Timor-Leste president, José Ramos-Horta. Image courtesy of Scoop.co.nz.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Selwyn Manning.

Timor-Leste’s president José Ramos-Horta will support a UN-backed international criminal tribunal that would investigate killings that took place in the former Indonesia colony between 1975 to 1999 – if the UN organises it.

On Friday, March 5, José Ramos-Horta met with Amnesty International representatives in London where, Amnesty International reported, he agreed to give his support to establishing an international criminal tribunal should the United Nations security council organise the tribunal.

The Amnesty report, published this week, states little progress has been made to bring those responsible for killings in the Asia Pacific nation throughout the 1975-99 period, since 1999 when Indonesia released control of Timor-Leste to a UN-backed multinational force.

Indonesia’s government invaded Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) in 1975 and instituted totalitarian rule over the nation’s population until it lost control of its own military forces and state-backed militia in 1999. The massacres in and around the capital Dili in 1999 were sparked by Indonesia’s attempt to hold onto power after a vote showed Timor’s people wished to sever links with Indonesia. Thousands of people were murdered and injured in a violent rampage that swept through the nation.

In its report, Amnesty International stated: “Since the end of the conflict, the Timor-Leste authorities have taken measures supporting reconciliation with Indonesia at the expense of criminal prosecutions. However, President Ramos-Horta has now challenged the UN Security Council to set up the tribunal, despite his own reservations.”

An international criminal tribunal would seek justice for victims of human rights violations, including murder, and would provide “full and effective” reparations to surviving victims, the Amnesty report stated.

But an AFP report stated Ramos-Horta as having been misquoted by the human rights organisation. The AFP report quoted Ramos-Horta as stating: “‘I remain firmly unconvinced that the interests of the victims of my country and the cause of peace and democracy are best served with an international tribunal,’ he said in a statement. The president said he told the meeting he would not oppose an international tribunal — but he would under no circumstances push for it to be established.’”

The AFP report added: “The president also said restoring good relations with Indonesia is more important than ‘prosecutorial justice’.”

But Amnesty International now plans to lobby the United Nations.

Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International’s interim Secretary General , said: “I welcome the President’s readiness to accept an international tribunal for the crimes committed in Timor-Leste in the past. We again urge the UN Security Council and the Timorese and Indonesian authorities to establish such a tribunal to address the enduring impunity for the crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations which occurred under Indonesia’s occupation of 1975-1999,” Claudio Cordone said.

Timor-Leste was deemed an independent nation on May 20 2002, but its path toward statehood continued to be bloody. A political, humanitarian and security crisis erupted in April-May 2006 which led to the United Nations security council establishing a multidimensional, integrated UN peacekeeping operation on August 25 2006. At the time up to 40,000 people fled Dili after arson attacks and violence again swept the city. ChildFund estimated that 65,000 people were displaced – a large number of which were children living in camps, in churches and around the air and sea ports.

On February 11 2008, the current president José Ramos-Horta was injured when he was shot during an assassination attempt by rebel leader Alfredo Reinado and his soldiers. Reinado was killed some 30 minutes prior to Horta being shot during a raid on the president’s residence.

On March 5 2010 The Age newspaper reported how three judges in East Timor’s Dili District Court had sentenced 24 rebels up to 16 years imprisonment. The Age reported: “The judges said all nine rebels who went to the President’s house acted in concert to kill Dr Ramos Horta. But they said the identity of the one who fired the shots that almost killed him is not known.”

And controversy surrounds the killing of Reinado. Again The Age reported: “AFP (Australian Federal Police) ballistics tests showed Reinado and Exposto were shot dead by two different weapons. Forensic analysis pointed to the shots being fired at close range, suggesting execution… Neither of the weapons used was the one Marcal testified he was carrying.”

On February 18 2010 the United Nations noted that Timor-Leste is far from stable.

In a report, the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said: “Tensions among the political elite, difficulties within the security institutions, poverty, persistent unemployment, and the lack of an effective land and property regime were the underlying causes of that crisis.”

He added that while encouraging signs suggested the nation is progressing toward stability, it still required assistance from the international community, via the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) so as to maintain order.

“Whatever weight is attributed to the various factors contributing to the 2006 crisis, it is unlikely that they will be fully resolved by 2012,” Ban said. “A reasonable goal is to ensure that the democratic institutions and processes established are robust enough to continue addressing those issues without regression to violence.”

The UN security council agreed and extended the mandate of UNMIT for 12 months.

Amnesty International now intends to lobby the UN security council to establish an international criminal tribunal to address crimes committed during Indonesia’s occupation. And it appears the UN secretary general is sympathetic to the request.

In his February report, Ban noted the continued difficulties Timore-Leste was having in establishing accountability for past crimes: “I remain concerned, as conveyed in my previous report, that the prolonged delay in delivering justice and providing repatriations to victims and their families may further adversely affect public confidence in the rule of law,” he said.

Selwyn Manning is editor in residence at Pacific Scoop and AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre.