(PINA/IFEX) – Overseas journalists attempting to cover a renewed rampage by pro-Indonesia militiamen in the East Timorese capital, Dili, were attacked and threatened, the “Sydney Morning Herald” reported on 10 May 1999. Groups of foreign journalists, including Australians, were stoned and ran for their lives when they entered the market area a short time after […]
(PINA/IFEX) – Overseas journalists attempting to cover a renewed rampage by
pro-Indonesia militiamen in the East Timorese capital, Dili, were attacked
and threatened, the “Sydney Morning Herald” reported on 10 May 1999. Groups
of foreign journalists, including Australians, were stoned and ran for their
lives when they entered the market area a short time after a student was
shot dead by gunmen in a passing van, the “Sydney Morning Herald” said.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 21 April, 20 April and 29 March 1999**
The “Sydney Morning Herald”, which has a reporter in Dili, reported: “An ABC
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation) television cameraman was chased by a
man waving a pistol and acting as if he was going to shoot him. A woman
reporter for Australian Associated Press was hit in the back by a rock. A
Canadian journalist, Ian Timberlake, said when he and seven other
journalists approached the market area in a taxi, militiamen started running
towards them screaming abuse. One of the militiamen waved a pistol and
appeared as if he was going to shoot him. Timberlake said other militiamen
pulled homemade weapons on others in the taxi. ‘There was a lot of screaming
going on,’ he said. ‘Some of the mob pounded on the roof.’ Timberlake said
three men appeared from among the mob with rifles and said they were police.
One sat on the bonnet and two others sat on window edges as the taxi driver
pulled away. They were taken to a Dili police station where they hid in a
small office.”
Gunshots were ringing out across the city as armed gangs of pro-Indonesia
militia formed blockades on the city outskirts, the “Sydney Morning Herald”
said. Australian diplomats reported bonfires in the streets. East Timor’s
representative on Indonesia’s human rights commission, Florentino Sarmento,
was quoted as calling for the ballot to decide the former Portuguese
colony’s future to be delayed and warned of widespread terror and
intimidation by warring groups.
The “Sydney Morning Herald” reported: “Witnesses said yesterday’s rioting
broke out at the market when a group of independence supporters started
throwing rocks at the militiamen who had earlier fired at unarmed people.
Indonesian security forces were among militiamen who started harassing
people at the market after church services in the predominantly Catholic
territory, witnesses said.”
Background Information
East Timorese are scheduled to begin voting on 8 August 1999 in a referendum
on possible independence from Indonesia, which in 1975 invaded the territory
of 800,000 people. Six international media workers were killed during the
invasion. Organisations such as the International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ) and Australian colleagues have called for investigations into
continuing allegations they were deliberately killed by Indonesian forces or
forces under Indonesian control (see IFEX alerts).
