Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building,
Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 *
http://www.accuracy.org *
ipa@accuracy.org

Tuesday, September 7, 1999

EAST TIMOR: WHAT'S GOING ON?

News reports from East Timor indicate that the Indonesian army and the militias are now working together openly to wreak new terror on the streets of East Timor's capital, Dili.

The following analysts and commentators are available for interviews:

JOSE RAMOS-HORTA, http://www.etan.org, www.easttimor.com Jose Ramos-Horta is winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize and the International Representative of the National Council of Timorese Resistance. (He will be at a news conference at the National Press Club at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.)

ALLAN NAIRN, http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Parliament/2487 An award-winning journalist, Nairn has written about East Timor for The Nation, The New Yorker and other outlets. He survived the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in Dili, East Timor. He is currently in East Timor and is about to release a report that documents cooperation between the militias, the Indonesian army and U.S. officials. He is one of the only American reporters left in East Timor, now under martial law.

DR. DAN MURPHY, http://www.motherjones.com/east_timor A doctor from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Dr. Murphy spent nine months in East Timor working at a clinic. He was recently deported from East Timor. He said: "To date, statements from the administration have lacked definitive consequences for Indonesia. The U.S. government could stop military aid, stop joint military exercises, deny World Bank funding, recall our ambassador, send peacekeeping forces with or without Indonesian cooperation. The administration's current actions reflect complicity, and tacitly give a green light to the terror.ö

AMY GOODMAN Pacifica radio journalist Goodman, who has won numerous awards for her coverage of East Timor and was recently expelled from Indonesia because she is on a blacklist, said: "The Indonesian forces are ethnically cleansing the East Timorese; they are burning homes, forcing people out by the thousands at gun-point if not killing them outright. If the U.S. would say to Indonesia, no more arms, no more international aid or loans, the violence would stop today."

KRISTIN SUNDELL, etanfield@igc.org, http://www.etan.org A UN-accredited observer with the International Federation for East Timor and national field organizer with the East Timor Action Network, Sundell just returned from her second trip to East Timor today. "The militias are working directly with the Indonesian army. This is well-coordinated, systematic violence. This is not militias run amok."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167