Craig Skehan – The Australian Government yesterday urged Indonesia to push ahead with the prosecution of all those involved in killings and other human rights violations in East Timor in the months leading up to and after the 1999 referendum on independence.

This followed a decree by President Abdurrahaman Wahid establishing an ad hoc tribunal which appeared to only provide for the prosecution of those who participated in the bloody wave of reprisals after the independence vote. Officials said Australian diplomats last week sought clarification of Indonesia's position.

"We are encouraged by the comments of officials in the Attorney-General's office that those involved in incidents before August 1999 will be prosecuted," a spokesman for the Foreign Minister, Mr Downer said. "We would certainly urge Indonesian authorities not to exclude serious abuses of human rights."

There has been growing evidence that some Indonesian authorities are looking for ways to avoid the prosecution of senior figures. Mr Downer's spokesman said assurances had been given that senior military officers would be brought to justice.

The Herald reported on Saturday that a secret report by Indonesia's Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations for the country's Attorney-General's Department detailed how anti-independence East Timor militias were trained, armed and paid by the Government. This included the massacre of six people five months before the referendum under the direction of Indonesian military commander, Lieutenant Colonel Burhanuddin Siagian.

The Australian Government says it is the responsibility of Indonesia to bring to justice those responsible for such crimes. "They should be given time to do so," Mr Downer's spokesman said yesterday. The international community was only obliged to act if Indonesia does not. "They are still going through those processes."

Concerns remain that internal sensitivities will result in political restrictions on the scope of prosecutions. Mr Downer's spokesman said it was hoped "narrow limitations" would not be set on who was brought before the tribunal.

Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Laurie Brereton, said the report in the Herald confirmed the Indonesian military involvement in "crimes against humanity". It also confirmed how the Australian Government had consistently downplayed the evidence of Indonesian military orchestration of the violence.