JAKARTA, Oct. 5, 00 (CWNews.com) - Indonesian officials said on Wednesday they had arrested the leader of a pro-Jakarta militia which was blamed for the attack on a United Nations office in West Timor that left three foreign aid workers dead.
Eurico Guterres was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack on the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the West Timor town of Atambua on September 6. 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 1999, 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 hundreds and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the former Portuguese colony to West Timor.
CWN - Catholic World News