East Timor and Indonesia express regret

Indonesia and East Timor expressed deep regret for violence surrounding Dili’s 1999 independence vote after a joint probe blamed state institutions for “gross human rights violations”.

The report by the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) went further than many had expected in blaming Indonesian security forces, although Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stopped short of an apology.

The two governments set up the CTF in 2005 to look into the violence, during which the UN estimates about 1,000 East Timorese died, but it has no power to prosecute, prompting criticism that it only serves to whitewash atrocities.