Letter to Indonesian President expresses concern for victims of violence

GENEVA, 16 September 1999 (lwi) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) welcomes the decision by Indonesia to accept an international peace keeping force in East Timor and urges President B. J. Habibie's government to take all possible measures to ensure the speedy and effective deployment of such a force.

In a letter addressed to the Indonesian President on 16 September 1999 (today), the LWF General Secretary Dr. Ishmael Noko, on behalf of the federation and its 128 member churches, expresses hope that the arrival of the international peace keeping force "will be in time to preserve the people and infrastructure of East Timor from complete decimation."

On 12 September, Habibie gave in to international pressure and agreed to allow peacekeepers into the troubled territory.

Noting that the LWF has been monitoring the news of violence and destruction in East Timor with great distress, the general secretary refers to the killing of a number of church leaders and clergy and points out that these individual atrocities are certainly only a small taste of the suffering of the churches and peoples in the territory.

The LWF also applauds Indonesia's decision to allow the establishment of an international commission of inquiry to investigate evidence of human rights violations in East Timor. However, Noko in his letter requests the Indonesian government to "ensure that such a commission of inquiry is formed and takes up its investigation with all possible speed."

Noko also urges the Indonesian Head of State to ensure that those against whom evidence is found of complicity in human rights violations are prosecuted. "The growing international reaction against the phenomenon of impunity must also find effective expression in East Timor, in the light of the widespread reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and forced displacement," the letter to Habibie states in part.

Ahead of the entry of an international force in East Timor, media reports say that rampaging militia has targeted Christian clergy. At least five Roman Catholic priests and four nuns and a Protestant church leader are among those killed since the violence erupted following the results of a referendum on independence from Indonesia.

The referendum early September showed that nearly 80 per cent of East Timor's 800,000 people want independence. The anti-independence militias, apparently supported by the Indonesian armed forces, are behind most of the violence. Those opposed to independence include pro-Jakarta supporters of the territory's continued ties with Indonesia and "pro-autonomy" campaigners who do not favor outright independence. Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and has governed it since.

Meanwhile, reports from the Geneva-based Action by Churches Together (ACT), say the Communion of Churches in Indonesia has confirmed that the general secretary of the Christian (Reformed) Church in East Timor (GKTT), Rev. Francisco de Vasconcelos, was killed by members of a pro-Indonesian militia on 10 September. He was reportedly shot somewhere on the road between the capital, Dili and the town of Baucau as he fled since he knew that he was on the militia's death list. ACT has received no further news of other members of the church in East Timor nor of the general situation of the thousands of displaced there.

ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the LWF and the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Switzerland.

ACT member Gereja Masehi Injili di Timor (GMIT), a reformed church and WCC member in West Timor, is assisting some of the people who have fled East Timor through its relief arm, Alfa Omega Foundation (YAO). Representatives of the Australian Council of Churches and Church World Service (USA) are also in West Timor. GMIT and other ACT members currently in West Timor are expected to coordinate their efforts and forward soon their plans for future relief work.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. Its highest decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council which meets annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information is the information service of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (lwi), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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