September 8, 2000
The Security Council unanimously called on Indonesia late on Friday to take immediate steps to disarm and disband militia in West Timor responsible for the recent killing of U.N. personnel.
Council President Moctar Ouane of Mali also announced that a mission would be sent to the region to discuss implementation of its demands.
The council's action was in response to the murder of three U.N. refugee workers by pro-Jakarta militia in Indonesia's West Timor on Wednesday, and unconfirmed reports of fresh fighting and casualties in the area. Indonesia says it has sent two battalions of troops to West Timor to restore order.
Referring to Wednesday's killings, the resolution condemned ''this outrageous and contemptible act against unarmed international staff'' who were in West Timor to help refugees.
Tens of thousands of people fled or were forced by militia to flee to West Timor when East Timorese voted overwhelmingly last August for independence from Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.
After the results of the U.N.-organised vote were announced, the militias, opposed to separation from Jakarta, went on a spree of killing and destruction, often with the connivance of Indonesian troops. A Security Council mission was dispatched to the region a year ago in the wake of the post-vote rampage. The composition and itinerary of of the new council mission has not been decided.
Although many refugees have been repatriated, more than 100,000 remain in camps in West Timor, under threat from militia. U.N. and other aid officials were withdrawn after Wednesday's killings.
The council resolution, adopted without comment, stressed that those responsible for the attacks on international personnel must be brought to justice. Saying the council was ''appalled by the brutal murder'' of the three U.N. personnel, the resolution said it ''insists that the government of Indonesia take immediate additional steps, in fulfilment of its responsibilities, to disarm and disband the militia immediately,'' restore law and order in the affected areas in West Timor, and ensure safety and security in the refugee camps and for humanitarian workers.
It also called on Indonesia to prevent cross-border incursions into East Timor, where a U.N. transitional administration backed by about 8,000 troops is guiding the territory to independence.
The resolution underlined that the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) ''should respond robustly to the militia threat in East Timor.'' It also called on the Indonesian authorities to take immediate measures to ensure the safe return of refugees wishing to go back to East Timor and to undertake programmes to resettle those not wishing to do so.
Present in the Security Council chamber during the vote were East Timorese Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta and East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao.
Shortly before the vote, American U.N. envoy Richard Holbrooke said that ''elements within the Indonesian military are directly or indirectly responsible for these outrageous'' acts. He said he did not know what they hoped to gain ''unless they are trying to drive out of West Timor the international relief community so that they can return part of that island to the terror that it underwent from 1975 until 1999'' -- the period of Indonesian rule -- ''and then spread that terror east across the boundary between West and East Timor.''
He said U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had talked to senior Indonesian officials this week. ''But there is some question as to how much direct control they have over the elements of the military who are directly or indirectly responsible for what's happening,''
Holbrooke said. Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid was in New York for the Millennium Summit of the U.N. General Assembly. ''We have great respect for President Wahid,'' Holbrooke said. ''But let's be clear. Directly or indirectly it is elements within the Indonesian military responsible for this who could have been removed a long time ago.''
