The senior Indonesian generals thought to be responsible for masterminding last year's violence in East Timor are likely to escape prosecution after their names were omitted from a provisional list of 19 suspects issued by government investigators yesterday.
The leading investigator, Mr Muhammad Abdul Rachman, said the fact that the list did not name Gen Wiranto, who was armed forces commander last year, Gen Faisal Tanjung, the then security minister, and Major-Gen Zacky Anwar, the intelligence chief for East Timor, "did not close the possibility that they could be named later".
However, his tone suggested that neither they nor senior militia commanders, who carried out much of the killing but were also not on the list, would ever become suspects.
The nine-month campaign of army-backed militia violence in East Timor led to the murder of more than 1,000 people and the destruction of the vast majority of buildings in the territory.
Western diplomats in Jakarta described the generals' omission as "depressing" and "all very predictable".
The East Timorese leader, Mr Jose Ramos Horta, said it was "absolutely unacceptable" and that the United Nations now had no option but to insist on an international war crimes tribunal along the lines of those convened for Bosnia and Rwanda.
Those named yesterday included three low-ranking generals: the regional military commander, Maj-Gen Adam Damiri; the East Timor army commander for much of last year, Brig-Gen Tono Suratman; and the East Timor police chief, Brig-Gen Timbul Silaen.
The government investigation examined five specific incidents: the death of Financial Times journalist Sander Thoenes; the massacres at churches in the towns of Liquica and Suai; and the attack on the homes of the Nobel peace laureate Bishop Carlos Belo and the prominent pro-independence campaigner Mr Manuel Carascalao.
The UN administrator in East Timor, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, said the list "did not meet international expectations". But after a meeting with the Indonesian president, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, he said: "Although the glass is only half full at the moment, we hope it will be filled later."
In January a team from Indonesia's human rights commission completed an initial investigation into the atrocities for the government. They recommended that 33 people, including Gen Wiranto, Gen Tanjung, Maj-Gen Anwar and the militia leader Eurico Guterres should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.