Red Cross to help East Timorese asylum seekers<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The International Committee of the Red Cross
\n(ICRC) joined in negotiations yesterday to prepare to send five
\nEast Timorese asylum seekers to Portugal.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security
\nSoesilo Soedarman confirmed that the ICRC representative office
\nhere will assist the passage out for the Timorese youths, who
\nhave been holed up at the British embassy since Monday.<\/p>\n
\"Let them go abroad,\" Soesilo said, as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
He added that the five are not on any of the police's \"wanted
\nlists\" and therefore there was no reason for the government to
\ntry to prevent them from leaving.<\/p>\n
The five men are Joaquim Alim, 24, Nelson Turquel, 22, Egas
\nSoares, 25, Antonio Sequira, 24 and T.J. Timoteo, 23. They walked
\ninto the British embassy on Monday and then asked for asylum.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday the Portuguese government formally offered to
\naccept the five East Timorese and London accepted the offer.<\/p>\n
British Embassy Second Secretary John Virgoe told reporters
\nyesterday that the five East Timorese had \"gladly\" accepted the
\noffer to go to Portugal.<\/p>\n
\"You can't meet them,\" Virgoe told reporters. \"They are in
\nfine condition. Now we're arranging for their departure.\"<\/p>\n
The head of the ICRC mission in Jakarta, Henri Fournier,
\nvisited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday to discuss the
\npreparations.<\/p>\n
The five men could be on their way to Portugal by the end of
\nthe week, Fournier said, adding that it would take between 24 and
\n48 hours to organize their departures. \"We are working on the
\npossibility that these people will be out of here by the end of
\nthe week,\" he told Reuters.<\/p>\n
\"I've been officially approached by the British government to
\nhelp solve this small crisis at the embassy and the British
\ncontact with me has been welcomed by the Indonesian authorities,\"
\nhe said. \"There has been confirmation by the authorities that
\nthere is no intention to prevent it from being done,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Denial<\/p>\n
Officials in Jakarta and the East Timor capital Dili denied
\ncategorically the claims of the asylum seekers that they had been
\npersecuted by the authorities for engaging in \"clandestine\"
\nactivities.<\/p>\n
East Timor Police Chief Col. Andreas Sugianto was quoted by
\nAntara as saying yesterday that the five men did indeed take part
\nin the anti-government demonstration in Dili in November 1991.<\/p>\n
But none of them were arrested, let alone put on the wanted
\nlist, Andreas said, adding that the five men were known to be
\nunemployed.<\/p>\n
The police chief also said that the five men took part in the
\nrioting that saw the torching of the Comoro market early this
\nmonth. He added, however, that police had already arrested the
\nseven main culprits in the arson attack.<\/p>\n
Andreas said that the five asylum seekers were probably
\nhaunted by the fear that they, too, would be arrested, as their
\nseven colleagues had been.<\/p>\n
The chief of the East Timor military command, Col. Mahidin
\nSimbolon, said that because the five men are not on the wanted
\nlist, there is no point in stopping them from leaving.<\/p>\n
If they wanted to return to East Timor they would be treated
\nlike all other citizens, Simbolon told Antara.<\/p>\n
The incident is the third time since July 1993 that East
\nTimorese have sought asylum through an embassy in Jakarta. Last
\nNovember, 29 youths scaled the U.S. embassy fence during a visit
\nby President Bill Clinton, diverting attention from a summit of
\nAsia-Pacific leaders. (03\/emb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/red-cross-to-help-east-timorese-asylum-seekers-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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