Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, September 7, 1999
World
Militias terrorize East Timorese
The Associated Press
DILI, Indonesia—Tens of thousands of refugees fled the capital of East Timor yesterday as pro-Indonesia militias continued a wave of terror, torching homes and reportedly slaughtering hundreds of civilians.
World leaders indignantly called for Indonesia to make good on its pledge to provide security in the provincial capital, Dili. But witnesses said Indonesian troops were aiding the militias and trying to intimidate journalists and U.N. workers into fleeing the territory.
"The situation remains out of control." Gen. Rusmanhadi, chief of national police, said in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. "The government there is no longer functioning."
For the first time, a senior Indonesian official acknowledged the breakdown in security.
The city spiraled into chaos after the announcement Saturday that East Timor had voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Indonesia in a U.N.-supervised referendum.
set houses ablaze, fired rocket-propelled grenades and bazookas, and shouted through megaphones for those remaining in the city to get out. Witnesses said both militiamen and Indonesian troops loaded people onto trucks and sent them to West Timor, an Indonesian province that shares the island with East Timor.
Filie Haiek / KANSAN
Bands of pro-Indonesian militia
"There is very clear evidence of collusion between elements of the (Indonesian) security forces and the militias to deport East Timorese forcibly to West Timor and elsewhere," said Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. "An integral part of this campaign is to terrorize the population with the most gruesome abuses of their fundamental rights."
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975 and has held it in an iron grip ever since. It is estimated that 200,000 civilians have been killed in the last 25 years.
Witnesses reported seeing soldiers escort militiamen during an attack on thousands of refugees hiding in the home of Bishop Carlos Belo, East Timor's spiritual leader
and the winner of the 1966 Nobel Peace Prize. Belo was at home during the attack, but was uninjured. He was later evacuated to the eastern town of Bacau.
The Red Cross said 11 of its delegates and eight other foreign aid workers were taken at gunpoint to a police station, but the whereabouts of the local employees and more than 2,000 people who sought shelter in its compound were unknown.
U. N. officials evacuated 300 of its election workers yesterday, but left some 400 delegates in Dili. Foreign journalists, holed up with the remaining U.N. workers and some 2,000 refugees in the U.N. compound, said the situation was only worsening
U. N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was to brief a high-level Security Council delegation before it
left for Jakarta yesterday evening in an effort to quell the violence, which four U.N. workers dead and six others missing and presumed dead.
Australia's Prime Minister John Howard told President Clinton he was ready to send troops to East Timor if the Indonesian government asked, White House spokesman Barry Toiv said.
Portugal, France, Australia, and Britain have said they support sending a U.N. force to East Timor, but Britain said Indonesia would need to ask for assistance first.
Megawati Sukarnoputri, frontrunner to succeed Bhatia when Indonesia selects a new president in November, offered her utmost apologies on behalf of Indonesia to the people of East Timor for the past quarter-century of violence.
Israeli court bans torture in interrogations
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM—Setting a landmark in Israel's decades-old conflict between democracy and security, between respecting human rights and protecting citizens from terrorism, the Supreme Court on Monday banned the use of torture in interrogations.
The ruling came just one day after two car bombs went off, the latest of dozens of attacks that have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in recent years.
Shin Bet security agents will no longer be allowed to tie Palestinian suspects with their hands behind their backs to a rail under an air conditioner in the middle of winter.
They will no longer be able to grab suspects from behind and shake them violently. They will no longer be permitted to force Palestinians into the dreaded "shabeh" position, bent backward over chairs, hands and legs shackled beneath, or be allowed to put a putrid, choking hood over their heads.
For Fatima Hreizat, 65, from the West Bank town of Hebron, the decision came to late. Her son, Abu Samed, died in 1995 while under interrogation.
Still, Defense Minister Efraim Sneh worried that the ruling would deprive the Shin Bid of tools it needed to extract the information necessary to prevent extremist attacks. Joyce Boim agreed.
In May 1996, a Palestinian shot and killed her 17 year-old son, David, as he stood in front of his school.
"These things may be torture, they may be horrible, but what did they think when they drove by and shot my son?" Boim said.
On Sunday, two car bombs were set off in the northern Israeli cities of Tiberias and Haifa. The three men killed in the attacks were apparently the bombers.
Boim, who immigrated to Israel in 1985 from New York with her family, said Israel must use any means necessary to prevent attacks.
Investigating an incident in which Shin Bet agents looking for a bomb beat a Palestinian to death after removing him from a bus he hijacked.
an official commission ruled in 1987 that agents could use moderate psychological and physical force to extract confessions. Human rights groups charged that gave the green light to torture.
The methods banned by the court are not used only to prevent imminent attacks, said Eitan Fellner, director of B'Tselem, a local human rights group. He said tens of thousands of Palestinians had suffered from the practices, and many had later been released without charge.
Abed Ahmar is one of them. Ahmar, 31, told reporters he was arrested three times. He was never charged, but said he underwent all the forms of interrogation now banned by the court. As a result, he said he suffered from permanent damage to his back.
Though they unanimously banned the practices, the nine Supreme Court justices noted that the state still had the right to defend itself. If the Shin Bet believes it must torture a suspect to reveal the location of a ticking bomb, the torturer would be put on trial, but a court might accept the argument that physical force was necessary.
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Part 1: Sexual Assertiveness: Voicing Your Limits and Expressing Your Desires Tuesday, Sept. 7th 12:00-1:30 p.m. Pine Room, Kansas Union
Part 2: Speaking Up in the Classroom
Wednesday, Sept. 8th
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A discussion of health and counseling options, fees and insurance options,
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September 21 Difficulty Focusing? A discussion of focusing and attention difficulties including ADD. Testing, diagnosis, management and resources will be reviewed.
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Student Union Activities
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Fall 1999 Organizations & Leadership Lecture Series Sponsored by the Student Organizations & Leadership Development Center & KU LEAD
Budgeting & Finance September 7,6:30-7:30pm Pine Room, Kansas Union
Transforming Your Group to a Team October 5,6:30-7:30pm Frontier Room, Burge Union
How to Get Involved in KU'S Student Organizations September 22, 6:30-7:30pm McCollum Hall Lobby
Assessing Your Personal Leadership Style November 2,6:30-7:30pm International Room Kansas Union
Ethical Leadership/
Leading with Integrity November 30, 6:30-7:30pm Frontier Room, Burge Union
Communication and Conflict Resolution October 20,6:30-7:30pm Miller Scholarship Hall
Officer Training and Transition November 17,6:30-7:30pm Phi Delta Theta Fraternity
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L Learning
Development Center
Room 10, 463
758-854-4631