A political and humanitarian calamity is happening in East Timor before the eyes of the world and there is little the international community can do immediately about it. It is a damning indictment, a betrayal of the trust its people put in the United Nations, which undertook last May to oversee the referendum on independence but irresponsibly agreed to endorse the Indonesian armed forces' security role in the territory. Those forces are now overseeing wanton massacres and destruction and trying to drive out the eyes and ears of the world so that they may attack supporters of independence with impunity. They must be stopped with whatever means are available to bring pressure on the Indonesian government.
The many calls made yesterday for a UN intervention force are formally valid and correct but belated and unrealistic as a means of preventing the mortal danger facing thousands of people in East Timor. It would take weeks to assemble a force and it is not clear that the Indonesian government would agree to let it in. Without that permission Australia would not countenance intervention and China would impose a veto. So far the United States and other major powers have not indicated their willingness to support such a force. The crisis demands rather outright political denunciation by those with most influence in Jakarta, coupled with an immediate freeze in aid programmes for economic reconstruction. Such means would bring it home to even the most cynical Indonesian minister or general that the action under way in East Timor is utterly unacceptable.
Such sanctions must be threatened and applied at the highest levels. There is an opportunity to put them into action at this week's meeting of leaders of the Asia-Pacific region at their summit in New Zealand. Anything short of that would make a mockery of the United Nations and its mandate to oversee the referendum on independence. This had the endorsement of the Indonesian government, which is now trying to subvert the result by threatening the lives of thousands of people. The credibility of the international organisation and its process of decision-making is put altogether on the line by these events.
If severe political and economic pressure is successfully applied on the Indonesian government it would have to change its position on an international peacekeeping or peacemaking force to oversee the political transition in East Timor. That would ease the difficulty facing regional governments unwilling to act without its permission. Nonetheless the pressure for a regional coalition of those willing to participate in such a force is an important and positive factor.
The East Timor story has struck a deep chord with the Irish public as a result of an extraordinary solidarity and information campaign mounted in recent years by sympathisers here. It was taken up enthusiastically and effectively by successive governments. Mr David Andrews has made the most of this political and moral authority with his denunciation of these crimes against humanity and his interventions with UN, US, EU, and Asian leaders yesterday. Outspoken voices can make a difference and this is an occasion when they are most needed.