SECRETARY-GENERAL DEEPLY SHOCKED TO LEARN OF MURDER IN EAST TIMOR OF SANDER THOENES

Press Release
SG/SM/7143

SECRETARY-GENERAL DEEPLY SHOCKED TO LEARN OF MURDER IN EAST TIMOR OF SANDER THOENES

The following was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary- General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General was deeply shocked to learn this morning of the murder, in East Timor, of Sander Thoenes, an outstanding young journalist whose reports from Indonesia he, and the whole international community, have for several years been reading with pleasure and profit.

This tragic and unnecessary death is only the latest in the chronicle of horror and bloodshed to which the people of East Timor themselves have been subjected in recent months. But it is, so far as the United Nations is aware, the first time that a foreign journalist has been killed in East Timor since 1975. Thus one more category is added to the list of innocent civilians who have fallen victim, in unknown numbers, to the inexcusable and senseless violence in that territory.

Mr. Thoenes died in the act of seeking the truth about the calamity that has been inflicted on East Timor. As other journalists in East Timor -- and in too many other parts of the world -- continue to do, he faced danger from those who wish to hide the truth of the existence of their crimes. It is largely thanks to the courage and determination of men and women like him that these horrors and their perpetrators are brought to the attention of the world's conscience. Without their commitment to tell a story like that of East Timor as urgently and clearly as possible the mission of the United Nations would be infinitely more difficult.

His death also underscores the dangers facing the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) in restoring peace and security, and the urgency of obtaining access for humanitarian relief to reach the population which -- whether inside East Timor or forcibly displaced to West Timor -- remains in dire need.

The Secretary-General understands that INTERFET and the Indonesian military have pledged to hold a thorough joint investigation into the murder of Mr. Thoenes. He awaits the outcome of this investigation and hopes that those responsible for this and other violent acts in East Timor will be held accountable for their actions.

He extends his deepest sympathy to Mr. Thoenes' family in their bereavement.

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