Deteriorating Human Rights in East Timor

The months of May, June, and July 1997 seemed to mark an intensification of the conflict in East Timor, with guerrilla attacks on both Indonesian military targets and civilians in Dili, Baucau, Ermera, and Los Palos, and intensive operations by the Indonesian army to find and punish those responsible. The timing of the attacks was linked to the May 29 national elections in Indonesia in which Foreign Minister Ali Alatas ran representing East Timor on the list of the ruling party, GOLKAR. Both Alatas and Transmigration Minister Siswono Yudohusodo made highly publicized campaign visits to East Timor in mid-May, with Alatas challenged by students at the University of East Timor on Indonesia's refusal to hold a referendum on the territory and Siswono's presence serving to underscore the highly sensitive issue of how government-sponsored migration is changing the demographics of East Timor. The outcome of the election was never in doubt -- GOLKAR won in East Timor by more than 80 percent of the vote as opposed to its 74 percent overall victory in Indonesia -- but guerrillas targeted polling places, election officials, and, in some cases, voters to highlight their rejection of Indonesian rule. Some thirty people died in these attacks, including at least ten civilians, whose deaths Human Rights Watch condemned as a clear violation of international humanitarian law. This report focuses on the period from May to July, but it also includes new information about earlier incidents. Outside human rights organizations are not allowed formal access to East Timor; a request from Human Rights Watch to the Indonesian government in early June has not been answered. The information presented here comes from a variety of sources, including interviews with East Timorese, trial documents of East Timorese convicted in Dili district court, eyewitness accounts compiled in East Timor and made available to Human Rights Watch, and articles from the local Dili newspaper, Suara Timor Timur (Voice of East Timor).

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