From: "Nancy & Nelson" <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: BISHOP BELO UNDER THREAT
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 13:21:42 PDT

>From: [log in to unmask] (Maggie Helwig)
>Subject: BISHOP BELO UNDER THREAT
>Date: Mon, 6 Sep 1999 04:38:02 -0500
>
>4/5 Sept. - Calls from Dili
>
>Situation is very desperate. Bishop Belo and Manuel  of the Justice and 
>Peace Commission  are urgently appealing for help and are fearful they will 
>be attacked by the militias in the next few hours (5 Sept. 11:00 am Dili 
>time). Militias are seen roaming the streets outside the bishop's compound 
>and sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard. (SOS has been sent to 
>a number of key foreign ambassadors in Jakarta. We are also making direct 
>call to the Canadian ambassador)
>
>In the Bishop's residence alone there are now over 5,200 displaced people. 
>In Camara Eccelesiatica, the diocesan office, about 350 people, mostly 
>children, are sheltered, according to Fr. Domingos. The local parishes, 
>congregations (Connosians, Carmelite, Jesuits have over 1000 people 
>respectively), seminaries are overflowing with people fleeing from the 
>militias rampaging. It has been two frightful nights of gunfires and houses 
>on fire. Last night (Sunday) was described as a nightmare. There are many 
>people killed especially on the outskirts of Dili but very difficult to 
>ascertain the number.
>
>Impossible to move around Dili but reports from various religious 
>communities and local parishes to the Diocesan office gave a picture of 
>growing human catastrophe as priests and nuns are simply overwhelmed by 
>people holed up in local parishes and religious houses but their main fear 
>is the imminent attack by the militias, Liquica-style, as more people seek 
>refuge in their convents. Then there is concern with shortage of food and 
>water, and problem with sanitation, as they cannot go out. They reckon that 
>they can only handle this type of situation in two or three days.
>
>Dili is almost a ghost town. Houses are still ablaze early morning and 
>there is a general panic as families, mostly Indonesian, rush to the ports. 
>More foreigners were seen leaving/evacuating  this morning. They now have 
>been direct targets by the militias. Militias have set checkpoints in many 
>streets in Dili.
>
>Church is again appealing for peacekeeping force as it is clear  that the 
>police and military are doing nothing to stop the militias and if fact have 
>been seen talking and discussing with them. A priest witnessed, just across 
>the Mahkota hotel,  a lone  militia with pistol running after a group of 
>journalists while about 20 police stood by watching the melee.
>
>The line of difference between the militias, the military and police 
>appears to be disappearing.
>
>Please contact your government at the highest level asap regarding this 
>urgent appeal by the church.
>
>
>
>Jess Agustin
>Developpment et Paix/Development and Peace
>5633 Sherbrooke East
>Montreal, Quebec
>H1M 1A4
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]    website:  www.devp.org
>Tel. 257-8710 ext 361
>
>
>
>Further information from Arnold Kohen, Washington:
>                                      URGENT
>
>      Bishop Belo’s Residence, Other Church Facilities Violated
>
>
>
>            News from Dili on Monday morning confirms that the militias
>Have tried to remove thousands of people who have taken refuge in Bishop
>Belo’s residential compound as well as the Salesian schools in Balide and
>elsewhere in the city. The people in the Balide school were forced at
>gunpoint to leave, to be taken to Atambua, in West Timor. Early reports
>indicate that a similar attempt has been made to clear Bishop Belo’s
>residential compound of the 3,000 people, mainly women and children, who
>have taken refuge there.
>
>             Reached early on September 6, Bishop Belo said that the 
>campaign
>by the militias was a “Coup D’Etat” by military elements to overturn the
>results of the August 30 ballot. He said that thousands had fled to the
>mountains, where they face a humanitarian crisis. Bishop Belo pleaded for
>international peace keeping forces to come to East Timor as a matter of
>urgency.
>
>      The grim news from East Timor calls for the strongest possible world
>response. On Saturday night and Sunday morning, nearly constant shooting 
>was
>heard from the Becora section of Dili. Bishop Belo said on Sunday September
>5 that many were dead. They were reportedly shot at close range by
>military-sponsored gangs who burst into houses in the area. On Sunday the
>head of the Indonesian Armed Forces, General Wiranto, visited Dili with
>Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, but the situation has only deteriorated
>further.
>
>                      It is of critical importance that governments around
>the world take the strongest possible action to restore
>the rights of the East Timorese. International financial assistance in the
>form of loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, as well
>as all forms of military aid and non-humanitarian economic aid, should be
>terminated unless the army ceases its campaign of violence and terror in
>East Timor, and honors the results of the August 30 ballot.
>
>                      The following information should be circulated as
>widely as possible:
>
>
>Translation
>
>Dili, September 5, 1999
>
>
>A night of continuous shooting in all parts of town. Many tens of homes 
>were
>burned down in Becora, Kuluhum, Bidau, Bairro Mascarenhas, Quintal Boot.
>Many people were injured and many young people were killed at the Massaun
>river near Becora.
>
>In all districts of Lospalos and OeCussi, houses are burned, there are many
>deaths and people are fleeing to the mountains. The population of Maliana,
>including the prisoners, were forced to go to Atambua (West Timor).
>
>In Dili thousands of refugees are in the houses of the religious orders 
>from
>Comoro to Becora.
>
>The Mahkota hotel was attacked, forcing the journalists to stay inside the
>hotel, they cannot go out and do their work. The personnel of UNAMET has
>withdrawn to its headquarters in Caicoli, this is also where the Portuguese
>delegation went and some journalists who want to stay. The strategy is to
>keep the media from reporting what is happening so that the armed gangs
>supported by special military and the police can roam around as they 
>please.
>
>We are afraid that after they have controlled everything, they will proceed
>to a “general cleaning”. The population of Dili has fled to the mountains 
>in
>the area, but there is fear of hunger and attacks.
>
>The situation is a true humanitarian tragedy if there is no outside help.
>Agreements and promises are not worth anything.  Everything is a lie and a
>farce. The plan is the complete annihilation of the people.
>
>Today, Sunday the churches are empty, perhaps for the very first time since
>the invasion of 1975 and the difficult years that followed it. In the
>streets of Dili you only see armed militias, the military and the police 
>who
>are completely conniving in the action.
>
>A horror, a terror everywhere. However, the people are not giving up, they
>continue to struggle as they have done since 1975. Hopefully the
>international community will not abandon them as they did in 1975.
>
>Signed by someone who writes in despair and trusting absolutely only in 
>God.
>____________________
>Additional information:
>
>Telephone conversation at noon time in East Timor/ September 5, 1999
>
>While on the telephone, shooting from behind the Ecclesiastic Chamber can 
>be
>heard.
>
>- The Indonesian government is evacuating the integrationist leaders,
>including Indonesia’s roving ambassador for East Timor, Francisco Lopes da
>Cruz. Already five Hercules planes have taken off.
>
>- Timorese, especially young people, political prisoners and common
>prisoners are forced to leave East Timor and to sign documents calling for
>an annulment of the referendum sponsored by UNAMET.
>
>- They are threatening to attack the churches, where people have taken
>refuge, at any moment;
>
>- Armed gangs are roaming everywhere, they attack and pillage what they can
>find;
>
>- The armed gangs kill indiscriminately in the streets and in the houses 
>and
>the military do nothing to stop them;
>
>- The police and the military cooperate with the criminal acts of the
>militias.
>
>“We appeal for an immediate intervention by international
>forces because a delay of a minute may mean large massacres in East Timor.
>
>
>           The following is from Steve Steele of Catholic New York, the
>newspaper of the New York Archdiocese, and Catholic News Service:
>
>
>“I spoke to [X] for bout 20 minutes this morning [September 5]. As we spoke
>I could hear automatic gunfire and screaming in the background. The entire
>area is under siege.  Balide is burning. … militia men were screaming …
>"burn, burn" and "those of you who are pro-independence, come out and show
>your faces."
>
>There are 300 women and children in [a] convent. About 2,000
>are living at the Don Bosco residence in Comoro, another 2,000 at Bishop
>Belo's. The militias have threatened to overrun the Don Bosco house because
>it's mostly men and boys there. They have also threatened the nuns...I want
>you to take this info and
>spread it all over the world.
>
>The Salesian nuns have about 85 people staying in their Comoro residence 
>but
>transferred them to the Salesian Fathers’ house because "the walls are
>higher and provided more protection"
>
>"The houses nearby are burning and the military is just letting them do it.
>No one can do anything at this point, not UNAMET, no one. I don't know what
>you can do but we need peace keeping troops right away."
>
>"They're shooting with automatic weapons; They're not using homemade 
>weapons
>anymore. At this moment I'm watching a house burn down. The neighborhood
>down below us is in flames, the homes are the homes of the poor people,
>they're
>made of wood. This fire's going to spread quickly."
>
>"They're expecting something to happen soon (at Don Bosco). There's nobody
>defending them right now. The police were patrolling outside, but they've
>all been recalled. They're all alone now."
>
>"The militias are going house to house breaking up things, stealing."
>
>“... The only ones with arms here are the military and the
>militias."
>
>“… the women and children lie crouched below
>the windows and pray the rosary all day long. "We can’t do anything else"
>
>She said whatever men left in Dili are all at the Don Bosco residence.
>"They're all disappearing. The men and boys are all running into the hills.
>The people are panicking."
>
>The only people on the streets are the military and the militias. It's too
>dangerous to go out."
>



   .............................................
   Bob Olsen, Toronto      [log in to unmask]
   .............................................


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%