Mark Dodd, Dili – An East Timorese anti-independence leader said yesterday he would tell refugees in camps in West Timor that the world's newest country was on the road to democracy. Mr Helio Moniz, 29, expressed satisfaction with East Timor's political process after assurances from the leading political party, Fretilin, that it had renounced communist ideology and supported a free-market economy.
On a United Nations-sponsored visit to East Timor, Mr Moniz said most refugees in militia-controlled camps in West Timor would wait until after the August 30 election before deciding whether to return. He criticised a refugee census carried out by Indonesian authorities on June 6 in which 98per cent of those polled reportedly said they wanted to stay in West Timor. "This was not normal, not human to ask refugees who are living in confusion about their situation. Do you want to leave, do you want to go back to East Timor? This is not natural. This is not justice."
Mr Moniz said he would return to East Timor on September 19 to work with the Cova Lima Reconciliation Forum, a new body that will encourage the peaceful return of refugees.
Meanwhile, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor's chief of staff, Mr N. Parameswaran, said he would complain to Indonesian officials about a press report warning of imminent civil war in East Timor. The report was carried on Tuesday in Radar Timor, a West Timor newspaper owned by the former hardline governor of East Timor, Mr Abilio Soares. It claimed Fretilin had received 500 guns from the Australian Government and another 700 from Portugal and that the election would erupt in civil war.
Mr Parameswaran described the report as baseless and said it was intended to prevent the return of refugees. He added that no anti-independence leaders involved in reconciliation talks with UNTAET inside East Timor had outstanding arrest warrants for crimes committed in 1999.
The UN taskforce investigating human rights violations in East Timor in 1999 admitted yesterday it lacks the staff and resources to deal with the 674 documented murders on its books. The deputy prosecutor-general for serious crimes, Mr Jean-Louis Gilissen, said 31 investigators were focusing on only 10 priority cases. He admitted several investigators had resigned over the decision.