UN order fuels cover-up claim
By Rob Taylor And Olivia Rondonuwu
THE United Nations has ordered staff in East Timor not to co-operate with Australian Federal Police investigating the massacre of 12 unarmed Timorese officers by renegade soldiers, prompting allegations of a cover-up.
An email from the UN's deputy representative in Timor, Pakistani General Anis Bajwa, had been circulated to all staff, including employees evacuated to Australia, directing them not to assist AFP detectives investigating the worst atrocity since the violence of 1999.
A copy of the email had been passed to Australia's Embassy in Dili, outraged diplomats and AFP sources confirmed to AAP.
Earlier today the UN denied the email existed, but UN spokesman Bob Sullivan tonight contacted AAP and admitted a directive had been sent out in an email to all staff.
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"We made a mistake here," he said. "An email instruction was sent out telling staff to wait for the start of the official investigation.
"We said any comment before that would have to be cleared."
But the UN was willing to cooperate when eventually asked to by the East Timor government, Mr Sullivan said.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer yesterday met senior UN officials and East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao to urge full co-operation with the investigation into the murders, which took place on May 25 outside the UN police headquarters.
Mr Downer urged the need for a "thorough investigation" by the AFP.
A senior adviser to East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta today told AAP his country's government had pledged a full investigation, handing the job to the AFP to ensure no-one interfered or hid any facts.
The massacre of the East Timorese officers occurred after renegade soldiers opened fire on the police as they left their headquarters under a truce brokered by the UN's police commander in Dili, Saif Malik, also from Pakistan.
Malik ignored advice that to lead unarmed Timorese police past the guns of the soldiers would lead to a massacre.
"He was told by all his advisers not to take them out there, but he would not listen," sources close to the investigation said.
"He kept insisting the presence of the UN could protect them."
Instead the police were escorted out behind a blue UN flag and got less than 100 metres from their headquarters when two soldiers opened fire, killing 12 officers and wounding at least 20, including UN police protectors from the Philippines.
The soldiers executed several wounded police at point-blank range, firing shotguns into their heads, sources within the AFP said.
"It looks like the UN or Malik or someone wants to bury it all now," one investigator said.
Investigators are studying photographs apparently taken during the shootings.
Junior inspector Felner Cortereal was shot three times but survived the massacre, and was recovering today at Dili's main hospital.
His wife, Madalena Sanches, was shot in the back and stomach, and almost died while being evacuated to Darwin.
Insp Cortereal confirmed UN police assured the terrified Timorese officers they would be safe as they emerged to find three soldiers with "big guns" facing them to the left and right.
"They (the UN) said: 'Just relax, they won't shoot, because we have negotiated with them,"' he said. "They said it had worked in other countries.
"Maybe they believed that principle, but we were not confident."
The death toll could have been even higher, he said, except the soldiers had fired wildly, spraying shots in all directions.
Insp Cortereal said the atrocity should not be pushed aside to protect the UN's reputation.
"For me now, we must get to the roots of this, find out why it happened," he said.
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