EAST TIMOR: CARLOS BELO CLAIMS 25 KILLED IN MASSACRE

(7 Apr 1999) Eng/Indonesian
East Timor's spiritual leader Carlos Belo claims that at least 25 people were killed on Tuesday in a massacre by anti-independence militia fighters backed by the Indonesian army.
The slayings have cast a shadow over plans by the United Nations to hold a July ballot for East Timor's people on whether to remain part of Indonesia as an autonomous state or to break away altogether.
The attack on Tuesday was one of the worst since Indonesian soldiers fired on separatist protesters at a cemetery in Dili in 1991, killing at least 50.
Among the 25 dead on Tuesday were civilians who had taken shelter in a church and an adjacent priest's home after days of communal violence in and around Liquica, about 29 kilometres (18 miles) west of East Timor's capital, Dili.
The Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo said the death toll had been confirmed in a letter from East Timor's military commander, Colonel Tono Suratman, who accompanied him with journalists to Liquica under heavy armed guard on Wednesday.
The 1996 co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize called for calm and demanded that Indonesian President B.J. Habibie investigate Tuesday's violence.
It is the latest in a string of clashes between bitterly divided armed groups either for or against independence from Indonesia, which annexed East Timor as its 27th province in 1976.
Belo also demanded that the international community help prevent more violence in the half-island territory.
The former Portuguese colony has been wracked by guerrilla warfare and human rights abuses since Indonesia invaded in 1975.
Militia members and dozens of troops were seen on the otherwise deserted streets of the town on Wednesday.
Rafael dos Santos, Liquica's parish priest, said hundreds of armed militia gang members fired at terrified villagers cowering in his house and the church.
He said that many civilians were cut down by swords and machetes and that the ground outside the church and inside the adjacent priest's house was splattered with blood.
SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian)
"The militia threw tear gas into the house to make people run out with their hands covering their eyes. When the came out the militia hit them with swords".
SUPER CAPTION: Rafael dos Santos, Liquica's parish priest
In an emotional media conference held after inspecting a bloodied churchyard where Tuesday's killings took place, Belo condemned the violence, saying he was ashamed to be an Indonesian.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I am sad, profoundly sad. The second that seeing that I am seeing, I am ashamed to be a citizen of the Indonesian nation"
SUPER CAPTION: Carlos Belo, Roman Catholic Bishop
Pro-independence activists have accused soldiers of provoking unrest, and any escalation in military operations could exacerbate tensions in the former Portuguese colony.
U-N sponsored talks on a peaceful solution in East Timor had gained momentum in recent months, but escalating violence between factions and militant rhetoric have threatened to undermine the peace process.

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