Text of: 30842-GM-R599-U

Delete current text and replace with the following new text, p. 599:

This year will mark the 25th anniversary of 25 years since Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor first took place. The invasion and occupation stand in defiance of international law, two resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, and eight resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.

The invasion and occupation have resulted in the death of over 200,000 people (one-third of the population) according to Amnesty International and Roman Catholic Church estimates. The United States government provided crucial military and diplomatic support for Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor.

On November 12, 1991, the Indonesian army massacred over 270 Timorese mourners at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, East Timor. Western journalists witnessed that massacre, and their reports to the outside world resulted in the renewal of a worldwide effort to free East Timor from Indonesian domination and repression.

In January 1995, a delegation from the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and a representative of the Canadian Council of Churches visited East Timor to express solidarity with the churches and people of East Timor. Following that visit, the delegation recommended an advocacy effort that endorsed demilitarization of East Timor and determination of East Timor's political status with the full participation of the East Timorese people.

A resolution of The United Methodist Church, adopted in 1996, deplored the continuing occupation of East Timor and the resultant oppression and abuse of human rights. That resolution supported the rights of the East Timorese to self-determination, calling for an end to the Indonesian occupation, intensified United Nations efforts to resolve East Timor's political status, and full participation of the East Timorese in the just resolution of that status. The resolution urged the United States to cease military aid, military training and arms sales to Indonesia during its de facto military occupation of East Timor. The resolution also exhorted the United States government and other governments to take legislative and administrative action to pressure Indonesia to end its occupation and cooperate with the United Nations in bringing about East Timorese self-determination.

In July 1998, the United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution affirming the right of the East Timorese to self-determination, and in October 1998, the full Congress went on record as supporting East Timor's right to self-determination. In November 1998, Congress passed into law an effective ban on the use of all weapons in East Timor.

On January 13, 1999, Australia, which gave official diplomatic recognition to Indonesia's purported annexation of East Timor, changed its policy by accepting the principle that the people of East Timor must eventually be given a choice to remain part of Indonesia or become independent. In late January 1999, for the first time since the 1975 invasion of the territory, the Indonesian government publicly raised the possibility of independence for East Timor. In February 1999, the Indonesian government moved East Timorese national resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao, from Cipinang Prison in Jakarta to a form of house arrest.

In May 1999, United Nations-sponsored talks between Indonesia and Portugal on the future of East Timor resulted in Indonesia agreeing to allow a United Nations-sponsored referendum, ultimately held on August 30, 1999, on whether the East Timorese supported or rejected the Indonesian government's autonomy proposal. The Indonesian government also stated that if the East Timorese rejected that autonomy proposal in this popular consultation, it would set East Timor free.

Prior In the years prior to the August 30, 1999, referendum on East Timor's independence, the Indonesian National Army (TNI) in East Timor began providing weapons to created and armed paramilitary groups and vigilante gangs for the purpose of terrorizing pro-independence civilians, thereby creating a severe refugee crisis and threatening to undermine this historic opportunity to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict in East Timor.

East Timorese 1996 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, called repeatedly for United Nations peacekeepers to be sent to East Timor to prevent further bloodshed and monitor the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation. Those warnings went unheeded during the period prior to the referendum.

Despite the violence and intimidation directed against East Timorese supporters of independence, 78.5% of East Timor's voters rejected Indonesia's autonomy proposal and, thereby, supported independence from Indonesia in the United Nations-sponsored referendum. International observers monitored the election and verified the results, which reflected a voter turnout for the referendum of 98% of eligible registered voters.

Following the announcement of the results of the August 30, 1999, election, Indonesian armed forces and their proxies in anti-independence paramilitary groups and vigilante gangs engaged in the systematic destruction of East Timor, including the burning and leveling of Dili and numerous towns and villages, the forced deportation of thousands of civilians, and widespread killing and torture. Those targeted for assassinations included Catholic and Protestant religious leaders, student leaders, relief workers, and countless others who were perceived as supporting independence.

Not even East Timor's most internationally prominent figures were spared from the wave of terror that followed the vote for independence. Bishop Belo was forced into exile after anti-independence forces attacked and burned his residence. Following his release from captivity, East Timorese Timor's national resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao, decried the systematic efforts to eliminate community leaders and other supporters of independence for East Timor, and to destroy the places where they lived and worked.

In September 1999, the Vatican deplored the violence directed against the East Timorese people and urged the United Nations to send international peacekeepers to East Timor. The Vatican's foreign minister described the circumstances in East Timor as "another genocide."

Statements of United Nations officials in September 1999 confirmed numerous accounts from the East Timorese people and international observers of a systemic close connection between the Indonesian military and the anti-independence militias. The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights concluded that Indonesian forces were "orchestrating" the violence and that it appeared to be "systematic." United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for an investigation of possible "crimes against humanity." United Nations officials have raised the prospect of a future war crimes tribunal.

The destruction of East Timor in September 1999 also produced a refugee crisis of staggering proportions, forcing hundreds of thousands of East Timorese people into hiding within that country or into refugee camps in Indonesian West Timor. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 200,000 people risked starvation. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed grave concern for the status of refugees in West Timor citing "mounting evidence" of forced deportations to West Timor and forcible separation of men from women and children.

In response to the destruction of East Timor, the President of the United States announced the suspension of military ties and other assistance to Indonesia in September 1999. Military transfers and commercial weapons sales have been were suspended, as have were bilateral economic assistance and multilateral assistance from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. However, it remains unclear whether those suspensions will be comprehensive and continuing, or informal and of short duration. Economic assistance has been resumed, despite the fact that more than 100,000 East Timorese were still in camps in West Timor, many against their will. The Clinton Administration is also moving toward a resumption of US military training for Indonesian forces.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution in September 1999 approving an international force for East Timor empowered under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, and authorized to take all necessary measures to restore peace and security and facilitate humanitarian assistance. The resolution directs directed Indonesia to take immediate measures for the safe return of refugees and calls called for United Nations administration of East Timor during the transition to East Timorese self-rule. Although this resolution anticipates cooperation of the Indonesian government with the multinational force, it leaves But months later it remained uncertain how prominent a role Indonesian forces will play in implementing its mandate, and whether Indonesian forces will would cooperate in allowing full access to refugees in West Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia.

Under the auspices of the September 1999 Security Council resolution, an Australian-led multinational force has entered East Timor, some Indonesian troops have withdrawn, humanitarian assistance has commenced, and efforts to implement the terms of the resolution are underway.

Therefore, be it resolved, that The United Methodist Church, its members, local churches, annual conferences, central conferences, and general agencies:

1. Recognize our continuing moral and religious duty to respond to acts of inhumanity and genocide, and to rescue a people, a nation, and a culture from annihilation;

2. Reaffirm their call to the United States government and other governments to act within their powers to ensure that the Indonesian government fully complies with all United Nations resolutions on East Timor, withdraws all its military occupation forces from East Timor, and cooperates with the United Nations and other relevant bodies to permanently end its occupation of East Timor and implement the transition to East Timorese self-determination; efforts on East Timor in the years to come.

3. Deplore the systematic destruction of East Timor orchestrated by Indonesian forces and allied paramilitary groups in the wake of East Timor's vote for independence in the United Nations-sponsored referendum of August 30, 1999, including the killing and torture of civilians, targeted assassinations of religious and community leaders, burning and leveling of communities, forcible mass deportations, and separation of families;

4. Exhort the executive and legislative branches of the United States government and the United Nations to take all steps within their respective powers to reduce the suffering of the East Timorese people, remove ensure that the forces responsible for their slaughter and bring them be brought to justice in an international war crimes tribunal, immediately safeguard and account for all refugees within East and West Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia, provide for the safe return of refugees, restore the premise of self-determination to East Timor, and facilitate the rebuilding of East Timor as an independent nation;

5. Commend the President of the United States and United States Congress for taking steps in 1999 to suspend military aid and assistance and weapons sales to Indonesia;

6. Emphasize that the termination of United States and multilateral assistance to Indonesia (including government-to-government and commercial arms sales) must be comprehensive and continuing in order to achieve effective results, and that additional pressure on the Indonesian military and allied militia remains necessary to ensure that the refugees in West Timor and elsewhere are able to return to East Timor;

7. Commend the United Nations Security Council for unanimously approving an international force to stop the destruction of East Timor and its people, protect its refugees and secure their return, provide immediate humanitarian assistance, and implement the transition from Indonesian occupation to East Timorese self-determination;

8. Express concern that further vigilance will be necessary to achieve these objectives, and that the Indonesian military and allied militia may continue to frustrate these efforts even after their withdrawal from East Timor;

9. Urge the United Methodists, including the General Board of Global Ministries and the General Board of Church and Society, to make the issue of East Timor a priority for social justice and mission purposes, and to support constituency education, emergency assistance, direct relief efforts and related projects on East Timor; and

10. Direct that The United Methodist Church, immediately following 2000 General Conference, send copies of this resolution to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the UN General Assembly, the President of the United States, all U.S. Senators and Congressional Representatives, the President of Indonesia, President of Portugal and all appropriate ecumenical colleagues.

 

 

 

 

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