In early November, the Indonesian Parliament passed a human rights act that would, for the first time in the nation’s history, empower the courts to prosecute members of the military for human rights abuses and crimes of war. More recently, the Parliament acted to establish an ad hoc court to hear the East Timor cases, but Wahid has yet to ratify that action, and no one is sure that he will. So the progress, while real, is effectively slight.

Without an international tribunal or cooperation from the Indonesian government to create a domestic tribunal, the struggling nation of East Timor is left to pursue justice on its own. For its part, UNTAET is trying desperately to uncover some sense of accountability within the confines of the island nation. Thus far, it has managed to establish the beginnings of a national court system in East Timor and, in early February, an East Timor court handed down its first indictment for a crime committed during the ballot violence, sentencing an East Timorese man to 12 years for murder. However, because the perpetrator was such a "small fish," the trial served to highlight UNTAET’s limitations in facilitating justice.

Since UNTAET has no jurisdiction beyond East Timor’s border, it is all but powerless to pursue justice for the crimes of last year. On paper, the United Nations and Indonesia have agreed to share evidence and to facilitate extraditions, but it is extremely unlikely that Indonesia would relinquish a military officer or militia leader to UNTAET or to an independent East Timor. In fact, in October UNTAET made a formal request for the Indonesian government to extradite Guterres after the militia leader was arrested on the weapons charge. The request was promptly denied. And, in December, when a team of UN investigators arrived in Indonesia to interview military witnesses, it received a less than warm welcome, with a group of protesters attacking one of their cars. "We will never hand over our soldiers for questioning conducted in the interests of UNTAET,’’ declared Deputy Army Chief of Staff Kiki Syahnakrie during the UN visit.

Given that the United Nations continues to balk at its own investigators’ calls for an international tribunal and that there is little, if any, reason to lend credence to Indonesia’s assurances, East Timor will face not only certain hardship but, in all likelihood, the continued withholding of justice. "As long as the men who killed my brother remain unpunished on the other side of the border," Julio Martins Riverio says softly, " I will feel like my heart is broken. But if they come back and respond to what they have done — why and how they did it — my heart will be able to mend a little."