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)