Monday, September 13,1999 Page 2
U.N. to aid devastated Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Under intense
international pressure, Indonesia announced
Sunday it would allow an international peacekeep
ing force to restore order to the devastated territory
of East Timor.
It was unclear what type of force would be sent
to the territory, and how soon it would arrive.
Until now, Jakarta - and particularly its hard
line military - had defiantly refused to permit out
side forces into the former Portuguese colony,
insisting as late as Saturday night that it could quell
the violence itself.
That stance crumpled under pressure from gov
ernments around the world horrified by the slaugh
ter sweeping East Timor.
In a national television address, President B.J.
Habibie said he wanted to end the crisis that began
Aug. 30, when East Timor voted to become inde
pendent from Indonesia. That kicked off rampages
by pro-Indonesian militias and Indonesian troops
that have killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
East Timorese.
“Too many people have lost their lives since the
beginning of die unrest - lost their homes and secu
rity. We can wait no longer. We have to stop the suf
fering and the mourning immediately,” Habibie
said.
Indonesia’s troops had tried to stop the violence,
but had been affected by psychological problems in
dealing with a “very complex problem,” he said.
Global leaders applauded the decision, which
came a day after 50 U.N. ambassadors condemned
Indonesia for letting East Timor slide into anarchy.
“This is a very positive development and repre
sents a stepping back from the brink for Indonesia,”
said Sandy Berger, the U.S. national security advis
er.i
Indonesia has not made clear whether it wants
an official U.N. peacekeeping force, or whether it
wduld accept an international force sent to East
Timor with the. blessing of the U.N. Security
Council.
Recruiting and deploying a U.N. peacekeeping
force usually takes several months, but an interna
tional force could deploy as soon as the Security
Council gives the authorization.
The force is expectedto include soldiers from
Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, France,
Thailand and the Philippines. In addition, Canada
said Sunday it will send between 500 and 600
troops. The United States has offered mainly logis
tical support.
Habibie made his announcement Sunday after
he talked by telephone with U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan. He said he would immediately dis
patch Foreign Minister Ali Alatas to the United
Nations to work out the details of the peacekeeping
force. Alatas was to arrive today.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 as it was
gaining independence from Portugal. Indonesia has
We can wait no longer. We
have to stop the suffering
and the mourning
immediatelyf
B^F. Habibie
Indonesian president
' ' - • ?
been accused ofhuman rights abusesin suppressing
independence efforts since th?n.
Habibie agreed in May to allow a U.N.-super
vised vote on independence in the territory.
However, the recent bloodshed started after
78.5 percent of East Timorese voted to break away
from Indonesia in the ballot. Aid agencies estimate
that between 600 and 7,000 people have been killed
and as many as 300,000 have fled their homes.
A priority for the peacekeepers wilLbe the dis
armament of anti-independence militias and sepa
ratist guerrillas. It threatens to be difficult and dan
gerous work. Anti-independence leaders have
accused the United Nations of rigging the indepen
dence vote and have threatened to shoot foreign
troops.
Buchanan leaning
toward third party
WASHINGTON (AP) - GOP
presidential contender Pat Buchanan
came closer Sunday to quitting the
Republican race and campaign for
the Reform Party’s nomination.
“The door really is wide open,”
Buchanan said. “We are very close to
making that decision.”
The (Reform Party’s Jesse
Ventura, Minnesota’s governor, dis
counted suggestions the party should
nominate Buchanan for president.
Ventura has said the party, found
ed by Ross Perot, is based on conser
vative economic principles, not
Buchanan’s social conservatism on
abortion and other issues.
As recently as Friday, the Capitol
Hill newspaper The Hill published an
interview in which the governor
ruled out “a retread from another
campaign or another party” as the
Reform Party’s candidate.
But Buchanan, appearing on
NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said his sis
ter and campaign adviser, Bay
Buchanan, is “talking... to people in
j the Reform Party” for him.
“We are taking a hard look at
leaving the Republican nomination
run and running for the Reform Party
nomination,” Buchanan said. “The
decision has not been made yet... but
I tell you honestly we are leaning in
that direction right now.”
A telephone call to the party
chairman-elect, Jack Gargan of
Cedar Key, Fla., went unanswered
Sunday.
Buchanan said he is being
swayed by die belief that “my party at
the national level has become a
Xerox copy, basically, of the
Democratic Party.... I think what we
have is a one-party system in
Washington that is masquerading as
a two-party system, and I think what
we need is a real opposition party.”
The idea of a third-party candida
cy by Buchanan is making the
Republican front-runner, Texas Gov.
George W. Bush, nervous, Time
magazine reported in its issue on
newsstands today.
It said a private poll conducted by
Frank Luntz, a GOP consultant,
found Buchanan would win 6 per
cent of the vote in a three-way contest
with Bush and Vice President A1
Gore, leader for the Democratic
nomination. Two-thirds of the
Buchanan vote, the poll indicated,
would come from Bush supporters.
Last week, Bush aides discussed
“how to make Buchanan feel wanted
in the GOP” and a senior Bush advis
er told Time: “We’re surrounding
him with love.”
I
ASK ror me appropriate section editor at (402) 472-2588
ore-maildn@uni.edu.
during the academic year; woek^dunngj^g.sumg^^&e^KDns.The public has access
Readers are encouraged to submit stor^ idep and comments to the Daily Nebraskan
Postm^t|. plr^i^Sfeidffi^oln!^^0’ 14°°
i ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1999
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editor: Josh Funk
Managing Editor: Sarah Baker
Associate News Editor: Lindsay Young
Associate News Editor: Jessica Faigen
Opinion Editor: Mark Baldridge
Sports Editor: Dave Wilson
A&E Editor: Liza Holtmeier
Copy Desk Chief: Diane Broderick
Photo Chief: MattMiller
Design Chief: Melanie Falk
Art Director: Matt Haney
Web Editor: Gregg Steams
Asst. Web Editor: Jennifer Walker
General Manager: Daniel Shattil
Publications Board Jessica Hofmann,
Chairwoman: (402)477-0527
Professional Adviser: Don Walton,
(402)473-7248
Advertising Manager: Nick Partsch,
(402)472-2589
Asst. Ad Manager: Jamie Yeager
Classifi&l Ad Manager: Mary Johnson
Probe into Waco
siege broadens
t
■ GOP wants to find who
is responsible and works
for Reno’s ouster.
WASHINGTON (AP) - GOP law
makers angered by the Justice
Department’s failure to produce crucial
documents, promised Sunday a broad
er investigation of the 1993 Waco
siege.
Top Republicans continued to
press for Attorney General Janet
Reno’s ouster while the administration
pledged its support
Meanwhile, former Sen. John
Danforth, the Missouri Republican
appointed by Reno to lead the indepen
dent investigation, said he would try to
avoid a political inquiry.
The chairman of a House
Government Affairs Committee,
which will review the government’s
role in Waco, said Danforth will look
for possible criminal activity while
“we’re going to be taking a broader
look.”
“We need to find out who’s respon
sible,” Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., said
on “Fox News Sunday.” “We don’t
want people in charge of things like
Waco if they’re not doing their job
properly.”
Danforth, appearing on five
Sunday news programs, saidhis inves
tigation would have a narrow focus and
seek to avoid politics.
Asked about lessons learned from
Kenneth Starr’s investigations of the
Clintons, Danforth said “this cannot be
absolutely open-ended where one issue
sort of morphs into another issue .”
He said he would work with
Congress, but “what I would like to do
is to wait until the very end to issue a
report and not have a running commen
tary between now and then.”
Last week, Reno asked Danforth to
determine whether there was a Cover
up and the government was involved in
die killings..
The renewed criticism *of the
Justice Department and Reno was
prompted by the? news that an FBI
report the department turned over to
Congress years ago lacked one page
that mentioned the use of military-style
incendiary tear gas against the religious
cult
A department spokesman has said
the key page was given to lawyers in
criminal and civil cases involving
Waco survivors, and the special coun
sel will have to look into why it never
reached Congress*
Burton, in a letter to Reno made
public Sunday, said the omission of the
critical page “raises more questions
about whether this committee was
intentionally misled during the original
Waco investigation.”
Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli
of New Jersey, who has suggested
Reno stepdbwn because of issues other
than Waco, said someone must be held
accountable for department missteps.
“There’s so little confidence in die
administration and Justice
Department,” he said.
But the White House remains con
fident Reno can do her job, said John
Podesta, President Clinton’s chief of
staff.
Reno was asked Sunday by Burton
to provide interviews this week with
three Justice officials, including attor
ney James G. Touhey, Jr. Earlier this
month, Touhey wrote a memo detailing
his discovery that some copies of the
49-page FBI lab report, including the
copy sent to Congress, did not include
the last page, which mentioned the use
of military rounds.
in apartment explosion
MOSCOW (AP) - A Chechen
warlord denied Sunday that the
Islamic militants he commands were
responsible for an explosion that
rocked a Moscow apartment building
Thursday, killing scores of people.
Several officials have linked the
blast to fighting in the southern
Russian republic of Dagestan, where
government troops are battling
Islamic rebels who have occupied
several villages.
“We had nothing to do with the
explosion in Moscow. We will never
kill civilians. This is not our style,”
Shamil Basayev, a former Chechen
field commander, told The Associated
Press.
✓
Central Bahamas prepares
for brush with hurricane
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -
Storm-weary residents in the
Bahamas braced for a brush with
Hurricane Floyd as it swelled and
powered up to a major storm packing
120 mph winds on Sunday.
Forecasters said the hurricane
would approach the central Bahamas,
the same area blasted by Hurricane
Dennis in August.
Meteorologists said the storm was
unlikely to hit land before Tuesday
and posed no immediate threat to the
mainland United States. Still, they
recommended people along the
southeast coast monitor the storm’s
course.
■ New Zealand
Asia, Pacific leaders ask
when millennium will begin
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP)
- Asian and Pacific heads of state
began their first full session of meet
ings Sunday by tackling a profound
philosophical question: when to cele
brate the new millennium.
White House spokesman Joe
Lockhart, briefing reporters after
ward, said a lively discussion ensued
over whether the celebration should
come on Jan. 1,2000-or a year later.
Calendar purists contend that the
21st century does not begin until Jan.
1,2001. But politicians are seldom
known for embracing purism.
“After some discussion, I think the
leaders came to the conclusion that
since their public, td which they all
like to be attuned, will be celebrating
in 2000, they will start celebrating in
2000,” Lockhart said.
- • -• -
■ ^
Explosion leaves at least
five dead, dozens missing
MOSCOW (AP) - An explosion
4estroyed an apartment building
early today in Moscow, killing at
least five people and leaving dozens
of residents missing and unaccount
ed for.
The pre-dawn blast wrecked an
eight-story apartment building in the
southern district of Moscow, just four
days after an explosion shattered a
similar building in the Russian capi
tal. The blasts were in areas about
four miles apart.
Police said at least five people,
four adults and a child, were killed in
the blast, which they suspected was
caused by a bomb. The Interfax News
Agency said eight bodies had been
pulled from the wreckage.
