PEACEWATCH.

AuthorRutsch, Horst
PositionBrief Article

Following an open debate in the Security Council on 11 September, Indonesian President B. J. Habibie accepted a UN-authorized peacekeeping force in East Timor. The Council on 15 September, adopted Resolution 1264 (1999), acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which authorized the establishment of a multinational force to restore peace and security in the territory, protect the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and facilitate humanitarian operations. It also invited the Secretary-General to immediately plan and prepare for a United Nations transitional administration in East Timor, incorporating a peacekeeping operation, to be deployed in the implementation phase of the popular consultation. It condemned and called for the immediate end of all acts of violence, and demanded those responsible be brought to justice. Five days later, on 20 September, the first 2,300 troops of the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET), commanded by Major General Peter Cosgrove of Australia, reached Dili.

In a "popular consultation" of 30 August, the people of East Timor had voted by 78.5 per cent to 21.5 per cent against the special autonomy proposed by Indonesia, bringing East Timor, in the phrase of Mr. Kofi Annan on 3 September, to "the threshold of an orderly and peaceful transition" after nearly a quarter century of conflict.

But in the aftermath of the consultation, East Timorese militia, who opposed independence, led a ferocious campaign of violence, terrorizing the population and leading to a large-scale humanitarian tragedy. Within days, the entire urban population of the capital Dili had either fled or been forcibly relocated outside of East Timor. Similar situations existed in other regions, such as Aileu, Ermera and Maliana. (The Secretary-General has asked United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, to head an inquiry and report the results by 31 December.)

The Security Council sent a high-level mission. [*] headed by Ambassador Andjaba of Namibia, to Jakarta and Dili, which described the events following the referendum as representing, under the guise of a backlash against the vote for independence, "nothing less than a systematic implementation of a 'scorched earth' policy" under the direction of the Indonesian military. The mission noted the massive forced displacement of the population to West Timor as part of a systematic effort to permanently disperse these people all around Indonesia. Such...

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