Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency conference report, dated October 1995, contains the proceedings of a conference on ethnic conflict held 30 September to 1 October 1993. The CIA's Geographic Resources Division sponsored it. Academic geographers, anthropologists and US Government officials presented papers on ethnic and territorial conflict in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and South Asia. They also discussed what these conflicts mean for US policy. The document contains no UFO material.
“Anderson”6 pages
C00123268 and cultural distinctions. National borders inevitably A subtext on the Irian border problem is that of East demarcate major ethnic distinctions marked by unique Timor. The world was shocked to learn of the Santa linguistic, religious, and historical traditions. Of Cruz cemetery massacre there in 1991. There is every course there is no reason why the existence of national indication that during the 1975-80 period when Cam- distinctions as demarcated by the borders of neighbor- bodia was wracked by the autogenocidal policies of ing states should necessarily induce conflict. Yet a the Khmer Rouge violations of human rights on an closer look at a few key bordei regions should at least equal scale were underway in East Timor. The armed occasion cause for reflection. Timorese independence movement has been largely quashed. The aspirations, identity, and yearning for Indonesia-Papua New Guinea. Indonesia, fourth- dignity and self-governance of the people of East most-populous nation on earth, presents a generally Timor clearly remain strong. Hopefully the current positive example of national integration in a multieth- international pressure being brought on Indonesia may nic, geographically fragmented state. Indonesian result in a reasonable compromise, perhaps facilitating nationalists in this century have successfully promul- the establishment of the region as an autonomous area gated a national language, wrested independence from within the Indonesian Republic. Administrative prece- an intransigent Dutch metropole, welded a disparate dents for such action-Aceh in northernmost Sumatra, archipelago of 5,000 inhabited islands into a coherent Yogyakarta in central Java-have worked reasonably national entity, and confronted and contained a host of well. If the current military repression continues, rebel regional insurrections and irredentist rebellions. Nev- forces there may in the future successfully regroup. ertheless, several problem regions continue to trouble The case of East Timor is a clear example of selective policymakers in Jakarta. Western interest in human rights abuses (Dunn; 1983). The Indonesian invasion of the area occurred shortly The Indonesian state extends deep into the cultural after the fall of Saigon. Jakarta was concerned that the heartland of Melanesia on the island of New Guinea. leftist Fretilin independence forces would prove to be Here a low-level transnational conflict has festered for a major security risk to the republic. Washington years. The issue is not one of border demarcation. It assisted the Indonesian military with significant relates, more specifically, to the future of the indige- equipment sales-OH-10 Bronco aircraft directed nous Melanesian population of the Indonesian prov- specifically toward the counterinsurgency require- ince of Irian Jaya-population, 1.6 million. This area ments of the Indonesian armed forces in Timor. was not ceded to Indonesia by the Netherlands at the transfer of sovereignty in 1949. Indeed, only after China-Vietnam. The China-Vietnam border wit- Indonesia threatened to invade in 1962 did US pres- nessed a major military conflict in early 1979. The sure and UN administrative machinery facilitate history of Vietnam is essentially that of a relatively Dutch withdrawal in 1963. Since that time the local small country defending national territory against an population has become increasingly marginalized in aggressive colossus to the north. The wars with France Irian urban areas as thousands .of entrepreneurial and the United States are fundamentally subtexts on migrants from central Indonesia have poured into the the unique cultural and politicomilitary relationship resource-rich province. The languages and cultures of between China and Vietnam. Because both states are the indigenous population are distinct from those of currently ideologically consistent, ancient animosities central Indonesia. Rebel forces have frequently found and contemporary trade and territorial disputes-the refuge across the border in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Spratly and Paracel Islands-most probably will Both Indonesia ahd the PNG national government remain muted in the near future. Chinese military have worked hard to minimize border incidents. Still, expansion and internal armament procurement are of this border area could pose serious problems in the concern throughout Southeast Asia. This is particu- future, problems that arise from fundamentally dis- larly true in Vietnam, where disputes over the South tinct perceptions of interest of the indigenous Irianese China Sea islands have broken out in fierce, if abbre- population on the one hand and the government in far- viated, conflict in the recent past. off Jakarta on the other. 123
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 205 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.