wfn.org | East Timor: LWF urges speedy deployment of peacekeeping force

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Letter to Indonesian President expresses concern for victims of violence

GENEVA, 16 September 1999 (lwi) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
welcomes the decision by Indonesia to accept an international peace
keeping force in East Timor and urges President B. J. Habibie's
government to take all possible measures to ensure the speedy and
effective deployment of such a force.

In a letter addressed to the Indonesian President on 16 September 1999
(today), the LWF General Secretary Dr. Ishmael Noko, on behalf of the
federation and its 128 member churches, expresses hope that the arrival
of the international peace keeping force "will be in time to preserve
the people and infrastructure of East Timor from complete decimation."

On 12 September, Habibie gave in to international pressure and agreed to
allow peacekeepers into the troubled territory.

Noting that the LWF has been monitoring the news of violence and
destruction in East Timor with great distress, the general secretary
refers to the killing of a number of church leaders and clergy and
points out that these individual atrocities are certainly only a small
taste of the suffering of the churches and peoples in the territory.

The LWF also applauds Indonesia's decision to allow the establishment of
an international commission of inquiry to investigate evidence of human
rights violations in East Timor. However, Noko in his letter requests
the Indonesian government to "ensure that such a commission of inquiry
is formed and takes up its investigation with all possible speed."

Noko also urges the Indonesian Head of State to ensure that those
against whom evidence is found of complicity in human rights violations
are prosecuted. "The growing international reaction against the
phenomenon of impunity must also find effective expression in East
Timor, in the light of the widespread reports of extrajudicial killings,
disappearances and forced displacement," the letter to Habibie states in
part.

Ahead of the entry of an international force in East Timor, media
reports say that rampaging militia has targeted Christian clergy. At
least five Roman Catholic priests and four nuns and a Protestant church
leader are among those killed since the violence erupted following the
results of a referendum on independence from Indonesia.

The referendum early September showed that nearly 80 per cent of East
Timor's 800,000 people want independence. The anti-independence
militias, apparently supported by the Indonesian armed forces, are
behind most of the violence. Those opposed to independence include
pro-Jakarta supporters of the territory's continued ties with Indonesia
and "pro-autonomy" campaigners who do not favor outright independence.
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and has governed
it since.

Meanwhile, reports from the Geneva-based Action by Churches Together
(ACT), say the Communion of Churches in Indonesia has confirmed that the
general secretary of the Christian (Reformed) Church in East Timor
(GKTT), Rev. Francisco de Vasconcelos, was killed by members of a
pro-Indonesian militia on 10 September. He was reportedly shot somewhere
on the road between the capital, Dili and the town of Baucau as he fled
since he knew that he was on the militia's death list. ACT has received
no further news of other members of the church in East Timor nor of the
general situation of the thousands of displaced there.

ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting
human need through coordinated emergency response. The ACT Coordinating
Office is based with the LWF and the World Council of Churches (WCC) in
Switzerland.

ACT member Gereja Masehi Injili di Timor (GMIT), a reformed church and
WCC member in West Timor, is assisting some of the people who have fled
East Timor through its relief arm, Alfa Omega Foundation (YAO).
Representatives of the Australian Council of Churches and Church World
Service (USA) are also in West Timor. GMIT and other ACT members
currently in West Timor are expected to coordinate their efforts and
forward soon their plans for future relief work.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF secretariat
is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented
does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various
units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (lwi), the
material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/