The New York Times

Monday, January 31, 2000

By The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesian human rights investigators today accused former military commander Gen. Wiranto and other top generals of being responsible for ``crimes against humanity'' in East Timor.

In a report to Indonesia's attorney general, the state-appointed Investigative Commission of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor accused Wiranto and 32 other officers of helping anti-independence militias wage a campaign of violence and destruction after the half-island territory voted to break away from Indonesia on Aug. 30.

``Facts show the civilian and military apparatus, including the police, cooperated with the militias to create an atmosphere that supported crimes against humanity,'' said Djoko Sugianto, the head of the national human rights commission. ``These were in the form of mass killings, torture, kidnapping, violence against women -- including rape and sexual slavery -- forced evacuations and total destruction of property.''

Speaking at a joint news conference with Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, Sugianto noted that ``Gen. Wiranto as commander of the military is the one who has to be held responsible.''

Darusman announced that state prosecutors would investigate the allegations, but declined to say when charges might be brought.

Past leaks about the commission's findings have angered many generals and sparked rumors of a possible military coup against the government of reformist President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is currently on a European tour.

Armed forces lawyers rejected the panel's findings. They also dismissed calls for the establishment of an international East Timor war crimes tribunal by a U.N. investigative team, which releases its own report today in New York.

``There is no evidence that Wiranto violated human rights in East Timor,'' said Maj. Gen. Timor Manurung, who heads the military's legal department.

Wiranto declined to comment on the Indonesian report. He has faced growing calls for his resignation as security affairs minister, one of the most powerful members of Indonesia's Cabinet.

Indonesia's military reigned supreme in East Timor for 24 years after it invaded the former Portuguese colony. It was long accused of widespread human rights abuses.

Wiranto, who is retiring from the military, was its chief during the post-election violence in East Timor. At least 250 people were killed and almost all of East Timor's buildings were burned or ransacked before international peacekeepers restored order.

Wiranto has admitted that some lower-ranking members of Indonesia's military backed the militias, but has denied that the army actively supported the violence.

When it was first set up in October, international human rights groups dismissed the Indonesian commission as a government-sponsored effort to whitewash the generals' involvement and pin the blame on lower-ranking officers. But those fears have been allayed by the panel's inquiry.

Among those named are Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, a former regional commander with responsibility for East Timor and other local commanders. The panel's findings also implicated militia leader Eurico Guterres and former East Timor Gov. Abilio Soares. They also deny any wrongdoing.

Wiranto ``must be brought to trial. In this day and age you cannot kill hundreds of people, destroy a whole country and then just get fired,'' said Jose Ramos Horta, a top Timorese independence activists who won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.

President Wahid has said that Indonesia's courts should decide the matter. He has resisted calls for a U.N. tribunal to be set up to hear war crimes cases.

After lobbying by Indonesia earlier this month, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Jakarta should be given the opportunity to prosecute those responsible before the world body decides whether it is necessary to set up an international war crimes tribunal.