UNAMET accused of siding with anti-integration groups<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Two senior ministers alleged the United Nations
\nAssistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) on Wednesday of
\nfavoring anti-integration groups and ignoring prointegration
\norganizations.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Gen.
\n(ret) Feisal Tanjung and Minister of Defense and Security Gen.
\nWiranto told a plenary Cabinet meeting that UNAMET only agreed to
\ndisarm pro-Indonesian groups and refused to disarm the
\nproindependence armed group Falintil.<\/p>\n
"Protests from anti-integration groups are always followed up
\nquickly," Feisal was quoted by Minister of Information Lt. Gen.
\nMuhammad Yunus as telling the Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n
"Prointegration groups feel the UNAMET spokesman sided with
\ntheir rivals," said Wiranto, according to Yunus.<\/p>\n
Feisal said one indication of the one-sidedness could be seen
\nfrom a local press report carried by the Suara Timor Timur
\nnewspaper on May 26, which quoted UNAMET spokesman David Wimhurst
\nas saying that UNAMET had nothing to do with the disarmament of
\nthe Falintil.<\/p>\n
"The President has asked the foreign ministry to take steps
\nrelated to these indications of partiality," Yunus remarked.<\/p>\n
Gen. Wiranto, who is also the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief,
\nlisted 30 incidents of violence by the proindependence groups
\nsince early May, including armed clashes with TNI troops.<\/p>\n
The general also reported that certain anti-Indonesian forces
\nappeared to have acquired new weapons recently, especially since
\nseveral unidentified helicopter flights had been detected in the
\nterritory.<\/p>\n
"Security forces felt that in the several most recent armed
\nclashes with the anti-integration group, there has been a use of
\nother weapons different from the usual ones," Wiranto was quoted
\nby Yunus as saying.<\/p>\n
Wiranto also pointed out that several trade vessels with
\nhelipads were sailing around in international waters near East
\nTimor which have been detected by satellites.<\/p>\n
Wiranto said Australia had denied that the choppers belong to
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
"Australia said it did not make any flights (to East Timor),"
\nWiranto reported.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Dili UNAMET has urged about 8,000 East Timorese
\nrefugees now taking shelter in the East Nusa Tenggara border,
\nparticularly Belu regency, to go home to participate in the Aug.
\n8 ballot.<\/p>\n
Wimburst urged the Indonesian Police on Wednesday to help
\ncreate a conducive situation to speed up the return of the
\nrefugees.<\/p>\n
"Security is very vital for the process of the return of the
\nrefugees and the police are asked to pay serious attention to it
\nto convince the refugees to return," he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, UNAMET chairman Ian Martin met with East Timor
\nPolice chief Col. G.M. Timbul Silaen, Wira Dharma Military Resort
\nCommander Col. Tono Suratman, East Timor Governor Abilio Jose
\nOsorio Soares and Dili Bishop Mgr. Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo in
\nDili on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The meeting was aimed mainly at discussing activities of the
\nUN mission to prepare the balloting.<\/p>\n
Wimburst also explained that the UN flag was scheduled to be
\nofficially hoisted for the first time at the UN mission's
\nheadquarters on Jl. de Balide in Dili on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The flag hoisting will be held in a modest ceremony which is
\nexpected to be attended by the East Timor governor and other high
\nranking officials and representatives of both prointegration and
\nproindependence factions, he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, East Timor rebel leader and Nobel Peace Prize
\nwinner Jose Ramos-Horta said in Washington he will return to
\nJakarta this month for the first time in 24 years for meetings
\nwith other leaders of the Timorese resistance.<\/p>\n
AFP reported on Tuesday Ramos-Horta -- currently en route from
\nLisbon to Sydney -- said he had received permission from
\nIndonesian authorities to visit Jakarta after the national
\nelection on June 7.<\/p>\n
Whether Ramos-Horta would also be permitted to visit the
\ntroubled territory of East Timor was not immediately clear.<\/p>\n
But he offered a conciliatory message ahead of his visit to
\nIndonesian President B.J. Habibie and to critics who oppose his
\ncampaign to free the predominantly Catholic territory from
\nIndonesian rule.<\/p>\n
"It seems that the Indonesian government has given its
\napproval for a trip by me to Indonesia for meetings with the
\nresistance leader Xanana Gusmao, (and) bishops Belo and Basilio
\ndo Nascimento," he said.<\/p>\n
"We will then have a meeting with many other East Timorese,
\nincluding those linked with the armed militia gangs," he said,
\nadding that he planned his trip for mid-June after Indonesia's
\nJune 7 national election. (prb\/33\/hhr)<\/p>",
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