Over 200,000 East Timor Face Starvation

by Jorge Pina

An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 East Timorese have fled their homes due to militia harassment, and the militias have forcibly removed another 100,000 to West Timor, the section of the island under Indonesian sovereignty, according to the FAO report.

Five UN envoys sent to Jakarta and to Dili, East Timor's capital, verified last week that the militias have the support of the Indonesian army in opposing the independence of this former Portuguese colony.

The militias began their massacre of East Timorese on Sept. 4 when the results of the independence referendum were released, which showed broad support for East Timor's self-determination.

Dili's Catholic bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Carlos Ximenes Belo, requested that Pope John Paul II intercede with Pres. Clinton to urge immediate international action for peace in East Timor.

Belo told a Vatican press conference that the Pope had promised he would speak with Clinton.

The international force will be led by Australia and will include troops from Canada, France, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden and Thailand. The United States has announced it will provide logistical support and transportation.

Belo declared that East Timor's population must defend itself against militia attacks, reiterating his statements made on Sept. 11 in Portugal. "As yet, the people have not reacted against the aggressions of which they are the victims," he stated.

Though he made it clear he is not inciting anyone "to take up arms," the bishop also said that "the right to self-defense is recognized by Catholic morals."

Speaking before over a hundred journalists from around the world, Belo underscored that a peacekeeping force must be sent to East Timor immediately, as well as food, medicine and water for the estimated 100,000 people who were forced to seek refuge in the forests and mountains.

He also accused the Indonesian military and the police of having organized, trained and armed the anti-independence militias. "I come with pain in my heart. The situation in East Timor is dramatic. Dili has been destroyed.

"Already on the day of the referendum, August 30, the refugees started arriving at my house. By the following Monday, there were 4,000 of them. It was then that the special troops and the militias arrived. I asked for protection from the army commander and chief of police. Five minutes later there were shots. I hid under the table. We tried using bottles of water to put out the fires. We opened the windows to try and clear the smoke.

"We realised we had to leave, to evacuate the building. We went into the gardens, where we were joined by another 1,000 refugees from the adjoining Red Cross facilities. Fifteen minutes later the police arrived, and twenty minutes when the army arrived. They did nothing. They just watched.

"By midday, I could see the whole city was in flames. I could see it from the helicopter. By four o'clock my house was destroyed. Everything had been destroyed. I went to Baucau. The next day that place was destroyed too. There were shots. Some were fired by the Indonesian police.

"What is happening is genocide, a cleansing of all the villages and towns. Everyone is being taken away. I do not know what the Indonesian strategy is.

"If Xanana Gusmao ever becomes President, he will lead a country of trees, weeds, and animals. He won't find any Timorese there."