[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E576]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            COSPONSOR THE McGOVERN-SMITH BILL ON EAST TIMOR

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachsetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 13, 2000

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to join with my colleague 
from New Jersey, Congressman Chris Smith, to introduce the East Timor 
Repatriation and Security Act.
  The crisis in East Timor continues, and the Congress needs to 
respond. Some 100,000 refugees remain trapped in squalid and theatening 
conditions inside West Timor. The overwhelming majority of these 
refugees want to return to their homes in East Timor, but cannot 
because the camps are under the control of the militias. Militias and 
elements of the Indonesian army continue cross-border attacks into East 
Timor. Reconstruction continues to be a slow and laborious task.
  Our bill maintains the President's suspension on military cooperation 
with the Indonesian Armed Forces until the refugees are safely 
repatriated and military attacks against East Timor are ended. It calls 
upon the President to help the safe repatriation of the refugees and to 
help rebuild East Timor. And it salutes the members of the U.S. Armed 
Forces who have participated in the peacekeeping operation in East 
Timor.
  I urge my colleagues to cosponsor the McGovern-Smith bill on East 
Timor and submit additional materials into the Record.

                 East Timorese Refugees Face New Threat

       (New York, March 30, 2000)--Human Rights Watch today called 
     on Indonesian authorities to lift a March 31 deadline on 
     humanitarian aid to East Timorese refugees living in West 
     Timor. The Indonesian government has given the refugees, some 
     100,000 people until the end of the month to choose whether 
     to go back to East Timor or remain in Indonesia. Indonesia 
     says it will end all delivery of food and other assistance as 
     of March 31.
       ``Everyone wants a quick resolution of the refugee crisis, 
     but this ultimatum is counterproductive,'' said Joe Saunders, 
     deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. ``The threatened 
     deadline alone has created panic. If it is implemented, the 
     cutoff will directly endanger the lives of tens of thousands 
     of refugees without solving the underlying problems.''
       Conditions for many of the refugees are already dire. There 
     have been food shortages, along with health and nutrition 
     problems in many of the camps. Some reports estimate that as 
     many as 500 refugees have died from stomach and respiratory 
     ailments. Refugees also continue to face significant 
     obstacles in deciding whether to return. In some areas, 
     refugees continue to be subjected to intimidation by armed 
     militias and disinformation campaigns. Refugees are told that 
     conditions in East Timor are worse than in the camps, and 
     that the United Nations is acting as a new colonial occupying 
     force. Other refugees opposed independence for East Timor, or 
     come from militia or army families, and fear vigilante 
     justice should they return to East Timor.
       Indonesian officials claim, however, that they can no 
     longer afford to feed the refugees, that food aid acts as a 
     magnet and prevents refugees in West Timor from returning 
     home permanently, claiming that after March 31, the refugees 
     should be the sole responsibility of the international 
     community.
       ``Given Indonesia's economic woes, the call for 
     international financial support in feeding and caring for the 
     refugees is understandable. We can on donors to make urgently 
     needed assistance available. But an artificial deadline helps 
     no one,'' said Saunders. ``Thousands of refugees are not now 
     in a position to make a free and informed choice about 
     whether to return. A large part of the problem has been 
     Indonesia's failure to create conditions in which refugees 
     can make a genuine choice.''
       According to aid agencies, the total number of refugees 
     currently in West Timor is just under 100,000. Precise 
     figures are not available because access to the camps and 
     settlements has been limited by harassment and intimidation 
     of humanitarian aid workers by pro-Indonesian militias still 
     dominated in a number of the camps. Many refugees have also 
     been subjected to months of disinformation and, often, 
     intimidation by members of the pro-Indonesian military, 
     Indonesia has recently made some progress in combating the 
     intimidation in the camps, but lack of security and reliable 
     information continue to be imported obstacle to return. Aid 
     workers in West Timor estimate that one-half to two-thirds of 
     the refugees, if given a free choice, would eventually choose 
     to return to East Timor.
       ``Withdrawal of food aid and other humanitarian assistance 
     should never be used as a means to pressure refugees into 
     returning home prematurely'' said Saunders. ``Return should 
     be voluntary and based on the first and informed choice of 
     the refugees themselves.''
       Following the announcement by the United Nations on 
     September 4, 1999 that nearly eighty percent of East Timorese 
     voters had rejected continued rule by Indonesia. East Timor 
     was the site orchestrated mayhem. In the days and weeks 
     following the announcement, an estimated seventy percent of 
     homes and buildings across East Timor were destroyed, more 
     than two-thirds of the population was displaced, and an 
     estimated 250,000 East Timorse fled or were forcibly taken, 
     often at gunpoint, across the border into Indonesian West 
     Timor. To date roughly 150,000 refugees have return to East 
     Timor.

     

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