Ex-Army Chief Is Linked to E. Timor Terror, Asked to Quit Cabinet Post
UNITED NATIONS — Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid called Monday for ex-army chief Gen. Wiranto to “resign at once†from the government after U.N. and Indonesian investigators implicated the military leadership in last year’s campaign of terror in East Timor that left hundreds of people dead.
Wahid, Indonesia’s first democratically elected head of state in 40 years, told reporters in Davos, Switzerland, that Wiranto should “be examined by an internal court,†not an international tribunal, as U.N. investigators called for Monday.
Wiranto headed Indonesia’s military during a bloody rampage that followed an Aug. 30 U.N.-organized referendum in which the people of East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia. He now holds the powerful post of political affairs and security minister.
The U.N. concluded that there was evidence the military supported and directed gangs and militias in an orgy of killing, looting and rape.
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