8 29 2019 Latin American Herald Tribune - The US the Silent Witness to Atrocities in East Timor’s Independence Push Printable PDF Free Caracas Thursday August 29 2019 Get the Easiest PDF Converter Now w Our Free Browser Extension My PDF Maker Extension Home About us Venezuela Links Venezuela Overview Venezuelan Embassies Consulates Around The World Sites Blogs about Venezuela Venezuelan Newspapers Facts about Venezuela Venezuela Tourism Who's Who Contacts Help Search HOME USA The US the Silent Witness to Atrocities in East Timor’s Independence Push JAKARTA – Recently declassified US intelligence documents reveal Washington’s passivity in the face of violence doled out by the Indonesian armed forces and the anti-separatist militias they formed in the run-up to the East Timor independence referendum two decades ago Embassies in Caracas The more than 200 documents detail the US foreign policy in the region ahead of the referendum on August 20 1999 that put an end to 24 years of Indonesia’s bloody military occupation of the former Portuguese colony Colombia Links More than 1 500 Timorese were killed and over 250 000 were displaced as the island plunged into violence in the months before the vote Colombia Overview Colombian Embassies Consulates Around the World Government Links The documents which include diplomatic telegrams intelligence reports and government memos were released following a petition from the National Security Archive a research non-profit at the George Washington University in Washington D C Embassies in Bogota Media Sites Blogs about Colombia Educational Institutions Wall Street Stocks Commodity Prices Commodities Crude Oil US Gasoline Prices Natural Gas Gold Silver Copper Bradley Simpson an academic who leads the team that published the documents believes that the then-US president Bill Clinton should have halted arms deals with Indonesia sooner and pressed for an intervention of United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor He said “It is important to note US knowledge of the overwhelming evidence of Indonesian military involvement in the arming directing and working with militias in East Timor as they were both terrorizing the place from January-August 1999 and the general US refusal to do anything about these until East Timor was destroyed in early September ” The oldest document a State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research report on East Timor dated Jan 28 1999 analyzed the decision of Indonesia’s erstwhile president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie to permit the referendum in the first place The report flagged “the military’s decision to arm pro-integration pro-Jakarta civil militias ” As soon as the independence referendum was announced these pro-integration paramilitaries launched a campaign of violence and intimidation against proseparatists Currencies The head of the Indonesian army at the time General Wiranto denied any involvement with the paramilitaries Euro UK Pound Australia Dollar Another report from the State Department dated Feb 26 1999 said the Indonesian military was “arming small roving bands of East Timorese paramilitary groups to create unrest and portray the security situation as ‘incipient civil war ’” Canada Dollar Brazil Real Mexico Peso India Rupee RSS Feed Then in April 1999 pro-Indonesia militias carried out a massacre in the coastal town of Liquica killing around 50 civilians taking shelter in a church A memo from Phyllis Oakley the assistant secretary for intelligence and research to the then-secretary of state Madeleine Albright said “prospects are high that a cycle of intimidation and terror will intensify ” Caribbean www laht com article asp ArticleId 2482642 CategoryId 36641 1 3 8 29 2019 Antigua Barbuda Aruba Barbados Cayman Islands Cuba Curacao Dominica Caribbean G-Z Grenada Haiti Jamaica Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Central America Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Honduras Nicaragua Panama North America Latin American Herald Tribune - The US the Silent Witness to Atrocities in East Timor’s Independence Push Two weeks later the UN Mission of Support in East Timor put 12 000 troops on the ground but the armed groups turned their gaze towards journalists and international observers Embassies braced to evacuate foreign nationals On polling day 98 of the electorate turned out to vote a clear 78 5 percent them chose independence Hours after the results were made public Indonesian troops and militias embarked on a fresh wave of violent reprisals committing assassinations burning buildings and razing whole towns Finally on Sept 9 the Clinton Administration suspended US military relations with Indonesia amid international pressures The measures also forced Indonesia to accept the arrival of a new Australian-led peacekeeping mission and to withdraw its troops from the fledgling nation of East Timor While East Timor was burning days before Clinton cut off military relations with Indonesia the then US ambassador to Jakarta J Stapleton Roy met with an Indonesian military general “ The US does not want East Timor to further damage ties between the two nations ” he said The general told Roy that he “should not forget the starting point” in East Timor whereby Indonesia received both US and Australian support for its invasion and subsequent occupation of the territory Overall around 200 000 people were killed under Indonesian rule in East Timor often assassinated or through illness Bahamas Bermuda Mexico 0 Comments Sort by Oldest South America Argentina Brazil Chile Guyana Paraguay Peru Add a comment Facebook Comments Plugin Uruguay Follow Us What's New at LAHT Follow Us On Facebook Follow Us On Twitter Enter your email address to subscribe to free headlines and great cartoons so every email has a happy ending from the Latin American Herald Tribune Most Viewed on the Web Popular on Twitter Subscribe Receive Our Daily Headlines Survival Skills We Lost To History www laht com article asp ArticleId 2482642 CategoryId 36641 Watch Video 2 3 8 29 2019 Latin American Herald Tribune - 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