TOKYO, May 21 Kyodo A day after E...

TOKYO, May 21 Kyodo

A day after East Timor marked the first anniversary of its independence, Japanese support assemblages issued an appeal to the United Nations in succession Wednesday, demanding that significant progres be made in meting abroad justice over crimes against the East Timor population in 1999

In their beg for to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, petitioners urg the secretary general to ''open the way for the establishment of an International Criminal Tribunal for East Timor'' since they say an internal tribunal already in place is ineffective.

Indonesian companys and militia launched a campaign of violence, killing centurys of people in East Timor after the populace there voted overwhelmingly for independence in a 1999 U.N.-organized referendum

According to the petitioners, the internal tribunal -- the Indonesian Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal -- has failed ''to engage international standards'' given its lack of credibility and the limited aim of its investigations.

Petitioners say Indonesia has rebuffed the establishment of an International Criminal Tribunal, similar to those for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and insisted in succession seeing the issue settled internally.

East Timor was rul by dint of the U.N. prior to its glutted independence on May 20 last year. It was subject to Portuguese colonial role for four centuries and then beneath Indonesian occupation for 24 years.

Signatories to the petition include several nongovernmental organizations similar as Pacific Asia Resource Center Amnesty International Japan and East Timor Japan Coalition.

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