U.N. officials deny massacre reports in East Timor

Violence could escalate, activists say

January 7, 1999
Web posted at: 3:28 p.m. EST (2028 GMT)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- U.N. officials said Thursday there was no evidence to substantiate claims that Indonesian soldiers massacred dozens of villagers in the East Timor village of Alas in November.

U.N. officials in Jakarta said members of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) visited the town twice to check the reports. The rumors had hampered ongoing U.N. negotiations between Indonesia and Portugal on the fate of East Timor.

The ICRC said it found no evidence of a massacre and that 140 people who took refuge in a church where it allegedly took place were safe.

The U.N. officials' remarks came in the wake of a call by Australia for an investigation into the allegations. On Wednesday, Australia's SBS television aired a broadcast that raised questions about the possibility of a massacre.

The footage featured East Timorese who had taken refuge in the capital, Dili. At least one said they fled because of a massacre. The footage also included a photograph of the tortured and mutilated body of an East Timorese man whose nails were allegedly pulled from his fingers and tongue cut out by soldiers.

Portuguese news services and the Brooklyn-based East Timor Action Network began reporting some weeks ago that an estimated 40 to 50 people were killed in the alleged massacre.

Some of the reports quoted former East Timor Gov. Mario Soares Carrascalao, who later said his information came third-hand, and Nobel Prize laureate Bishop Beloand, who refused to give any hard figures to CNN.

The Indonesian government has denied all of the allegations.

Violence could escalate, activists say

Although saying there was no massacre, some human rights activists believe the situation in East Timor is tense and could become worse.

"There wasn't a massacre, but there were several rather serious incidents," said the one source, who asked not to be identified but has direct access to information on East Timor.

The massacre reports first circulated in November after rebel separatists attacking a military outpost in Alas killed three soldiers and took 13 hostages.

The Indonesian military sent troops in to search for the missing soldiers and many civilians took refuge in churches and fled the villages during a door-to-door military sweep.

The Jakarta source said the Indonesian military had killed eight people since the rebel attack took place. Another three are missing, he said.

Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975, last year began cutting its military presence in East Timor as a move towards reducing tensions there. But leaked reports have since cast doubt on the number of troops withdrawn

East Timorese guerrillas have fought a war of resistance against the Indonesian military from secret jungle camps since the invasion.

Reuters contributed to this report.