23 February 2001 -- The head of the United Nations mission in East Timor has met with high-level Indonesian officials in Jakarta to discuss the establishment of a human rights tribunal to try those responsible for atrocities in the territory in 1999, the UN operation said today in Dili.
After his meeting with Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman yesterday, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) said the UN operation "hopes that the [tribunal] will materialize soon, because those cases need to be brought to a tribunal court as soon as possible."
"We are right now in kind of a legal limbo, and this limbo cannot last indefinitely," he said.
Mr. Vieira de Mello also requested that a team of UN investigators interview Eurico Guterres, an Aitarak militia leader from Dili, who is currently standing trial in Jakarta for offenses unrelated to the September 1999 violence.
During his visits today, the UNTAET chief met with Amien Rais, Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly; Hassan Wirajuda, Director General of Political Affairs; and Akbar Tanjung, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Among the issues discussed were refugee repatriation, payment to pensioners, and the issuing of visas to East Timorese students who are finishing their studies in Indonesia.
In other news, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are preparing to repatriate the biggest group of refugees to be transported by boat from West Timor since aid agencies withdrew from West Timor following the murders of three UNHCR staff last September.
The two organizations plan to bring back 421 East Timorese refugees from the West Timor capital of Kupang to Dili by the weekend of 3-4 March. A special clearance was secured from the UN security coordinator in New York for the operation next week in West Timor, which remains under a phase five security alert that bans UN workers from the area.
Last week, UNHCR held a meeting in Indonesia to try to work out new solutions for an estimated 100,000 East Timorese refugees still in West Timor. UNTAET wants the refugees to return and participate in the elections planned for next August in East Timor.
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