NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    DILI, NOV 11, 1999 (ZENIT).- In a mass celebrated today for priests and nuns killed in the rampage provoked after last August's referendum on independence, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo called for the establishment of an international tribunal to bring to justice those responsible for the widespread massacres and destruction.

    "They must go before a tribunal," Belo said, "because the crimes that they committed are not acceptable. Justice has not been done."

    The 51 year-old Bishop, co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, spoke in the Dili cathedral before an estimated crowd of 4,000 faithful which overflowed into the surrounding streets.

    Belo mentioned that up to 1,000 people had been killed in the town of Suai, where dozens were allegedly killed while seeking refuge in the local church.

    According to reports by the Associated Press, "International peacekeepers have found more than 100 bodies since their arrival on Sept. 20, but admit that tens of thousands of people have not yet been accounted for."

    In fact, eyewitnesses during the violent rampages that swept the mainly Catholic island in August told how militia members regularly burned dead bodies in order to destroy evidence of the widespread massacres before peacekeeping troops could discover them in mass graves.

    Bishop Belo also called on local and international organizations involved in rebuilding the territory to closely coordinate their efforts in order to restore a "normal life" to its inhabitants as soon as possible. ZE99111123

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