Årets mottagare av Nobels fredspris, Jose Ramos Hortas, stöder
plogbillsgruppen Avrustning för Fred. Det här uttalandet gjorde
Hortas efter att ha hört talas om Avrustning för Freds försök
att avrusta delar till Robot 70 system, beställda av Indonesien. Hortas
gav även mycket stöd till Seeds of Hope under rättegången
i Liverpool .
Message from Jose Ramos Horta to the courageous Ploughshares group in
Sweden.
My good friends, I have learned with great pleasure about your courageous
recent action aimed at disarming Robot 70 systems. Continuing Swedish arms
sales to Indonesia are a great inmorality that must be stopped. It is clear
to the government of Sweden that weapons used by the Indonesian Armed Forces
are used not for defense against outside attack, but are targetted mostly
on a defenceless civilian population. This misuse is particularly damaging
in the case of the people of East Timor, subjected to a brutal military
occupation for almost 21 years, which has led to the death over over one
third of the population.
Not so many weeks ago I was in Liverpool, at the trial of the four heroic
members of the Ploughshares movement there. Through their association with
us, our long exchanges of correspondence, and their commitment to the just
cause of the people of East Timor, the ‘Liverpool four’, as they have come
to be known, have become very close and dear to the East Timorese. Being
used to the massive injustices that so often accompany matters related
to the people of East Timor or the noble supporters of our just cause,
I anguished during the sessions in court. I was elated when the four heroines
were pronounced free. It was a triumph for justice.
I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the risks you are
taking to defend what is true and proper. Swedish arms sales to Indonesia,
whatever the name that is used to justify them, are improper and need to
stop. Let us hope that the government of Sweden will remain loyal to well
established Swedish traditions for the promotion of peace and justice in
the world, and continue to uphold the reputation of the Swedish people
as a peaceful nation with a high moral conscience. Clearly a few profits
on the illicit and morally inadmissible sale of weapons to a discredited
dictator, are not worth the cost to Swedish standing.