Statement of the East Timor Action Network Following Suspension of U.S. Aid to Indonesia and Indonesian Agreement to
Allow International Force into East Timor
12 September, 1999, Washington, DC
The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) welcomes international political actions over the past 72 hours to stop the
Indonesian military's attempted genocide in East Timor. Beginning with President Clinton's statement on Thursday
afternoon, the international community has finally acted to suspend military and financial assistance to Indonesia until
atrocities are stopped and peace is restored. By Saturday, the U.S. cut off military to military ties (including
remaining training programs), government military transfers and commercial weapons sales to Indonesia. The International
Monetary Fund and World Bank have suspended pending funds. The U.S. has effectively suspended further bilateral
financial aid to the government of Indonesia until it stops or allows the international community to stop continuing
attacks that have killed hundreds and driven tens of thousands into exile in the past week in East Timor. President
Clinton also announced U.S. technical support for an international peacekeeping mission and strongly urged Indonesia to
invite the presence of such a mission.
Even today, East Timor remains under siege as Indonesian military and police forces, and Indonesian-backed
paramilitaries rampage through Dili and other provinces of the occupied territory. Recent reports and refugee interviews
point to at least seven incidents of mass killing and countless individual attacks, now targeting church workers,
priests and nuns, since the people of East Timor voted overwhelmingly on August 30 for their independence from Indonesia
in a UN-managed referendum. Today only a handful of foreign reporters remain to tell the stories of burning, kidnapping,
beatings, rapes, and murder, as some 80 courageous UN workers remain in the UN compound to protect over a thousand
refugees.
ETAN acknowledges and appreciates the actions of the U.S. and other international actors in cutting off military and
financial assistance, but fears that delays in implementing these critical actions will have cost the lives of thousands
and the devastation of East Timor's fragile infrastructure. Responding to intense pressure internationally and from
Congress and human rights groups at home, President Clinton halted U.S. support for an Indonesian military widely
acknowledged for months to be financing, arming and organizing paramilitary groups in an attempt to undermine the UN
referendum process by force. Today we have learned that Indonesian President Habibie has in fact decided to accept an
international force in East Timor.
ETAN is concerned that military assistance and other aid may be restored unless locked into place through congressional
action. The U.S. must continue to withhold support until Indonesia has fully withdrawn from East Timor and dismantled
the military apparatus responsible for gross human rights abuses against the people of East Timor, Aceh, West
Papua/Irian Jaya and other areas of Indonesia. The culprits are not rogue elements but official units of the Indonesian
security apparatus, which is not under effective civilian control and commits atrocities with almost total impunity.
ETAN recalls that just last year public exposure forced the suspension of the Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET)
program through which the Pentagon continued to supply the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus), now operating in East
Timor, with combat training despite congressional intent. A full accounting of current U.S. government transfers and
commercial weapons sales to Indonesia for FY 1999 must be made public to ensure adequate oversight of these cut-offs.
Further, cut-offs should include all categories of military assistance, allowing no further loopholes.
Foreign journalists, UN officials, and nonpartisan observers have extensively documented the Indonesian military's role
in creating, training, arming and directing paramilitary forces in East Timor, and their direct participation in
systematic attacks against the civilian population and infrastructure of the territory. ETAN welcomes support from the
human rights community and encourages further action by the U.S. Congress to officially explore these nefarious ties
that keep East Timor from freedom and the Indonesian people from democracy blocked by a still military controlled
regime.
We commend the International Federation for East Timor Observer Project (IFET-OP), including some 70 U.S. residents, for
their courageous presence to monitor the UN process and report on paramilitary violence and conditions in East Timor,
until their evacuation one week ago.
ETAN calls on the U.S. Congress and Administration to fully support an international force intended to establish
immediate UN control of administration and security in East Timor. This should include not only strategic lift,
logistical and communications support. It should also include continued political pressure for the immediate end to
martial law, the full and monitored withdrawal of Indonesian troops, the isolating, disarming, and disbanding of
paramilitary units, and the arrest of their leaders as well as Indonesian military officers known to have assisted their
attacks.
ETAN strongly regrets delayed U.S. action that allowed circumstances to reach a point after which the current UN mission
was made ineffective. We call for an immediate increase in the UNAMET mandate and a serious increase in the numbers of
UNAMET personnel. ETAN has repeatedly objected to this limited mandate as well as the flawed May 5 UN agreement that
gave Indonesia responsibility for security around the vote. This has always been fatal hypocrisy, and we are witnessing
today the sad consequences of allowing the Indonesian military to supervise the safety of those they have brutalized for
almost 24 years.
ETAN appreciates Indonesian President Habibie's invitation to an international force and calls on the Indonesian
government to voluntarily withdraw its troops from East Timor immediately and allow the UN to take over. It is not yet
too late for the Indonesian government to claim some historical victory by allowing the resumption of a peaceful
transition for East Timor to independence.
ETAN calls on the UN to reestablish its presence and move forward with its supervision of a long-term transition process
with international assistance.
ETAN expresses deepest concern that humanitarian aid teams, both international and non-governmental, be allowed into
East Timor immediately. We call on the international community to provide substantial financial and practical support
for air lifts of emergency food, water and medical supplies to all refugee camps, containment areas, and church
sanctuaries both in East Timor and West Timor. Further, we strongly urge the Indonesian government to work with the
international community to make provisions to locate and return all refugees who were forcibly removed or who fled from
Timor island over the last weeks and months.
Finally, we stress the urgency of these matters and ask the international community to take these necessary steps within
the next days. There is no time to wait. The lives of thousands of innocent East Timorese civilians hang in the balance.
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East Timor Action Network 110 Maryland Avenue NE #30 Washington, DC 20002
202-544-6911; 202-546-5103 (fax) etandc@igc.apc.org, www.etan.org
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