tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288985454698549375.post5905379804928248285..comments2024-03-14T11:52:19.011+02:00Comments on Manufahi - Timor Leste: Timor Leste: Soldado Martinho, um arguido acantonado com peticionáriosTimor-Leste de Manufahihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07521394458105231550noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288985454698549375.post-44552268292140435892008-02-28T16:09:00.000+02:002008-02-28T16:09:00.000+02:00slpngslpngAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1288985454698549375.post-79068848935766844252008-02-28T06:21:00.000+02:002008-02-28T06:21:00.000+02:00Lindsay Murdoch in DarwinFebruary 28, 2008AN INVES...Lindsay Murdoch in Darwin<BR/>February 28, 2008<BR/><BR/><BR/>AN INVESTIGATION ordered by East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, has identified a crime syndicate with links to former pro-Indonesian militiamen, which supplied drugs to youth gang members involved in violent attacks in Dili.<BR/><BR/>The investigation also found that girls as young as 12 were being trafficked into East Timor for prostitution, some of them at a brothel frequented by UN staff.<BR/><BR/>A report on the investigation criticises the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force and United Nations police in East Timor for failing to "recognise the importance and gravity of this new phenomenon" in the troubled country of 1 million people.<BR/><BR/>"The swiftness in which international drug syndicates mobilised into Timor Leste [East Timor] was underestimated by the international security forces," the report says.<BR/><BR/>But last month, within days of Mr Ramos-Horta receiving the report, Timorese and United Nations police began a series of raids on a number of premises in Dili and arrested almost 100 Timorese and foreign nationals on drugs and prostitution charges.<BR/><BR/>Mr Ramos-Horta is recovering in Royal Darwin Hospital from the serious gunshot wounds he suffered during attacks in Dili on February 11. One of his confidants headed the investigation, which was independent of both the stabilisation force and UN police.<BR/><BR/>The confidential report says Timorese and Indonesian girls aged between 12 and 15 were being brought from Indonesian West Timor and held in a number of safe houses in Dili and "only brought out on request" to a brothel operated by a drugs and human-trafficking syndicate.<BR/><BR/>The head of syndicate, an Indonesian, had established "strong and lucrative" links to martial arts gangs, the report says. The gangs have been blamed for widespread violence in Dili since April 2006.<BR/><BR/>The report identifies two shipments of methamphetamine, known as sabu sabu or ice, into Dili in December by a syndicate "controlled by Timorese-Indonesian nationals with clear ties to, and possibly funded, by ex-militia elements in West Timor".<BR/><BR/>There is no suggestion Indonesian authorities are behind any illegal activities in East Timor.<BR/><BR/>The report names a brothel in Dili that "caters to Asian commercial elites as well as NGO and UNMIT [United Nations] staff".<BR/><BR/>The UN mission in East Timor, which employs 3253 foreign and Timorese staff, enforces a strict "zero tolerance" towards sexual exploitation and abuse after outrageous behaviour by a small number of UN personnel in the past. The UN mission has a list of premises in Dili from which UN personnel are banned.<BR/><BR/>The UN Security Council this week extended the UN mission's mandate in East Timor for 12 months at a cost of $US153 million ($163 million).<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>British push for Balibo arrests<BR/><BR/><BR/>Julia May in London<BR/>February 28, 2008<BR/><BR/>Yunus Yosfiah … accused of being linked to deaths of the Balibo Five.<BR/><BR/>THE British Government is under pressure to order warrants for the arrests of two former Indonesian military leaders linked to the killings of the Balibo Five.<BR/><BR/>A Liberal Democrat MP, Don Foster, is urging the Government to ask Interpol to issue arrests for the Indonesians, named last year by a NSW coroner in connection with the 1975 killings of the five Australia-based newsmen in East Timor. Two of the victims, Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, were British. Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart were Australian, and Gary Cunningham was a New Zealander.<BR/><BR/>The Deputy State Coroner, Dorelle Pinch, found in November that senior members of the Indonesian special forces ordered the newsmen's killings after they had surrendered to troops.<BR/><BR/>The five had filmed an Indonesian attack in the lead-up to the invasion of East Timor. Ms Pinch referred the case to the then attorney-general, Philip Ruddock, for war crimes prosecutions.<BR/><BR/>In a speech he was due to give to the British Parliament yesterday afternoon, Mr Foster urged the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to push for action over the deaths, which have been subject to claims of cover-up and inaction by the British and Australian governments.<BR/><BR/>"This debate concerns the UK role in the disgraceful cover-up on the murder of the Balibo Five … The minister must address grave concerns over the UK government's conduct," Mr Foster said. "Will the minister insist that those accused of the murders face justice by, if necessary, a UK initiative for Interpol to issue warrants for the two surviving Indonesians the coroner names?"<BR/><BR/>Two of the officers named by the coroner, Christoforus da Silva and Captain Yunus Yosfiah - who became the Indonesian information minister - are still alive. The others, the former head of the Indonesian Special Forces, Major-General Benny Murdani, and a group commander, Colonel Dading Kalbuadi, have died.<BR/><BR/>"Given the inquest's thoroughness, the [Australian] DPP has strong grounds to decide that the surviving Indonesian nationals have a case to answer," Mr Foster said.<BR/><BR/>After Ms Pinch's ruling in November, the then opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, said a Labor government would pursue war crimes prosecutions. "I believe this has to be taken through to its logical conclusion. I also believe that those responsible should be held to account," he said.<BR/><BR/>Mr Foster, the Liberal Democrats' shadow secretary for culture, media and sport, alleges the British government put up a "smokescreen" to prevent an inquest into the deaths, fearing revelations about what it knew prior to the Indonesian invasion - and information about the men's deaths. He is also calling for the Government to endorse the coroner's report.<BR/><BR/>Malcolm Rennie's cousin, Margaret Wilson, said in London: "If Australia proceeds [with prosecutions] I don't see why Britain couldn't, because two of them were British. I would like to see some sort of resolution to this in my lifetime."<BR/><BR/>Jonathan Pearlman reports: Australian police are still considering whether to bring charges against Indonesian military personnel involved in the deaths of the Balibo Five.<BR/><BR/>The case is being assessed by the Australian Federal Police, which is understood to be concerned about whether Australian laws apply to the Indonesian military, as well as diplomatic sensitivities.<BR/><BR/>"The AFP has received a referral through the Attorney-General following the NSW coronial inquest into the death of Brian Peters," an police spokesman said yesterday. "The AFP is currently assessing this referral."<BR/><BR/>The federal police have yet to produce a brief of evidence for the DPP, which could potentially press charges.<BR/><BR/>"The DPP will consider any brief of evidence referred by the AFP in accordance with the prosecution policy of the commonwealth," said a spokeswoman for the DPP.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com