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To: Douglas V. Fant who wrote (41794)	4/7/1999 5:07:00 PM
From: Douglas V. Fant	Respond to of 95453

(OT) Another situation that calls for intervention; Indonesia's illegal occupation of East Timor and relentless military human rights violations- yet where is the US?? Indonesian military says death toll in East Timor clash is five, April 7, 1999 Web posted at: 5:31 a.m. EST (1031 GMT) LIQUICA, Indonesia (AP) -- The Indonesian military on Wednesday denied reports that as many as 45 people were killed in a clash between pro- and anti-independence activists in East Timor. Authorities said five people died and 15 were injured when pro-Indonesian assailants sprayed gunfire Tuesday in Liquica town, in one instance targeting civilians as they left a church. "That's not true," army Capt. Budi said of allegations by separatists that several dozen people had been killed, some of them hit by shrapnel from grenades that were lobbed into the church. Budi spoke to The Associated Press by telephone from Dili, the coastal capital of East Timor, which has endured human rights abuses and guerrilla fighting since Indonesia invaded in 1975. Reporters who spoke to local government officials in Liquica, 29 kilometers (18 miles) west of Dili, confirmed five people were killed. Witnesses in the town reported gunfire but said no grenades had been used in the attack. The higher death toll was announced by detained pro-independence rebel leader Jose Alexandre Gusmao, who has accused Indonesia of arming civilian militias in an effort to sabotage a peaceful solution in East Timor. Gusmao has urged his guerrilla band to step up attacks on the Indonesian military, saying Jakarta was not serious about its pledge to consider independence for the former Portuguese colony. Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo, joint winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, had also revealed the death toll of 45, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported. Lusa quoted Belo as saying that he had been told about the deaths by the Indonesian military chief in the troubled territory, Tono Suratman. Violence between supporters and opponents of independence from Indonesia has escalated in recent months. The unrest could jeopardize a U.N.-supervised ballot in July among East Timor's 800,000 people on whether to become an autonomous state within Indonesia or break away completely. If the East Timorese turn down autonomy in the vote, government officials have said, they are entitled to independence. Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said Wednesday he regretted Gusmao's call for an insurrection at a time when Indonesian and Portugal were trying to negotiate peace in East Timor under the auspices of the United Nations. "I hope that such a declaration was merely an overflow of emotion," Alatas said in an interview with TVRI, the state-run television news station. There at least 10,000 Indonesian soldiers in East Timor, and up to 700 separatist guerrillas who carry out occasional hit-and-run attacks. Gusmao has also appealed to the United Nations to dispatch a peacekeeping force before the half-island territory is engulfed in violence.