![]() ![]() ![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() Monday, October 18, 1999 Published at 09:49 GMT 10:49 UK ![]() ![]() World: Asia-Pacific ![]() Killings and rapes in Timor enclave ![]() Children scavenge on the streets in wake of East Timor violence ![]() An East Timor pro-independence leader has accused peacekeeping forces of ignoring the plight of the people of Oecussi - the East Timor enclave in West Timor. Taur Matan Ruak, a commander of East Timor's pro-independence Falintil rebels, says Indonesian troops and their militia allies have killed 50 people and raped many women in the enclave.
Peacekeeping officials say there are plans to move Interfet troops into Oecussi but they have hinted that this will not happen until more troops arrive, to bring the force to its full complement of 8,000.
"There is no excuse for Interfet's inaction, and if they delay further, it will be too late". A spokesman for Caritas, the aid agency responsible for helping the enclave, said reports from the area suggested Oecussi was in dire need of everything from food and medical care to shelter. But, she added, the security situation made it impossible for humanitarian aid to be delivered.
The killings and destruction followed an overwhelming vote for independence by East Timor's 850,000 people, in a referendum on 30 August. For months, human rights groups, non-governmental organisations and pro-independence supporters claimed that hundreds, even thousands were killed by pro-Jakarta militia.
So far there has been no evidence of massacres on a large scale. Corpses on beach British Gurkhas searching remote areas of East Timor for evidence of human rights abuses have found sites of torture and killings but no bodies or mass graves.
Mutilated corpses have begun washing up on the East Timor coastline.
Corporal Rob Balmer, of the Military police, found bone fragments at the scene but admitted: "Someone did an almost perfect job of removing all the evidence." The team of Gurkhas is questioning local people and piecing together rumours and hearsay. Major Tim Warrington said: "Hearsay will probably turn into the truth that we're looking for".
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]()
![]()
![]() ![]() ![]()
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |