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International tribunal on E Timor still an option: Annan

JAKARTA: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned on Wednesday that the Security Council would have the right to convene an international war crimes tribunal if those guilty of involvement in the East Timor violence were not tried by Indonesia.

So Indonesia, under the threat of an international war crimes tribunal, vowed to prosecute those responsible for last year's atrocities in East Timor.

Wahid has already been forced to dump former armed forces chief General Wiranto from the cabinet and order an investigation by the attorney-general after a human rights inquiry implicated Wiranto and five other generals in the bloodshed.

"It is important that those who were responsible for the atrocities be brought to justice in order to send a message out that impunity will not be allowed to stand and it will also be a deterrent to those who will be minded to attempt that in the future," Annan told reporters.

He said there would be no need for an international human rights tribunal on East Timor if Indonesia brought those responsible to trial.

"Of course, if that doesn't happen, the Council has a right to revert to it," he said.

Asked about his earlier promise of a pardon if Wiranto faced trial and was convicted, Wahid said: "We will prosecute those involved. And then later the decision would tell us what to do."

He did not elaborate.

Annan would not comment on the possibility of a pardon.

Wiranto, who denies any wrongdoing, led the military when pro-Jakarta militias backed by Indonesian troops went on a systematic campaign of killing and destruction last September after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to throw off Indonesia's rule.

Analysts have said Wahid would be unable to resist domestic and foreign pressure to put Wiranto and other generals on trial, despite likely stiff opposition from hardline elements of the politically powerful armed forces.

But they say his offer of a pardon may help keep the lid on the military already angry at Wahid's push to get them out of politics and back into the barracks.

Annan is on his first visit to Indonesia and he will also fly to East Timor where he has said he would assess what can be done to speed up the U.N. operation there to rebuild the shattered territory.

Calls for independence have mounted elsewhere across the disparate archipelago after East Timor's break-away.

Three civilians in the easternmost province of Irian Jaya were wounded on Wednesday when police fired on a pro-independence rally, residents and hospital officials said.

About 100 people had rallied outside the local radio station in Merauke, 3,800 km east of Jakarta, over an interview in which the incoming local mayor said most Irianese wanted to remain part of Indonesia rather than becoming independent.-AFP/Reuters