(30 Sep 1999) Eng/Portu/Nat
The East Timorese independence leaders Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta were the star witnesses before a panel of U-S Congressional lawmakers.
They were answering questions about Indonesia's role in the violence that followed the vote in favour of independence in East Timor.
The members of the U-S Congressional panel said they wanted to know why Indonesia's military had allowed the tragedy in East Timor.
At the hearing in Washington on Thursday, they also asked why U-S assistance to Indonesia's military had not been stopped much sooner.
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jose Ramos Horta, told the panel that Indonesia's army was backing militias operating in West Timor.
He said the Indonesian army and the militias were trying to control the fate of thousands of East Timorese refugees there.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"These displaced persons are not being held by some unknown entity somewhere in the jungle somewhere in the world. They are being held in Indonesian territory, in an action that is condoned by the state, where the institution of the state, the army, which is supposed to defend the country from external aggression or to protect the citizens, is in fact an instrument of hostage-taking, of state terrorism."
SUPER CAPTION: Jose Ramos Horta, Vice President, National Council of East Timorese Resistance
Xanana Gusmao, who is likely to be East Timor's first president when it gains independence, said the next step in the international peacekeeping effort should be to force Indonesian forces out of East Timor.
SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese)
"Equally important for the transition process in East Timor is this second request that I wish to address, and that is for the (U-S) Congress to call for the withdrawal of Indonesian troops from East Timor. The presence of Indonesian troops in East Timor has only led to further suffering, destruction, murder and the slaughter of my people. I therefore appeal to the Congress to use its moral and political strength to enable the withdrawal of the Indonesian troops."
SUPER CAPTION: Xanana Gusmao, President, National Council of East Timorese Resistance
Democrats on the panel criticised the Clinton administration for its programme to help train and aid Indonesia's military at a time when there were already serious concerns about human rights violations.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"They certainly didn't do a very good job in the area of human rights training. That is, I would say, you know, so clear that it cries out for an answer. And what I'm concerned about is I would suggest this calls into question the entire programme, not just as it relates to Indonesia, but in terms of all our military-to-military relationships, and really deserves to be reviewed and scrutinised, and we should have answers."
SUPER CAPTION: Representative William Delahunt, Democrat, Massachusetts
Gusmao, the former guerrilla commander and political leader of East Timor's independence movement, was only recently released from Indonesian detention and hasn't yet returned to his homeland.
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...