[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 53 (Wednesday, May 3, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2470-H2471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                EAST TIMOR REPATRIATION AND SECURITY ACT

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and revise and extend his remarks and include therein 
extraneous material.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to join with my 
colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), to introduce H.R. 
4357, the East Timor Repatriation Security Act.
  The crisis in East Timor continues, and the Congress needs to 
respond. Some 100,000 refugees remained trapped in squalid and 
threatening conditions inside West Timor. The overwhelming majority of 
these refugees want to return to their home in East Timor, but they 
cannot because the camps are under the control of the militias.
  The 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 Congressional restrictions and 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 United States Armed Forces who have participated in the 
peacekeeping operation in East Timor.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor the McGovern-Smith 
bill on East Timor.
  Mr. Speaker, I include the following for the Record:

                       [From Human Rights Watch]

                 East Timorese Refugees Face New Threat

       (New York, Mar. 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 direct 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 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 call 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 
     dominant 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 militias. 
     Indonesia has recently made some progress in combating the 
     intimidation in the camps, but lack of security and reliable 
     information continue to be important obstacles 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 free and informed choice of the 
     refugees themselves.''
       Following the announcements 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 of 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 Timorese fled or were forcibly taken, 
     often at gunpoint, across the border into Indonesian West 
     Timor. To date, roughly 150,000 refugees have returned to 
     East Timor.
                                  ____


                [From the New York Times, Apr. 29, 2000]

                    Stumbling Efforts in East Timor

       In East Timor, where pro-Indonesian militias went on a 
     rampage last summer, the United Nations has taken on an 
     ambitious reconstruction mission with inadequate means. Not 
     surprisingly, the results to date have been disappointing. 
     Unless faster progress can be achieved in creating jobs, 
     resettling refugees and establishing the rule of law, there 
     is a serious risk of new violence.
       International peacekeepers belatedly put a stop to the 
     violence, which came after the East Timorese voted for 
     independence. But by the time U.N. administrators moved in 
     six months ago, conditions were desperate. Pro-Jakarta 
     militias had burned much of the territory's housing and 
     destroyed its agricultural economy. The abrupt withdrawal of 
     Indonesian civil servants left East Timor without police, 
     teachers and other essential services.
       Since then the U.N. has made only modest progress. Some 
     schools have been reopened, although they still lack trained 
     teachers. Emergency medical and dental clinics have been 
     established, many of them staffed by private relief agencies. 
     But a staggering 80 percent of East Timor's 800,000 people 
     still have no work, and nearly 100,000 remain in refugee 
     camps across the Indonesian frontier. There is no functioning 
     police force or courts, no reliable water, power or 
     transportation systems.
       The chief U.N. administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, has 
     been hampered by an inadequate budget, unrealistic staff 
     ceilings and the slowness of donor nations in providing the 
     funds and volunteers they have

[[Page H2471]]

     promised for Timor's reconstruction. Of more than $500 
     million pledged late last year, only $40 million has been 
     delivered. Washington has so far sent about $8 million of the 
     $13 million it promised for U.N. and World Bank 
     reconstruction efforts. Donor nations have been slow in 
     providing the local governance experts the U.N. needs.
       These problems have been magnified by the workings of the 
     notoriously slow U.N. bureaucracy and the U.N. mission's 
     reluctance to give more responsibility to local residents. If 
     the rebuilding effort continues to lag in the months ahead, 
     Jakarta could be tempted to exploit the continuing poverty 
     and chaos, launching new military forays from Indonesian-
     controlled West Timor.
       Last summer's violence in East Timor galvanized 
     international attention and action. That commitment must now 
     be sustained with adequate resources and a renewed sense of 
     urgency.

                          ____________________