Araujo warns of bloodshed in East Timor

Dili, East Timor (JP): An East Timorese leader predicted there would be a bloodbath here regardless of the outcome of the Aug. 30 self-determination vote.

"The postballot period will be very crucial because neither of the conflicting factions will accept defeat in the ballot. A greater war than the one in 1975 and mass killings are expected to happen again in the troubled territory," Timorese Nationalist Party chairman Abilio Araujo told The Jakarta Post on board of a Merpati flight from Dili to Jakarta on Tuesday.

Araujo, who lived in Lisbon, Portugal, visited Dili to consolidate members of his party and to install party functionaries in regencies in East Timor.

He said the conflicting factions and the East Timorese in general would never accept the ballot result because they have never been part of the negotiation and proposed solution.

"The May 5 tripartite agreement was reached by Indonesia, Portugal and UN, (while) the East Timorese people were never invited to participate in the making of it," he said.

Araujo accused the UN of making a wrong decision over the ballot, saying many personnel of the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) do not care about the sociopolitical and cultural condition in East Timor.

He also criticized the East Timor Catholic Church for its inconsistency and failure to be neutral in facing the conflicting factions.

"According to me, the Catholic Church is not consistent, but the Church leadership has frequently favored the proindependence faction," he said.

He said further that it was too late for the Catholic Church leadership to issue statements calling for the two conflicting factions to reconcile after the ballot, no matter what the outcome would be.

"If the church is committed to seeing peace and progress in East Timor, it should have used its strong influence and authority to bring the conflicting factions to the negotiation table and find peaceful solutions many years ago," he said.

He said the East Timorese had been invited to propose alternative options -- rather than only autonomy within Indonesia or independence -- for the future of the territory, no clashes would have happened. (rms)