Amnesty offer mulled for ETimor's murdering militias

Kupang, Indonesia, April 17 (AFP) - Militia members responsible for a wave of killings in East Timor in 1999 may be granted amnesties in return for confessions, officials from a commission examining the violence said Tuesday.

Indonesian-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission members said the amnesties were an attempt to encourage the perpetrators to come forward, confess their roles in the unrest and reveal where victims had been buried.

Violence erupted in East Timor in 1999 around a UN-administered referendum for independence, which the tiny nation chose following 24 years of occupation by neighbouring Indonesia.

Militia gangs, which the United Nations says were recruited and directed by Indonesia's military, killed about 1,400 people and destroyed much of the infrastructure in the former Portuguese colony.

Commission member Olandina Cairo said many East Timorese were open to the amnesty idea after the plan was discussed recently at public forums.
"The people of East Timor are open to forgiveness, so (the commission) hopes the rights violators will confess to the killings and clarify where the bodies were buried," said Cairo in Kupang, West Timor.

Cairo said most of those involved had been part of the pro-Indonesian militias, and were now living on the Indonesian side of Timor island.

A commissioner from Indonesia, Anton Sujaka, said the commission "may recommend amnesty to rights violators and rehabilitation to victims."

Sujaka told journalists here the commission - which aims to establish the truth about the violence - was currently verifying testimony given at its hearings.
The 10-member commission, which Indonesia and East Timor formed in 2005, plans to collect testimony from 70 people by June after hearings started in February. Indonesia's president at the time, BJ Habibie, has given evidence.

An Indonesian rights court set up to try military officers and officials for atrocities in East Timor was widely condemned as a sham for failing to jail any Indonesians.

The impoverished state held its first presidential vote since independence on April 9. A run-off vote with two leading candidates will be held next month.