wfn.org | ‘Don't forget East Timor,' church leader says

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Note #6227 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

24-October-2000
00366

‘Don't forget East Timor,' church leader says

Devastated country is slow to rebuild after fight for independence

by Edmund Doogue
Ecumenical News International

GENEVA -- A year after the departure of Indonesian troops from East Timor,
the country is still devastated by the violence inflicted by the troops and
militia groups that opposed the territory's independence, according to
Francisco de Vasconcelos, the newly elected, 35-year-old moderator of the
Protestant Church of East Timor.

	Christians in the region were grateful, De Vasconcelos told ENI, for the
support by churches around the world for moves to have a referendum in East
Timor over the question of sovereignty. The East Timorese voted for
independence and their Indonesian rulers and the militia groups which
opposed independence were eventually forced out, leaving a trail of
destruction behind them.

	But if the international community, churches included, thought that the
story was over and that they could now forget about East Timor, they were
wrong, he insisted.

	"The struggle isn't over," De Vasconcelos said in an interview at the
Ecumenical Center in Geneva, where he was attending a gathering of Asian
church representatives hosted by the World Council of Churches.

	"We had one struggle, but now we have a new struggle -- to develop the
country, to establish a good government without corruption and with respect
for civil society. We need overseas support, both moral support and
financial support, to repair our future, especially with the education of
the young. We want to establish a country with justice and democracy, but we
cannot have democracy for the people if there is no education."

	De Vasconcelos himself was the subject of intense media interest in
September last year when it was reported that he had been killed by
anti-independence militia. In fact, together with 200 people who had been
sheltering in his church in Dili, he had fled to the mountains to escape the
violence. He then heard reports of his own death on the radio.

	Now, a year after its liberation, De Vasconcelos describes East Timor as a
country devastated by last year's events. The rural population is struggling
to work its land as many of the departing Indonesian troops destroyed
everything in sight. "Many of the farmers use the simplest of tools, and the
tools were destroyed when the Indonesians burnt the houses down," he said.

	"They also killed the buffaloes [used for ploughing]."

	In the capital, Dili, the residents are overwhelmed, according to De
Vasconcelos, by the huge number of United Nations personnel now running East
Timor and by staff from non-governmental organizations who are there to
provide aid.

	While there had been occasional misunderstandings between foreigners and
locals, the East Timorese were not complaining about the presence of the
foreigners, he said. International businesses and individuals wanting to set
up businesses had also arrived in Dili.

	De Vasconcelos said that the local people did not mind, but he added that
"we want to know how they can help train our people to run businesses, so
that we can be involved. The biggest problem in Dili is unemployment,
especially among young people."

	Of another major problem facing East Timor -- the fate of an estimated
120,000 East Timorese still in Indonesian-controlled West Timor -- De
Vasconcelos said that pressure should be applied on the Indonesian
government to sort out who among the refugees wanted to return to East
Timor. De Vasconcelos explained that the refugees, who fled East Timor
during last year's violence, were divided into those who had supported
independence and those who wanted autonomy while still remaining part of
Indonesia.

	Difficulties faced by those refugees who wanted to return but could not --
many fear the presence of pro-Indonesia militia near the border with East
Timor -- continued also to cause anxiety for those in East Timor who wanted
their relatives to return home safely, De Vasconcelos told ENI.

	The international media have carried reports for most of this year claiming
that militia groups in West Timor have been terrorizing refugees. The issue
came to a head in September when three United Nations aid workers in West
Timor were killed, allegedly at the hands of the militia.

	The UN then withdrew its aid workers and applied pressure on Indonesia to
disarm the militias. Despite a deadline imposed by Indonesia for the
hand-over of weapons, Peter Kessler, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, said late in September: "The level of these voluntary
surrenders of weapons has been quite pathetic."

	De Vasconcelos's church was formerly known as the Christian Church of East
Timor, but it was renamed this year to make its Protestant affiliation
clear. He was elected moderator of the church in June this year.

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