Other US creations, offspring around the world have become embarassing
butchers - yet the US continues to cover up for them.

So, what was it about Saddam so so ticked off the Bushes????

Rui
_______________________________________________________________________

Subject: AFP: Little progress on Suharto era abuses in Indonesia: HRW


Agence France Presse -- English

January 12, 2007

Little progress on Suharto era abuses in Indonesia: HRW

JAKARTA, Jan 12 2007

Indonesia has made little progress in addressing human rights crimes
committed during the rule of former dictator Suharto, US-based Human
Rights Watch said.

"No charges have been brought against the former president for human
rights violations committed during his more than three decades of
power, or for the violence instigated by pro-Suharto forces in a
failed attempt to stave off his 1998 fall from power, the New
York-based rights watchdog said in its annual report released Thursday.

Suharto ruled Indonesia with an iron grip until he stepped down amid
mounting unrest in 1998. More than 1,000 people died in riots which
devastated the capital Jakarta.

Now 85, Suharto has also escaped trial for massive corruption, with
the attorney-general's office abandoning its pursuit of him last year
on health grounds.

Human Rights Watch said Indonesia had also failed to bring to justice
those responsible for an orgy of violence by pro-Jakarta militias in
East Timor after it voted for independence.

"Despite significant international pressure and interest, trials of
senior Indonesian officers at an ad hoc human rights court in Jakarta
have failed to give a credible judicial accounting for atrocities
committed in East Timor in 1999," it said.

The rights court set up to try military officers and officials was
widely condemned as a sham. A militia leader, Eurico Guterres, is the
sole person serving a jail term for his role.

Human Rights Watch also expressed concern over the slow pace of
reform of the military, which is accused of running its own sometimes
illicit cash-generating businesses and rights abuses.

"The Indonesian military continues to raise money outside the
government budget through a sprawling network of legal and illegal
businesses, by providing paid services, and through acts of
corruption such as mark-ups in military purchases," it said.

"This self-financing undermines civilian control, contributes to
abuses of power by the armed forces, and impedes reform."

The rights watchdog also expressed concern about the more than one
million Indonesians, mostly women, who work abroad mainly as domestic
workers.

It said migrant domestic workers commonly become heavily indebted to
pay exorbitant recruitment agency fees and many receive little or
incorrect information about the terms of their employment.

"In the worst cases, such conditions contribute to making the
migrants vulnerable to even more egregious abuses abroad, including
forced labour, debt bondage, and human trafficking," it said.

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