Wiranto defiant

Jakarta

The man who commanded Indonesia’s military during the bloody 1999 separatist conflict in East Timor declared his candidacy for president this week. Gen. Wiranto was indicted two months ago by a U.N.-backed tribunal for war crimes relating to the conflict, in which East Timor achieved independence with U.N. help. Soldiers and paramilitaries loyal to Wiranto killed some 1,500 Timorese in violent ethnic-cleansing raids. But Indonesia has said it will not cooperate with the U.N. court or extradite any suspects. With the country’s human rights leader, Solahuddin Wahid, as his running mate, Wiranto has declared a platform of opposition to foreign intervention in Indonesian affairs.

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