URGENT CALL TO ACTION -- Please help


UP TO 40 MORE PEOPLE MASSACRED IN EAST TIMOR

East Timor Alert Network (ETAN) -- Canada

Wednesday, April 7, 1999

Facing nothing but indifference from the international community, the Indonesian military and paramilitaries have escalated their campaign of terror in East Timor with impunity.

Yesterday, April 6, Indonesian troops backed up paramilitary forces as they attacked civlians seeking refuge in a church and pastor's home in Liquisa, about 20 kilometers west of Dili.

The militias took away many of the dead, making it difficult to determine how many were killed. Church sources estimate up to 40 were killed.

At a news conference today, Liquisa's pastor, Father Rafael dos Santos, described how the Indonesian mobile brigade police stood behind paramilitaries and fired shots into the air while they hacked civilians to death.

Father Rafael said when the attack began, people ran for shelter into the church and his home. Troops fired tear gas into the buildings and when the people came out the church, "their eyes streaming, they were mown down, hacked to death with machetes, by the Besi Merah Putih (Red and White Iron militia)" (Sydney Morning Herald)

Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Bishop Belo visited the site of the massacre today, and said it reminded him of horror of the November 12, 1991 Dili Massacre.

This follows reports that up to 17 civlians were killed by paramilitaries and troops in the same area on Monday, April 5.

More reports are emerging today that Indonesian troops have conducted door-to-door searches of homes in Viqueque, southeast of Dili, and have arrested up to 118 people.

For weeks East Timorese leaders have been pleading with the international community for a United Nations presence to be sent into the territory.  Direct calls for help have been sent to the Canadian government by Xanana Gusamo, from house arrest in Jakarta, and from Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Josi Ramos-Horta.

In late February, the Canadian government convened a roundtable discussion on East Timor in Ottawa to consult with East Timorese and Canadian NGO's and experts about what needed to be done to address the serious situation unfolding in East Timor.

There were several consensus recommendations sent to Foreign Affairs Minister Axworthy from that meeting, including most urgently - that he take the lead in pushing for a comprehensive multinational force/presence on the ground in East Timor as soon as possible, using Canada's presence on the United Nations Security Council to make this happen.

As far as we are aware, the Minister has not moved on this recommendation.

Indonesia has agreed to a "direct ballot" of the East Timorese in July to determine if they want integration. But this ballot means little as long as the United Nations and the international community continues to allow occupying Indonesian troops and paramilitaries to carry out their campaign of terror under the guise of "providing security" in East Timor ahead of the ballot.

For years Canadian politicians and companies have profited immensely from a foreign policy to Indonesia which ignored atrocities and appeased the sensitivities of the military dictatorship.

This appeasement was well demonstrated before and during Suharto's 1997 visit to Canada.

It is time to end this 23-year old flawed policy regarding East Timor and Indonesia. It is time to stop the Indonesian military from killing more people.

It's time for our Foreign Affairs Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, to take the lead and directly intervene to help end a tragedy our own government helped to sustain for over two decades.

Canada CAN help.

Please phone, fax and email the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy and ask him to act immediately:

1. Ask Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy to contact Indonesian President Habibie and Indonesian Armed Forces Commander General Wiranto directly to express, on behalf of people in Canada, outrage and concern about the latest atrocities committed by paramilitaries and Indonesian troops in East Timor.

2. Ask Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy to directly appeal to President Habibie and General Wiranto to:

a) Stop arming and supporting the work of paramilitaries;

b) Stop the miitary from attacking and participating in attacks on civilians;

c) Help prevent the further loss of life in East Timor by inviting the United Nations to establish a comprehensive presence in East Timor immediately;

d) Ensure that the United Nations and other international monitors are given full, unrestricted access to all parts of East Timor;

e) Invite this United Nations presence to oversee the immediate disbanding and disarming of paramilitaries, and the withdrawal of Indonesian troops.

3. Ask the Foreign Minister to back this up by immediately issuing a PUBLIC statement:

a) Publicly outlining the requests made directly by Canada to President Habibie and General Wiranto;

b) Publicly condemning the Indonesia-backed paramilitaries *and* the Indonesian army for the atrocities they are committing against civilians in East Timor;

c) Publicly condemning the Indonesian military for continuing to arm, support, and back paramilitary forces in East Timor;

d) Publicly committing to work for the immediate dispatch of a comprehensive United Nations presence to East Timor to oversee the disbanding and disarming of paramilitaries and the withdrawal of Indonesian troops;

e) Publicly committing funds, technical and logistical support to help hasten the installment of this comprehensive United Nations presence in the territory.

Any action must be backed up PUBLICLY -- it is time for an end to quiet diplomacy with this military regime!


Contact Information:

Lloyd Axworthy, Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Phone: (613) 995-0153; Fax: (613) 996-3443
Fax by e-mail: remote-printer.Lloyd_Axworthy@16139963443.iddd.tpc.int
E-mail: Axworthy.L@parl.gc.ca
Mailing address: House of Commons, Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Please also copy and contact:

Robert Fowler, Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations
Phone: (212) 848-1100
Fax: (212) 848-1195, 848-1192
E-mail: prmny@prmny01.x400.gc.ca
Additional/alternative email: canun@undp.org

Mailing address: Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations
One Dag Hammarskjvld Plaza, 885 Second Avenue, 14th Floor
New York 10017, N.Y., U.S.


Please also copy ETAN by email at: etan@info.ca
Thank you for your time and solidarity.

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