UN East Timor Empty Hand U 09 09 1999 UNCLASSIEiW Dww state ic gov Brief99 f990909a htm CONFIDENTIAL T TC Dep rtm An t of Sta te tJ1 J i%V I A14 11a V 1 Vi tA V Bureau oflntelligence and Research Brief RELEASED IN PART B I I A D 09 09 1999 UN East Timor Empty Hand i UN efforts to avert a humanitarian disaster in East Timor are collapsing despite the imposition of martial law and the arrival on September 8 of a UN Security Council delegation in Jakarta UN discussions in New York about the composition of a multinational peacekeeping force or in Jakarta with the crumbling Habibie government will probably have little bearing on the brutal reality being shaped in East Timor C i The UN's decision to evacuate the bulk of its Assistance Mission for East Timor UNAMET staff from the Dili compound on September 9 follows- an unsuccessful attempt by UNAMET to obtain food and water from a nearby UN warehouse Militias apparently forced them to flee back to their compound where more than 2 000 Timorese who have sought refuge risk being attacked following the UNAMET withdrawal UN and church compounds are no longer havens with militias now explicitly targeting them three priests were among the approximately 100 people feared killed in a massacre in the southern coastal town of Suai C Dili is now looted gutted and gone according to Embassy Jakarta With UN personnel and foreign journalists expelled and telecommunications cut East Timorese over-the next few days can expect little merc from rampaging militias and increasing numbers of Indonesian military B1 n western imor newly arriving re gees are overwhelming local capacity to provide food shelter or protection two UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR staff were slightly wounded and forced to curtail their review of border camps where militias are assassinating selective pro-independence leaders C 1 of UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OYSTATE REVIEW AUTHORITY MURRAY D ZINOMAN J ATE CASE ID 31 MAR 2006 200300722 -UNCLASSIFIED 7 25 2005 3 08 PIv This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu