Clearly much remains to be done to achieve genuine peace, justice and democracy in East Timor, and ETAN activists in the U.S. continue to support these struggles. Through the vigilance of ETAN grassroots activists, friends in East Timor, and sympathetic members of Congress, we secured important provisions in the annually renewed Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2001 . The FY 2001 bill maintains last year's restrictions on virtually all military ties between the U.S. and Indonesia. Indonesia is far from fulfilling conditions needed to lift the suspension. All deadlines set by Indonesia to disarm the militias have been abandoned despite the less than impressive confiscation or voluntary return of modern weapons.
Violent militias remain in control of many of the East Timorese refugees in West Timor.
In areas where militia control has weakened, repatriation has often increased, demonstrating a direct link between militia intimidation and repatriation. Many returning refugees tell of their money and goods being confiscated by Indonesian soldiers. Regardless of these outrageous abuses, some members of the incoming administration will no doubt try to end the ban or restore forms of military cooperation not explicitly forbidden under current law. We fear an impending humanitarian disaster in West Timor. Few international aid organizations have returned to the Indonesian controlled half of Timor island since their mass evacuation on September 6.