VATICAN (CWNews.com) - The brutal fighting in East Timor has become a case of "genocide," according to the Vatican's top foreign-relations officials.
Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's Secretary of State for Relations with States, told a Vatican television audience that the "absolutely flagrant violence against the most fundamental human rights" of the Timorese represents "a regression for humanity." Speaking on the evening of September 9, the archbishop reported that at least 40 humanitarian workers have been murdered, as well as hundreds of other innocent people. He added that churches, convents, and seminaries have been destroyed, with priests and religious forced to flee into the mountains. "This is a very direct attack on the Catholic Church," he said.
Archbishop Tauran called on Indonesian government officials in particular, and world leaders in general, to take immediate action to stem the violence. "Faced with such a tragic, and such a gross violation of human rights, no one has the right to remain indifferent," he said.
The archbishop disclosed that the Vatican has been working through diplomatic channels to encourage prompt intervention, and has backed plans for the creation of an international force which might "guarantee a minimum of law and order on Timorese territory."
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