INDONESIA: INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS IT WILL NOT MEET U.N. DELEGATION DUE IN JAKATA TO DISCUSS MURDERS OF THREE UNHCR WORKERS IN WEST TIMOR

Record ID: 648561

  • Title: INDONESIA: INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS IT WILL NOT MEET U.N. DELEGATION DUE IN JAKATA TO DISCUSS MURDERS OF THREE UNHCR WORKERS IN WEST TIMOR
  • Date: 12th September 2000
  • Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (SEPTEMBER 12, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. MV: NEWS CONFERENCE BY COORDINATING MINISTER FOR SECURITY AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO 0.05 2. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Bahasa Indonesia) YUDHOYONO SAYING "Indonesia must first be given a chance to respond to the U.N. resolution. We are working on the problems, including those concerning the international community especially the United Nations. We hope we are given the trust, sovereignty and chance." 0.35 3. SCU: CAMERA OPERATOR 0.38 4. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Bahasa Indonesia) YUHDOYONO SAYING: "We hope the world will be fair, giving respect to each country's sovereignty. There are still other ways to talk about the problems, through diplomatic ways, through our ambassador at the United Nations and through our president. Therefore we hope for a good communication process between the government and the U.N." 1.08 5. SV: YUDHOYONO 1.12 6. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) YUDHOYONO SAYING: "All militia organisations had been dissolved in 1999 and their weapons seized, totalling more than 670 pieces. If there were weapons still, the police and military will do the necessary and persuassive steps to seize them." 1.45 ATAMBUA, WEST TIMOR (RECENT) (REUTERS) 7. MV/PAN: DESTROYED UNHCR OFFICE AFTER AMBUSH BY MILITIAMEN (2 SHOTS) 2.03 8. SCU'S: BURNT CAR (2 SHOTS) 2.12 NAIBONAT, WEST TIMOR (RECENT) (REUTERS) 9. LV: REFUGEE CAMP 2.17 10. SV/MV: REFUGEES (2 SHOTS) 2.25 11. SCU'S: WOMAN COOKING (2 SHOTS) 2.36 12. SLV: CAMP 2.41 JAKARTA, INDONESIA (SEPTEMBER 12, 2000) (REUTERS) 13. HAS: PROTEST IN FRONT OF U.N.HEADQUARTERS IN JAKARTA 2.47 14. HAS: LEADER ON TOP OF CAR ADDRESSING CROWD/ POLICE LINED UP IN FRONT OF GATE 2.53 15. SCU: PROTESTER HOLDING POSTER SAYING "U.S. AND AUSTRALIA STOP INTERVENING IN INDONESIA" 2.58 16. SV: PROTESTERS WITH INDONESIAN FLAGS MARCHING NEAR FORMER PRESIDENT SUHARTO'S HOME 3.04 17. SCU: POLICE FOLLOWING PROTESTORS 3.07 18. SV: STUDENTS PROTESTING AGAINST CORRUPTION BEING PUSHED BY ANTI-U.N. PROTESTORS 3.13 19. VARIOUS: PROTESTORS CHASING STUDENTS/ CLASHES (3 SHOTS) 3.42 20. SV/SCU: SECURITY FORCES WITH INJURED PROTESTER (2 SHOTS) 3.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA; ATAMBUA AND NAIBONAT, WEST TIMOR; INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVA9MQH2TAQOEBR2FJ0Q9HRHNKCK
  • Story Text: The Indonesias government says it will not meet a U.N.

    Security Council delegation due in Jakarta next week over the
    slaughter of three foreign U.N. aid workers in West Timor,
    saying it first needed a chance to respond to the UN
    resolution condemning the killings.



    Jakarta's stance was announced at a news conference on
    Tuesday (September 12) following a special cabinet meeting on
    West Timor.

    "Indonesia must first be given a chance to respond to the
    U.N. resolution. We are working on the problems, including
    those concerning the international community especially the
    United Nations. We hope we are given the trust, sovereignty
    and chance," said Political and Security Affairs Minister,
    Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

    The decision is expected to fuel already harsh world
    condemnation of last week's killings by pro-Jakarta militias
    and Indonesia's failure to rein in the gangs who laid waste to
    much of East Timor when it voted for independence last year.

    The U.N. Security Council voted to send a delegation to
    Jakarta when it unanimously condemned the murders of the three
    staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
    (UNHCR) in the West Timor border town of Atambua last
    Wednesday (September 6).

    The mission was to convey a strong message to Jakarta to
    disarm and disband the militias, said diplomats who attended a
    closed Security Council session in New York on Monday
    (September 11).

    Despite mounting international pressure, Indonesia has
    done little to disarm the militias who operate with impunity
    in border towns like Atambua, which are still home to 120,000
    East Timorese refugees who fled the carnage in their homeland
    last year.

    "All militia organisations had been dissolved in 1999 and
    their weapons seized, totalling more than 670 pieces. If there
    were weapons still, the police and military will do the
    necessary and persuassive steps to seize them," Yudhoyono
    assured journalists at the news conference.

    The withdrawal of foreign aid workers from Indonesian West
    Timor has also raised fears of food shortages among refugees.

    The UNHCR and other foreign aid groups evacuated hundreds
    of staff after the Atambua killings and say they will not
    return until Indonesia restores security, arrests the killers
    and weeds the militias out of East Timorese refugees living in
    camps.

    The militias are operating from among the East Timorese
    refugees in West Timor. They forced about 300,000 East
    Timorese across the border into West Timor during last year's
    rampage, and around 180,000 have since returned home.

    They are also believed to still be receiving support from
    rogue police and soldiers in their West Timor safe havens.

    Meanwhile, more than 200 protestors were protesting
    against foreign intervention in front of the U.N. office in
    Jakarta.

    After the protest, the protestors, believed to be
    supporters of disgraced former Indonesian president Suharto,
    attacked peaceful anti-Suharto protesters near the ousted
    autocrat's central Jakarta home. At least one anti-Suharto
    protester was badly injured.

    Rallies demanding Suharto face trial over graft and human
    rights abuses during his 32-year, army-backed rule are common
    and sometimes erupt into violent clashes between protesters
    and riot police.


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