SPDC: Atrocity of the month

[Tanpyan@xxxxxxx]

SPDC: Atrocity of the month
by Criticus (15-9-99)

   SPDC (alias) Burmese military junta has, so far, topped the list of
the atrocity of the month. But this September saw the arrival of its
rivals who are Indonesian military and its anti-independence militias in
East Timor. Everything that is happening now in Burma and East Timor has
been happening for more than a decade.

   When the Habibie government allowed the UN to hold a referendum in
East Timor, an Indonesian official survey had predicted a victory for
the independence supporters. The Indonesian officials had early on
admitted that they had failed to win the hearts of East Timorese. When
it was clear that East Timorese voted for independence in the referendum
conducted by the UN, the Indonesian military and its anti-independence
militias chased them out of their homes into the UN compound and to West
Timor. When the defenceless UN mission expressed its attention to leave
lawless Dili on 8 September many East Timorese decided to flee the UN's
safe enclosure.  Indonesian soldiers, who stood by when their militias
went on a the rampage killing people in the city, started firing on the
freeing refugees.  Having realised that they could not bank on the
defenceless UN commission, pro-independence East Timorese have taken
refuge in the area controlled by armed independence fighters. The
capital Dili is almost empty

   The Indonesian army, on 9-9-99, took another gruesome step forward
with the murder of 80-year old Manual Francisco Gusmao, the father of
East-Timorese independence movement leader Xanana Gusmao. His death
indicated that the Indonesian military not only intends to destroy East
Timor's infrastructure but also aims to wipe out its political and
religious elite. Over 90 per cent of East Timorese are devoutly Catholic.

   After seven years of imprisonment Xanana Gusmao was suddenly freed on
7 September with the expectation that he would fly home immediately to
join the independence movement. Because the government knows very well
that Mr. Gusmao, who has taken refuge at the British embassy, in Jakarta,
would be signing his own death-warrant as soon as he landed in Dili
since the pro-Indonesia militias have vowed to kill him. The killing of
his father was regarded as a frustrated response to the failed attempt to
get him to Dili. Because the Indonesian, earlier on, said Mr.Gusmao
would not be released until November. 

   There were terrible acts of human tragedy in the Balkans, Burma, and
East Timor. Civilians who want democracy and independence were fired
upon, arrested, beaten up, tortured and killed by government troops and
their militias. These attacks on civilians, ethnic cleansing and
violation of human rights are wrongs that have no national boundaries.
Crimes committed by the SPDC, Serbian and Indonesian government troops
cannot be defended as the internal policy of a sovereign state. For this
moral reason the Western democracies have intervened in the Balkans. The
NATO justified its intervention in the internal affairs of other country
as a kind of moral war.

   A mass evacuation of about 1000 refugees from the beleaguered UN
compound in Dili to Northern Australia during the third week of
September is the testimony to the collapse of UN operations without
armed support. The evacuation followed fears that the Indonesian army
and its militias might go on a killing rampage before the UN
peacekeeping force arrive. Because pro-Jakarta militias, angered by
Habibie's decision to allow UN peace keepers into East Timor, were
reported to have said that they would take revenge by embarking on a
killing spree in West Timor where an estimated 90,000 East Timorese have
taken refuge.

   Indonesian troops are supposed to be in charge of East Timor's
security before its parliament ratify the results of the voting (or)
before the arrival of a UN peacekeeping force. It could take weeks or
even months for the actual deployment of multinational peacekeeping
force.  So in the meantime, militias set fire to the UN compound in Dili
on 14 September. The burning of the UN building is foretaste of what a
peacekeeping force can expect and the confirmation that the Indonesian
army has lost control of its militias who are fiercely anti-Aussie.
Reports indicated that Jakarta want all ten ASEAN countries involved in
the peacekeeping force.  If that is true it could be a field-day for
SPDC troops who will be neck and neck with anti-independence East
Timorese militias in rape and robbery.

(Criticus  15-9-99)