The ad hoc human rights tribunal sentenced former chief of Dili Police to three years in jail involving the bloody break with East Timor in 1999. The defendant, Lt. Col. Hulman Gultom, was found guilty of failing to prevent pro-Jakarta militiamen from committing violence, which claimed the lives of at least 12 pro-independence supporters on April 17, 1999 in Dili. "The defendant has been proven guilty of grave human rights violations," said Presiding Judge Andriani Nurdin.
Hulman, the second official to be convicted by the tribunal over violence in East Timor, insisted on his innocence: "I cannot accept this decision. I have risked my life to prevent the riots yet I have been found guilty." He remains free pending his appeal.
Last month, the Jakarta court sentenced Dili's military commander, Lt. Col. Soejarwo, to five years in prison. Two East Timorese civilians, former Governor Abilio Soares and militia leader Eurico Guterres, also have been sentenced to three years and 10 years in jail respectively. Eleven other Government officials and army and police officers were acquitted last year.
Over 100,000 refugees who fled sectarian clashes in Maluku (Moluccan Islands) since 1999 have returned to their homes or been resettled elsewhere, following the Government's mid-January deadline to cut aid for refugees nationwide. The returning group represented roughly one third of some 332,000 refugees who escaped during the three years of fighting between Moslem and Christian communities there.
"There are another 40,018 families or 212,595 people at our refugees camps," said Rahman Soumena, head of the command center for the return of Maluku refugees. The 100,000 who had already left them were returned over a one-month period since December 20th last year. Rahman said the refugees were ready to be returned after their home villages and neighboring ones agreed to accept them. "Some of them did not return but were relocated to new homes which can provide them safety," he explained.
More than 6,000 people in Maluku have died since Moslems and Christians clashed in early 1999. The number of victims was roughly equal on both sides. Refugees have since taken shelter in and around the province's capital of Ambon and on Ceram Island in Central Maluku.
Sporadic violence continues but has abated significantly after the warring sides signed a peace agreement early last year. Now the Government is cutting the supply of aid reasoning it no longer has the funds to support them. It gave January 15th as the deadline for refugees nationwide to return to their homes, after which the Government would stop aiding them.
Armed conflicts and natural disasters in some regions in Indonesia increased the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to 1.24 million. Indonesia ranks fifth among countries with the highest number of IDPs - after Angola, Sudan, Congo and Colombia.
Rahman said the security situation in Maluku was not yet ripe to bring all the refugees back home. The head of the Maluku social affairs office, Isac Umarella agreed, saying the province needed more time. Not only should refugees feel ready to return, but neighboring villages must also be prepared to accept them. "We're afraid that their return could spark new conflicts." He added that the local government was building new houses to replace the 29,000 that were destroyed or burnt down during the three years of violence. But the new houses are too small to accommodate more than one family.
Meanwhile, a man was shot dead and another injured yesterday by an unidentified gunman in the latest act of violence in the village of Tulehu in Salahutu district, some 24 kilometers from Ambon. Villagers said the two men along with another were felling a tree when an unidentified man opened fire at them. No motive could be established so far.
