Human Rights Watch said that the deaths today of at least three U.N. refugee aid workers in West Timor were directly attributable to the Indonesian government's failure to control the militias.
"This would not ?could not ?have happened if Indonesian authorities had taken steps much earlier to disband the militias in West Timor and prosecute them for known acts of violence," said Joe Saunders, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Instead, local civilian and military authorities gave every encouragement to these men and their political front organizations to intimidate East Timorese refugees under their control."
The staff members of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were killed today in the town of Atambua near the border with East Timor after a mob attack on U.N. offices. Thousands had gathered for the funeral of prominent pro-Indonesia militia commander Olivio Mendonca Moruk who was killed and beheaded the day before under unclear circumstances. (One report suggested he had been killed by public transport drivers reluctant to pay a tax he had imposed, another that rival militia leaders were responsible.) In 1999, Moruk was head of the Laksaur militia, one of the most brutal and notorious of the Indonesian army-backed militias in East Timor, and reportedly worked as an intelligence agent with Kopassus, the Indonesian army's elite special forces. He was implicated in a massacre in September 1999 of people taking refuge at a church in the town of Suai, as well as numerous other crimes. The Indonesian Attorney-General's office named him last week as one of nineteen people to be formally indicted for abuses committed in East Timor.
"The fact that Moruk was a known criminal in East Timor doesn't in any way justify his killing, but the fact that he continued to operate as a thug with complete impunity in West Timor indicates how unwilling the Indonesian government has been to act," said Saunders. "Indonesian authorities gave him and others like him a free hand, and made the deaths of these humanitarian workers a tragedy waiting to happen." He said the Indonesian government could not use as an excuse its lack of control over the militias; if it had wanted to exert control, it could have provided the resources and manpower necessary to do so.
Prior to the attack, UNHCR had reported more than 100 incidents of violence or intimidation of its staff by militias and their supporters. From August 22 to 29, UNHCR temporarily suspended its services in response to physical attacks on staff. The International Office on Migration also has faced repeated harassment and threats from militia leaders, with intimidation increasing in July and August.
"This horrific incident underscores yet again the need for governments worldwide to provide humanitarian workers with the necessary protection and security," said Rachael Reilly, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch. "Without such guarantees, humanitarian assistance will suffer and the security and well-being of civilians in conflict situations will deteriorate."
