United Nations – UN investigators have recommended that the United Nations establish an international human rights tribunal to prosecute those responsible for atrocities in East Timor, the BBC and people familiar with the investigators' report said on Saturday.

According to the sources, the tribunal should however, be somewhat distinct from the United Nations' two other tribunals in that it should have participation from Indonesia and East Timor and be seated in both places and not a third country, such as The Hague.

The human rights experts said the UN should first conduct further investigations into the wave of violence that tore through the territory before and after its August 30 vote for independence to determine who was responsible, the BBC and the sources said.

According to a source, reading from the investigators' report, "The United Nations should establish an international human rights tribunal consisting of judges appointed by the United Nations, preferably with the participation of members from East Timor and Indonesia.

"The tribunal would sit in Indonesia, East Timor, and any other relevant territory to receive the complaints and to try and sentence those accused by the independent investigation body of serious violations in fundamental human rights and international humanitarian law which took place in East Timor since January 1999 regardless of the nationality of the individual or where that person was when the violations were committed," the report said, according to the source. It was not immediately clear, however, if the tribunal would be established.

Indonesia immediately rejected the recommendation, saying it was under no legal obligation to accept the recommendations of the UN inquiry, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The UN Commission of Inquiry issued the report after visiting East Timor and Indonesia late last year to conduct preliminary investigations into allegations.