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There
is little mystery as to who, under the spotlight of international
attention, commanded the spilling of innocent blood and
the systematic destruction of East Timor in August 1999.
The Indonesian militia swept through East Timor with clear
disregard for the laws of war but, as in so many conflicts,
there is little likelihood that the perpetrators will
ever be held accountable, despite a growing movement to
establish war crimes tribunals in the wake of atrocities
around the world. In the case of East Timor, neither the
United Nations Security Council nor the Indonesian government
seem willing to take the steps to ensure that the perpetrators
are brought to justice, and the UN Mission in East Timor
lacks both a court system and access to the accused.
Like
many other East Timorese, Julio Martins Riverio knows
who murdered his brother, Aryico, last year. In the softened,
red light of an equatorial dusk that has filtered into
a maze of burnt-out walls and corrugated tin roofs off
one of Dili’s main roads, Riverio quietly recalls
what happened on the night the militia and TNI (Indonesian
military) arrived in their neighborhood, forced families
into trucks and herded them away to a military building
on the outskirts of town.
Julio and Aryico hid in the darkness out of fear of what
fate awaited them if they went along. The following morning
the brothers decided it best to join the others, only
to be sent back to their homes to gather some belongings.
While they were walking down the street, they were surrounded
by another group of TNI soldiers who accused them of being
pro-independence fighters.
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