UN details on Timor talks still vague<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Officials would not confirm the date nor the
\nvenue scheduled by the United Nations Secretary General's office
\nfor a dialogue that will soon take place between opposing East
\nTimorese factions.<\/p>\n
When asked about the proposed date, the director general of
\ninformation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Irawan Abidin,
\ntold The Jakarta Post on Saturday that nothing had been confirmed
\nyet.<\/p>\n
\"We are now awaiting further communication from our permanent
\nrepresentative in New York,\" he replied, adding that the foreign
\nministry was keeping in close contact with the Secretary General.<\/p>\n
The former Portuguese colony was integrated as part of
\nIndonesia in 1976. Nevertheless, Portugal, along with a number of
\nits allies, refuse to acknowledge the integration and maintain
\nthat Lisbon is still the administrating power in East Timor.<\/p>\n
As reported by AFP on Friday, a leading separatist figure
\nliving in Macau, Manuel Tilman, said he had received an
\ninvitation from the Secretary General's office in New York to
\nattend the dialog in Austria on April 24-26.<\/p>\n
The dialog resulted from the trilateral talks between
\nPortugal, Indonesia and Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
\nin Geneva last month.<\/p>\n
During the talks it was decided that the UN would facilitate
\nan all-inclusive meeting between both pro- and anti-integration
\nTimorese, provided the parties avoid political matters and limit
\nthe dialog to an exchange of views conducive to reconciliation
\nbetween the East Timorese.<\/p>\n
The UN sponsored dialog is fashioned after last year's two
\nground-breaking meetings in London which brought about friendly
\ndialog between pro- and anti-integration factions.<\/p>\n
The London meetings were followed up by an exchange of visits,
\nwhich brought Portuguese of Timorese descent back to their
\nhomeland and Indonesian Timorese to Lisbon. The meetings were
\nsponsored by the Portugal Indonesia Friendship Association
\n(PIFA).<\/p>\n
Lopez da Cruz, a senior pro-integration Timorese who led the
\npro-integration delegation to the London meetings, told the Post
\nsome weeks ago that he expected the dialog to take place before
\nthe next trilateral meeting on May 19 in New York.<\/p>\n
Lopez, who is again expected to lead the next delegation, is
\ncurrently in Switzerland and was not available for comment on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
Although PIFA sponsored much of the activity during the
\nTimorese talks, Theo Sambuaga, a PIFA executive and senior
\nlegislator, told the Post that PIFA did not have anything to do
\nwith the planned dialog.<\/p>\n
He said that the dialog is the prerogative of the Timorese
\npeople and that PIFA would only be supporting all the positive
\nsteps taken. (mds)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/un-details-on-timor-talks-still-vague-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}