An Australian army intelligence officer has accused the Australian government of failing to act on warnings that could have prevented one of the worst massacres by East Timor militias in 1999.
Capt Andrew Plunkett also claimed the government hushed up evidence of atrocities by the Indonesian military and its militia allies and that Australian soldiers were ordered to understate the death toll.
He told the Sydney Morning Heraldand SBStelevision today Canberra failed to act on intelligence which could have prevented the massacre of 47 civilians at a police station in Maliana on September 8th, 1999.
His claims were backed by former Australian Federal Police officer Mr Wayne Sievers, who served in East Timor in the lead-up to its self-rule ballot in late August.
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He said Australian sources had accurately reported on Indonesian plans to kill independence supporters in Maliana.
But their reports were "pushed up the chain of command, hosed down and political wordsmithed by the Asia division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade," he said.
Capt Plunkett, now on convalescent leave for post-traumatic stress following his Timor mission, said the information was "held" at the department instead of being passed to UN observers who could have warned the population.
Survivors later told investigators the area was surrounded by militia, with Indonesian police and soldiers forming an outer ring. The militia then moved in and hacked to death 47 independence supporters with machetes and 12 others who escaped were caught and killed by the military.
AFP