East Timor (Hansard, 11 July 2002)

§ Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2002, Official Report, column 634W on1186W East Timor, whether the unverified reports of Indonesian involvement in East Timor ahead of the invasion of 1975 were obtained from (a) press reports, (b) British diplomats in Indonesia and (c) the Australian embassy in Jakarta. [69031]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
As will be seen when the files are made available shortly, reports such as these the FCO received about Indonesian involvement in East Timor ahead of the invasion of 7 December 1975 came from all three sources referred to by the hon. Member.

§ Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2002, Official Report, column 633W, on East Timor, whether the regular contacts between UK and Australian officials concerning the UN investigation of the deaths of British and other newsmen in East Timor have included discussion of the documentation published by Australia by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in September 2000 on those deaths. [69033]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
Yes.

§ Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2002,Official Report, column 634W, if he will raise with the Indonesian Government the problems that have been experienced by the UN investigation on obtaining access to possible witnesses in Indonesia concerning the deaths of Malcolm Rennie and others in East Timor. [69032]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
Further to my answer of 21 June 2002,Official Report, column 634W, the Government have raised this case with the Indonesian authorities at every appropriate opportunity and will continue to do so.

§ Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received from the former special representative of the UN Secretary-General in East Timor, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, concerning the status of the UN investigation into the deaths of Malcolm Rennie and others; and if he will make a statement. [68933]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
Before he left Dili in May, Sergio Vieira de Mello confirmed that responsibility for the Balibo investigation remains with the Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor. I have since written to his successor Kamalesh Sharma to ask him to ensure that our ambassador in Dili is informed of any further developments with the UN investigation.

§ Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2002, Official Report, column 634W, on East Timor, if the documents on non-intelligence aspects of Balibo case that he plans to release will include the full text of(a) the report to his department of mid-1975 by the Chancery Department of the British Embassy in Jakarta on East Timor's prospects and (b) the covering letter attached thereto sent by the then British Ambassador to Indonesia. [69030]

§ Mr. Mike O'Brien
Yes. The full text of these documents will be released when the files are made available shortly.