Indonesia won't issue visa for Horta: Alatas<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will not issue a visa for self-exiled
\nEast Timor independence leader Jose Ramos-Horta, who planned to
\nvisit and campaign in the troubled territory ahead of the direct
\nballot on Aug. 8, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
Speaking before a Cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha
\npresidential office, Alatas warned the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-
\nlaureate that he would face consequences if he went ahead with
\nhis plan to enter Indonesia without a visa.<\/p>\n
Ramos-Horta, who shared the Nobel prize with Dili Bishop
\nCarlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, said last week that regardless of
\nJakarta's opposition to his visit, he would return to his
\nhomeland next month.<\/p>\n
He vowed to use his right to campaign for independence before
\nthe UN-sponsored direct vote to determine the future of the
\nterritory.<\/p>\n
In what could prove a challenge to Alatas' consistency, former
\npresident of the proindependence Fretilin organization Abilio
\nAraujo, who now favors autonomy, said on Tuesday that he would
\nalso visit Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"My visit to Indonesia is in the interest of a popular
\nconsultation in accordance with the procedure already agreed upon
\nin the latest tripartite meeting,\" Antara quoted Araujo as saying
\nin Lisbon. Araujo, who now chairs the Timorese Third Way Movement
\n(TTWM), said the autonomy package would give \"independence plus\"
\nto the East Timorese.<\/p>\n
\"The East Timorese people must be aware of the adverse
\nconsequences that their option to be independent and secede
\nthemselves from the Republic of Indonesia will entail,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Also on Wednesday, jailed East Timor resistance leader Jose
\nAlexandre \"Xanana\" Gusmao attended a meeting to formulate a code
\nof conduct ahead of the August ballot.<\/p>\n
\"The Commission for Peace and Stability (KPS) and the United
\nNations are under the obligation to formulate a code of conduct
\nwhich will apply in the run-up to the balloting and the period
\nfollowing it,\" Djoko Soegianto, one of the participants, said
\nafter the meeting at the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n
Djoko, who is also a member of the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights, was referring to the commission set up following a
\nmilitary-brokered peace deal in the East Timor capital of Dili on
\nApril 21. He said that Xanana, who is serving a 20-year jail term
\nin a special detention house in Central Jakarta, attended the
\nmeeting as a KPS member.<\/p>\n
The KPS reserves two seats for each of the two rival camps in
\nEast Timor -- the pro and anti-Indonesia groups -- as well as for
\nthe Church, the local administration, the security forces,
\nstudents and several leading NGOs.<\/p>\n
Xanana is president of the Resistance Council of East Timor
\n(CNRT), an umbrella organization for East Timorese
\nproindependence groups.<\/p>\n
Djoko said the meeting, the first in a series to be held in
\nthe coming days, did not discuss disarmament for the two camps
\nahead of the poll.<\/p>\n
\"Basically, there is no problem and both sides are ready (for
\ndisarmament),\" he said.<\/p>\n
Also present were a representative of the pro-Indonesia Forum
\nfor Peace, Democracy and Justice, Domingus Soares, another CNRT
\nmember Leandro Isaac, the special envoy of UN Secretary-General
\nKofi Annan, Tamrat Samuel, and rights organization member
\nKoesparmono Irsan.<\/p>\n
Djoko said the meeting will reconvene on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Violence between the two warring factions in East Timor has
\nbeen on the rise since Jakarta in January said it would let go of
\nthe territory if its people rejected an autonomy offer.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Falintil, CNRT's armed wing, has released the
\npoliceman it abducted last Friday to the United Nations
\nAssessment Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and the International
\nCommittee of the Red Cross (ICRC).<\/p>\n
\"Falintil has turned over Haraka Carlos Pereira Fernandes to
\nthe UNAMET and the ICRC after negotiations,\" provincial police
\nCapt. Widodo said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Reuters reported that the first contingent of a force of
\nabout 280 unarmed United Nations police will leave Australia on
\nSaturday for East Timor. The first force of 39 police, including
\n15 members of the Australian Federal Police, would fly from the
\nnorthern Australian city of Darwin on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
UNAMET, which will cost more than US$50 million, will hire
\nmore than 600 international staff, including 100 UN professional
\nofficers, 141 field officers and 400 regular UN volunteers, as
\nwell as the 272 police and about 50 military liaison officers.<\/p>\n
Another 4,000 East Timorese will be hired to assist the UN's
\noperations.(prb\/byg)<\/p>",
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