DILI, East Timor (CWNews.com) - A priest working with refugees in Dare, a city south of East Timor's capital, denied reports on Friday that Indonesia's military had killed Timorese sheltering there.
The priest, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the military had provided five tons of rice to the refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross had promised to bring more. "The refugees in Dare they are hungry but we cannot say there is a famine. It is also not true that the militias have besieged the area," the priest said.
"It's not true that the military have killed people there," he added. "The refugees are carrying guns and I never asked them if they are pro or against integration." A United Nations official in Darwin, Australia, said on Sunday that he had received reports of massacres by Indonesian soldiers near Dare.
Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world, invaded mainly Catholic East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the following year in a move not recognized by the United Nations. In August, the region held a Jakarta-proposed referendum to allow Timorese to choose either autonomy within Indonesia or full independence. After the pro-independence results were revealed, pro-Indonesia militias, armed and backed by Indonesia's military, went on a rampage, killing thousands and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the former Portugese colony.
The UN Security Council voted this week to send thousands of peacekeeping troops, led by Australia, into the region to restore order.
CWN - Catholic World News