East Timor: establishing security The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, October 6th, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~cpa Subscription rates on request. ****************************** By Lynne Androniki As the Australian led INTERFET forces move to secure key towns to the West of East Timor, questions are being raised as to the role the East Timorese themselves will play in East Timor during the stabilisation and peace keeping stages of the campaign. INTERFET forces are actively striving to disarm all other armed forces in East Timor. These forces include not only the TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) supported pro-integrationist militias but also the pro-independence FALINTIL forces, who for a quarter of a century have resisted the TNI from their strongholds in the mountainous interior regions of East Timor. Totally disarming the East Timorese population over the next six months is a key part of the INTERFET strategy which has been challenged by FALINTIL. In a statement issued on Monday this week, Jose Ramos Horta, Senior Vice President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), welcomed the introduction of INTERFET in East Timor but said it would be an affront if they attempted to disarm FALINTIL's members. "FALINTIL has been for 24 years the only force standing between the Indonesian army and the people of East Timor. In the last few weeks, when the whole world and the UN abandoned the people of East Timor, it was the FALINTIL that provided protection for the hundreds of thousands of East Timorese people in the mountains of East Timor. Ramos Horta said that the responsibility of INTERFET was to protect the people of East Timor from the militia gangs and the Indonesian army. "They should not behave in a manner that would make the people of East Timor see INTERFET as an enemy of FALINTIL." Vice-Commander of FALINTIL, Taur Matan Ruak, in a statement from Uimori HQ in central East Timor, urged INTERFET to keep its mandate of disarming the militias, providing security and protection for the population and security and safe passage for the expeditions delivering humanitarian aid. "We would be willing to negotiate with INTERFET when the last TNI soldier has left the territory, but it would be conditional, we would like to see the development of an appropriate mechanism such as a police force to maintain security", said Vice-Commander Taur Matan Ruak. Ramos Horta said security in a new East Timor must be through the creation of a new security force comprising FALINTIL members and others. In the meantime, he said, orders are being issued by Commander Xanana Gusmao and Vice Commander Taur Matan Ruak that all FALINTIL elements remain confined to their cantonments. It is clear that the INTERFET presence in East Timor does not guarantee the safety of the East Timorese people. The East Timorese know this, and they still fear the plans of TNI. They have experienced the violence that has accompanied the economic exploitation of their country not only in the last couple of months but for almost 25 years. As such, even though some relatively safe areas have been established few have returned from their precarious existence in the mountains. The safety of around 200,000 others is still in question as they huddle in camps in West Timor and in smaller numbers throughout Indonesia itself. Larger safe areas need to be established throughout East Timor and it is imperative that these refugees be able to return home free of intimidation and violence from the TNI-backed militias now building up in concentration in West Timor. The ability of aid workers to distribute desperately needed aid is still severely debilitated throughout most of East Timor due to the lack of security. It is imperative too that those hiding in the mountains be able to return to safe areas where they can access food, water and medicine. Longer term security for the area is also critical if shelter is to be quickly built before the fast approaching wet season and crops need to be planted at appropriate times if famine is to avoided in the coming 12 months. The Australian Government has made it clear that it is unable or unwilling to continue its support for the UN mission, to the same extent as at present. This means that in less than six months the lives of the East Timorese people will increasingly be placed in the hands of a world community who has largely ignored their plight over the last 25 years and was slow to deliver any assistance during the latest unprecedented wave of murder and destruction. We have seen already how quickly UNIMET had to evacuate when under threat from TNI and their militias, and only after many of the UN's East Timorese workers had been hunted down and killed. But while a real and active East Timorese involvement is critical in achieving and maintaining security in East Timor, how best to do this is complex to answer. CNRT is a coalition of parties, each of which has played a role in the history of East Timor over the last 30 years. The parties have been exploited by TNI and Indonesian business concerns in the past and the divisions run deep for the East Timorese people. The role of CNRT and the overwhelming support it received from the East Timorese people during the ballot in August, was critical not only in achieving the decisive ballot results but it was also critical in exposing the involvement of TNI in the militias and dispelling the myth of the possibility of civil war. CNRT has also been actively training the East Timorese in reconciliation in order for past differences to be left behind. These complexities must be borne in mind when considering the maintaining of the armament of FALINTIL forces as well as the rearmament of the East Timorese population on a more broader base. What is imperative is that the East Timorese be in control of these decisions and that while some of their decisions, such as their wish to have a UN peace keeping force present in East Timor, must be critically accepted, we must support their right to self-determination in all respects. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: EAST TIMOR: ESTABLISHING SECURITY
Communist Party of Australia Tue, 05 Oct 1999 21:05:13 +1000
