[asia-apec 1215] URGENT FOR WEB SITE- Action Alert: Call World Bank for East Timor

[John M. Miller]

Contact World Bank by August 2

No New Aid to Indonesia Until a Free & Fair Vote in East Timor and
Indonesia's Presidential Election

Call or write the World Bank today. 

Urge the World Bank to withhold the Social Safety Net Adjustment Loan until
after East Timor votes for autonomy or independence. Indonesia should not
be rewarded for refusing to live up to its commitments. Under the May 5 UN
agreement setting up the vote. Indonesia is supposed to stop paramilitary
violence in East Timor, and its officials aren't allowed to campaign. 

Contact (phone or fax are best) 

James Wolfensohn, President, World Bank
1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC  20433
tel: (202) 458-2907 fax: (202) 522-0355

Send copies to:
Jan Piercy, Executive Director for the U.S. to the World Bank
1818 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20433
Tel:  202-458-0110, Fax: 202-477-2967
email: jpiercy at worldbank.org

and your congressional Representative and Senators (For a current list of
congressional e-mail addresses, office and fax numbers, try
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ or http://www.congress.org )

Your calls and faxes do make a difference.

BACKGROUND
The World Bank may soon decide to release $300 million of a planned $600
million Social Safety Net Adjustment Loan (SSNAL) to Indonesia. Indonesia
could announce that its met some 10 of 25 required conditions to release
the loan as early as Monday, August 2.  The World Bank could release the
currently suspended money soon after that. 

According to a coalition of over 400 Indonesian and East Timorese
organizations, there is evidence of significant abuses of Social Safety Net
Funds in East Timor, "most of which are connected to the pro-integration
campaigns and the support of pro-integration militias who are proven actors
of terror and intimidation towards the East Timorese population."  

Releasing these funds now would certainly send the wrong signal to
Indonesia. The World Bank must make clear that aid to Indonesia is
contingent on a free and fair UN ballot in East Timor and peaceful
transition to East Timor's new political status. 

The Indonesian and East Timorese groups say that without donor commitment
to the rights of the East Timorese people, "millions of dollars of SSN
funds, its implementors and its donors will be directly linked with the
terrible violations of human rights in East Timor." The World Bank placed a
hold on $600 million in SSNALs to Indonesia -- after approving them in May
-- due to concerns about past abuses of SSNAL funds and fears about their
misuse during Indonesia's elections. Indonesia has a history of misusing
international funds to influence elections. 

Indonesian activists requested that the funds be blocked until the
establishment of a new government, but the World Bank only agreed to block
the funds until the first stage of the June 7 national Indonesian election.
The bank listed 25 problems (Complaints) with the SSNAL programs. Indonesia
is supposed to fix 10 of them to get half the funds. One of these involved
a threat by the Bupati (district head) of Ambeno to withhold poverty aid
from villages who failed to attend meetings promoting autonomy for East
Timor. Indonesia says they have satisfactorily addressed 10 Complaints and
should now get the money. Clearly, they haven't addressed the Complaint
pertaining to Ambeno, nor considered many other potential complaints
concerning still-occupied East Timor.

On July 17, ETAN urged the World Bank and other donors to postpone any aid
until after East Timor votes. "Pledging further financial assistance to
Indonesia at this time would send an entirely wrong message to Jakarta,
which has failed to stop military-supported paramilitary terror in East
Timor, despite its commitments under the May 5 UN agreements," said Lynn
Fredriksson, ETAN's Washington Representative in a press release.
(http://www.etan.org/news/news99b/postpone.htm).

In June, ETAN urged the World Bank to continue to withhold Social Safety
Net Funds (SSNF) for Indonesia due to evidence that these funds are being
misused in East Timor. Leaked local government documents from East Timor
show that SSNF were approved to pay civil defense units (CDUs), some of
which incorporate paramilitary militias whose violent activities threaten
to derail the August vote on the territory's political status. One of the
regencies filing these documents was Ambeno, already named in one of the 25
World
Bank Complaints. ETAN called for an audit of any bank funds used to date in
East Timor. The World Bank has yet to respond to that request, but has
since pulled its personnel from East Timor due to concerns about their
security. (http://www.etan.org/news/news99b/worldbnk.htm)

For more information contact:
East Timor Action Network
Washington Office
110 Maryland Avenue NE #30
Washington, DC 20002
202-544-6911; 202-544-6118 (fax)
etandc at igc.apc.org

or

John M. Miller
Media & Outreach Coordinator, East Timor Action Network
PO Box 150753, Brooklyn, NY 11215-0753 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668   Fax: (718)222-4097
etan-outreach at igc.apc.org