Alatas slams Portugal for halting Timor talks<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas slammed
\nPortugal on Tuesday for suspending United Nations-sponsored
\nnegotiations over the future of East Timor based on
\nunsubstantiated reports of a massacre in the territory.<\/p>\n
Such an attitude raised questions about Portugal's sincereity
\nin finding a peaceful settlement to the conflict in East Timor
\nthrough the tripartite dialog, Alatas told reporters.<\/p>\n
He recalled that this was the third time Lisbon has suspended
\nthe UN negotiations since 1983. The previous instances were in
\n1986 and 1991.<\/p>\n
Alatas said that media reports suggesting that dozens of
\ncivilians had been killed during a military operation in the
\nsouthern district of Alas were totally groundless.<\/p>\n
Reports from the East Timor Military Command said that only
\nfive people had been killed in the area -- three members of the
\nAlas Military District Command, a civilian employee of the
\ncommand and a local village chief.<\/p>\n
Alatas said he had verified the report with the Jakarta and
\nDili representative offices of the International Committee for
\nthe Red Cross, which has been given unimpeded access to visit
\nAlas. Neither could substantiate claims of killings and burning.<\/p>\n
He contradicted foreign press reports which quoted former East
\nTimor Governor Mario Viegas Carrascalao as saying that up to 42
\npeople had been killed in the Alas incident.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know where he got that figure from,\" Alatas said.<\/p>\n
Carrascalao, who now sits on the Supreme Advisory Council,
\ncould not be reached for comment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Alatas said he had ordered the Indonesian delegation to the
\nUN-sponsored talks to express regret at Portugal's unilateral
\ndecision to suspend the negotiations based on flimsy and
\nunsubstantiated reports.<\/p>\n
Given its past record, Portugal appeared to be jumping at
\nevery chance it had to stop the process, \"as if they had no
\nintention of resolving this issue\", he said, adding that
\nIndonesia was prepared to resume the talks at any time.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Portugal ordered its delegation to the United
\nNations to halt further talks pending clarification of the
\nreported massacre. The United Nations special representative on
\nEast Timor, Jamsheed Marker, was expected to rule on the fate of
\nthe talks later on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The meeting had been discussing an Indonesian proposal to give
\nEast Timor a special status granting it wide-ranging autonomy.
\nIndonesia said this would represent a compromise solution between
\nthose who want an independent state and those who insist that
\nEast Timor should remain integrated with Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The incident in Alas was sparked by an attack launched on the
\nlocal military command by a group of separatist rebels on Nov. 9.
\nThree soldiers and a civilian employee of the command were killed
\nand 14 soldiers were taken hostage by the rebels. The rebels also
\nmade off with ammunition seized from the command's arsenal.<\/p>\n
All the soldiers killed were reportedly East Timorese
\nrecruits.<\/p>\n
Clashes broke out between relatives of the victims and local
\npeople related to the rebels. Several houses were burned down in
\nthe ensuing fracas.<\/p>\n
Later on, when the military sent reinforcements to the area to
\nsecure the release of the kidnapped soldiers, many local
\nresidents fled the area along with the rebels.<\/p>\n
The military subsequently secured the release of all but two
\nof the kidnapped soldiers and arrested seven people suspected of
\nan involvement in the Nov. 9 attack. A village chief was killed
\nduring contacts with rebels in the jungle.<\/p>\n
Those arrested are now in police custody.<\/p>\n
Around 140 displaced people sought refuge at a local school
\nand a church. The reports of a \"massacre\" also prompted strong
\nreactions elsewhere.<\/p>\n
In Dili, thousands of students staged a demonstration outside
\nthe East Timor legislative council on Monday to demand a thorough
\ninvestigation of the incident.<\/p>\n
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin
\nsaid: \"We are disturbed at reports of renewed violence in East
\nTimor.<\/p>\n
\"We call on all sides to refrain from violence and to take all
\nmeasures necessary to ensure that civilians are not mistreated or
\ndenied access to necessities,\" he said as reported by Reuters.<\/p>\n
\"There have been credible reports of civilian deaths in the
\nmilitary sweep, but we do not have confirmed numbers,\" he added.
\n(emb)<\/p>",
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