From np98g@mail.telepac.pt Wed Nov 11 22:17:28 1998
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 13:10:17 -0000
From: Gab. Dr. Ramos Horta
To: "'east-timor@igc.apc.org'"
Subject: CNRT Krumbach Declaration
Krumbach Declaration
3 November 1998
The political environment in which the fourth All Inclusive
Intra-Timorese Dialogue (AIETD) is taking place in Krumbach,
Austria, is dramatically different from that of the prior
AIETD meetings.
Many myths and taboos were shattered by the events that
occurred over the last few months in Indonesia and the region
in general. These events confirmed the eternal truth that
tyranny and other forms of oppression, subjuga tion and armed
domination always succumb to the force of reason, justice,
the determination and faith of the peoples fighting for
freedom and independence.
The economic and financial crisis in Asia demystified the
Asian "economic tigers" and the alleged superiority of the
"Asian values" that were put forward over the last decade to
negate the universality and indivisibility of human rights.
Only one truth remains - freedom, democracy and rule of law
are the only guarantees of true peace, stability, social
progress and development.
The East Timorese people who have survived some 500 years of
colonization, invasion by the Empire of the Rising Sun in
1942-45, and the Indonesian occupation since 1975, have
clearly demonstrated its unfailing faith and determination to
the world.
__________________________________________
We, the undersigned, participants to the fourth AIETD,
residing in East Timor and abroad, representing a wide and
representative spectrum of our people - youth and student
movements, women, workers, intellectuals and prof essionals of
the most varied fields, religious confessions and political
sensibilities - gathered in Krumbach Kastle from 31 October
to 3 November 1998, bearing in mind our people's aspirations
and demands, decided to:
A. Reiterate our deep appreciation and gratitude to the
Austrian Government for its support which made possible
the successive AIETD meetings;
B. Extend the same appreciation and gratitude to all the
governments and institutions that have contributed to and
thus made these meetings possible;
C. Reaffirm our trust in and sincere appreciation to the UN
Secretary General and his staff for the dynamic, creative
and serious way in which they have been dealing with the
question, exploring all the possible ways to r each a
solution;
D. Reiterate our support to Bishops D. Carlos Filipe Ximenes
Belo and D. Basilio do Nascimento in their generous
efforts in leading the East Timorese people in the quest
for peace, freedom and reconciliation;
E. Register with satisfaction the contents of Bishop Ximenes
Belo's message to the fourth AIETD in which the East
Timorese prelate and Nobel Peace Laureate welcomes the
"new winds of change" that blow in East Timor, saying
that "something is moving in the decolonization process of
East Timor", and noting that East Timor had ceased to be
an "internal issue" for Indonesia. The Bishop of Dili also
underlined in his message that "the people is always
sovereign in its decisions and would thus have to
determine what is best";
F. Support D. Ximenes Belo's proposal that the AIETD start
thinking about the creation of a transitional government.
G. Register D. Ximenes Belo's affirmation that "without the
participation of Mr. Jose Alexandre Gusm°o, a.k.a. Xanana
Gusm°o, the question of East Timor will always remain a
problem to be solved".
Bearing this in mind, the undersigned, analyzing the
evolution of the question of East Timor, decide to clarify
the follow:
I - The demise of dictator Suharto and the empty promises of
BJ Habibie
1. We commend effusively the Indonesian pro-democracy
movement for bringing about the demise of dictator Suharto
and initiating the still fragile and incipient process of
economic and political reforms. The Indonesian people has
been the victim, just as we have, of the same oppressive,
corrupt and authoritarian regime that has imprisoned,
tortured and massacred thousands of people in East Timor
and Indonesia itself. But the fall of the hat eful
dictator has not automatically brought about justice for
East Timor. Today, as yesterday, the Habibie government
continues to ignore the engagement taken before the
international community to release all East Timorese
political prisoners, as the Suharto government did.
2. Our leader Xanana Gusm°o, President of the CNRT, is still
in prison.
3. The presence of the Indonesian military in East Timor is
violent and in violation of all human values. We commend
the removal of general Prabowo Subianto, responsible for
war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetra ted in
East Timor throughout his carrier. But general Prabowo and
other Indonesian high-ranking officers must be tried and
punished for the crimes they committed against the East
Timorese people.
4. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all
East Timorese prisoners and our leader Xanana Gusm°o, CNRT
President.
5. We condemn the new Indonesian military offensives carried
out by the Indonesian armed forces stationed in East
Timor.
6. We denounce the lack of good faith and honesty on the part
of the Indonesian government for not keeping the promises
Habibie made to our estimated bishops D. Carlos Filipe
Ximenes Belo and D. Basilio do Nascimento to w ithdraw
quickly and massively hundreds of Indonesian soldiers in
August. By mid-September, just over a month after the
August farce, at least ten battalions were introduced in
East Timor.
II - Demilitarization and Pacification
We demand the following under the supervision of the United
Nations:
1. The cessation of all armed activity.
2. The immediate withdrawal of the majority of the Indonesian
forces from East Timor to a number agreed on by all four
parties - the UN, Portugal, Indonesia and the East
Timorese Resistance.
3. The remaining Indonesian troops should be stationed in
uninhabited areas to be identified and agreed upon.
4. All armed and paramilitary groups created by the
Indonesian military must be dismantled.
5. The collection of all weapons and ammunitions in the
possession of individuals and private groups.
We commend:
The repeated declarations of the FALINTIL Command that they
would observe a cease-fired agreed upon in a UN supervised
process.
We call on:
1. The international community to establish a special fund to
be used as incentive for those who will surrender weapons
in exchange for cash, food, agriculture seeds, tools and
transport vehicles.
2. The training by the UN of a Timorese police force.
3. The establishment of a UN Peace Keeping Force in East
Timor.
III - We demand that the emigration of Indonesians to East
Timor be suspended until the promulgation of the
Immigration Law by the Timorese Legislative Assembly
elected in the context of the transition process agreed
upon by all parties.
IV - Development and Humanitarian Aid Programs
We commend:
The meeting of experts that took place in Vilamoura, Portugal
from October 21 to 24 to formulate a strategic sustainable
development plan for East Timor.
We call on the World Bank to:
Urgently develop an autonomous aid program specifically for
East Timor in the following areas:
A. Development of the Primary Sector:
Agriculture and animal husbandry
Fishing
B. Commerce Aid for the development of small trade and
business with credit and loans similar to those
established by the Grameen Bank scheme.
C. Industry
- Aid for the development of small industries
- Aid for the development of traditional crafts for
exportation
D. Human resources: training of human resources in banking
and finance through courses, practical training schemes
and seminars at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington
or in East Timor.
E. Cultural heritage: through special programs of the World
Bank for the recuperation, preservation and
revitalization of the historic and cultural heritage of
the East Timorese people, particularly its traditional
languag es such as Tetum, sacred sites and historical
monuments, etc?
F. We ask the World Bank, through its Post-Conflict
Programme, to undertake an evaluation of the current
situation in East Timor with a view towards developing a
global reconstruction plan for East Timor.
V - UN Development and Humanitarian Agencies
We commend and thank the Department of Humanitarian
Coordination of the United Nations for the interest it
manifested in the situation in East Timor.
We call for:
1. immediate assistance to alleviate the suffering of the
East Timorese people, in particular of the women and
children, silent victims of the occupation, victims of the
economic and financial crisis deeply affecting Indo nesia
and its neighbors. 2. UNICEF, UNDP, WHO, WFP, FAO,
UNIFEM to bring humanitarian and development aid quickly
to East Timor.
VI - Population Census
As it is necessary and urgent to establish with
scientific precision the size and composition of the East
Timorese population, we call on the UN to carry out urgently
a census of the East Timorese population.
VII - Economic Indexes
As it is always the case with dictatorships and
authoritarian regimes, the statistics are manipulated to meet
the fancy of whoever is in power. The Soviet Union and
Indonesia are two examples of this phenomenon. No rigorou s
strategic development plan for East Timor can be established
without the collection of accurate data and analysis of all
East Timor's economic indexes, namely a census of the
population, production indicators in all are as from economy
to health, education, etc?
We thus call on the UN Secretary General, the World Bank,
UNDP and other competent agencies to coordinate their efforts
to undertake a rigorous data collection.
VIII - Human Rights and Justice
We appeal to the High Commissioner for Human Rights to
establish urgently a permanent presence in Dili and other
places in East Timor to ensure:
1. the promotion and protection of human rights
2. the organization of seminar and training courses for
human rights defenders
3. the promotion of a culture of peace, tolerance, dialogue
and reconciliation
We demand that the occupying Indonesian authorities:
1. end immediately arbitrary detention
2. cancel the "black list" of East Timorese activists in
exile so as to permit their access to the territory
3. cancel the "black list" inside the territory so as to
permit the free circulation of the population in East Timor
4. the immediate end of torture, summary and arbitrary
executions
5. the end of violations of the East Timorese women, and in
this regard, we call on the Committee for the Elimination
of the Discrimination against Women to investigate and
prepare an urgent report on the condition of wom en in
East Timor
6. the end of the forced prostitution of the East Timorese
Woman.
We ask the UN Voluntary Fund to support the victims of
torture as well as other competent institutions, included
governments, to set up a Rehabilitation Program in East Timor
and abroad to assist these victims.
IX - Environment
The East Timorese environment is severely affected as a
result of a deliberate strategy of the Indonesian military to
destroy the East Timorese forests in its offensive against
the armed resistance. As it happened in Sum atra and
Kalimantam, the extraction of wood and the "transmigrasi"
program have contributed to the deterioration of Nature in
East Timor.
We thus call on the competent UN bodies and the World Bank to
take into account environmental rehabilitation and protection
as part of a sustainable development strategy in East Timor.
X - Education
1. The East Timorese education system must be entirely revised
to reflect the East Timorese history, tradition and
culture and to serve the true interests of East Timor.
2. Bearing this in mind, we demand the amelioration and
expansion of the polytechnics, teaching colleges and
university, oriented by East Timor's needs, with technical
training programs in areas considered as priorities.
3. We demand the introduction of Tetum and the reintroduction
of Portuguese in all schools in East Timor, starting at
primary school.
4. We ask Portugal to promote - in conjunction with the CPLP
member countries, a teachers training program in
Portuguese language.
XI - Towards a Political Solution
1. The future of East Timor can only be decided by the people
freely, without restriction or coercion in the exercise of
their fundamental right to self-determination in an
international judicial framework.
2. In this sense, all the relevant UN resolutions on the
question of East Timor must be taken into account in so far
as these resolutions were adopted by the international
community in reaction to actions violating the fun damental
and inalienable rights of the East Timorese people.
3. We cannot comment in any depth or details on the autonomy
plan proposed by the UN that has already been presented to
the Foreign Ministers of Portugal and Indonesia as we have
not had access to the said document.
4. The East Timorese people as a whole will repudiate any
agreement sealed between the two parties without the East
Timorese consent.
5. We thus demand the adoption of a new format for the
negotiations that would allow the full involvement of the
East Timorese people in the negotiation on the future of
East Timor. We support a negotiation process involvi ng the
direct participation of the CNRT led by Xanana Gusmao
aiming at the establishment of a transitional
administration for a specific period of time in keeping
with international law, without prejudicing the position of
principle of each of the parties involved.
6. We reiterate that any solution for East Timor must be
reached through dialogue.
7. We declare our full support to the UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan in the search for a solution for East Timor.
8. We believe that only a process that would respect the true
aspirations and highest interests of the East Timorese
people would viable on the ground.
9. In this framework , we are prepared to take into
consideration whichever proposal aiming at a peaceful
transition leading to a final solution that, to be valid
and internationally acceptable, must be approved by way of
a referendum on self-determination under UN supervision.
XI - All Inclusive Intra-Timorese Dialogue
The present format of the AIETD does not correspond to the
demands of the current reality. We believe in the virtue of
a true intra-Timorese dialogue, but this dialogue will
produce palpable results only when it takes pla ce in East
Timor and involves the clerical, political hierarchies and
traditional authorities among others.
Because we are aware of the necessity of an authentic
reconciliation process among the East Timorese, we commend
Bishops D. Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and D. Basilio do
Nascimento for the efforts they have made towards the social
and political harmonization of the East Timorese people.
We also commend Rev. Arlindo Mar‡al, President of the
Christian Council of East Timor, for his efforts to raise
awareness, foster dialogue and harmony within the East
Timorese society.
In keeping with our own convictions and corresponding to the
appeal of the UN Secretary General, we call for non-violence,
tolerance and respect of private and public property.
We proudly register the discipline demonstrated by our
people. We register and recall that since Suharto's fall, and
in spite of the provocations of the Indonesian military our
people never gave in to the temptation of ven geance and
retaliation against the Indonesian migrants and East Timorese
collaborators. On the other hand, we condemn the
irresponsible and reprehensible behavior of the Indonesian
military and other members of the Indon esian repressive
regime.
END
- Official translation of the original version in Portuguese
signed in Krumbach on 3 November 1998 -