 18th April - at about 6pm at the Sydney Opera House
>
>
>For information and comment - Andrew McNaughtan : 99605550
>Mobile 0418 238658
>
>
>
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