Ali Alatas rejects S. Africa's offer
Ali Alatas rejects S. Africa's offer
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said
yesterday he declined South African President Nelson Mandela's
offer to host the third meeting of the All-Inclusive Intra East
Timor Dialog (AETD) and said it would likely to be held in
Austria again.
"I think Austria would still be good. They have the
experience, and the atmosphere there is also conducive for such
meetings," Alatas said after meeting with President Soeharto.
"That's our inclination. Let's just continue first with the
meetings in Austria," he said after the meeting at Soeharto's
residence on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta.
The AETD brings together both pro- and anti-integrationist
Timorese both in Indonesia and abroad. Two meetings have been
held in a small town in Austria.
The AETD was a result of the on-going tripartite talks between
the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers under the
auspices of the UN secretary-general with the aim of finding a
politically acceptable solution to the East Timor issue.
The UN secretary-general's special envoy for East Timor,
Jamsheed Marker, said after meeting with Mandela in Pretoria on
Tuesday that the South African president had offered to host a
meeting on East Timor.
Initially there was some confusion on whether Mandela was
proposing a new initiative or just wanting to host one the
meetings of the on-going talks.
Alatas explained that Mandela was only offering a venue for
the meeting.
"So it wasn't a new initiative or something which veered away
from what the UN is doing," Alatas remarked.
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as a
part of Indonesia in 1976. But the UN still recognizes Lisbon as
the administrative authority there.
Mandela's name has been increasingly linked to the issue after
a visit here last month in which he met with jailed East Timorese
rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao. Mandela later sent a
letter urging Soeharto to release Xanana. The request was
refused. (prb/mds)