Disarmament crucial for the warring camps

Disarmament crucial for the warring camps

JAKARTA (JP): As students danced in the streets in Dili
following the signing of an agreement enabling them to determine
their own future, with both proindependence and prointegration
leaders saying they welcomed the ballot, the crucial issue of
disarmament remains unresolved.

Disarmament of conflicting parties is a prerequisite mentioned
in the agreement on the direct ballot planned for Aug. 8.

On Thursday, prointegration leaders insisted that they could
not disarm members while they were unsure of the commitment of
the proindependence side.

A proindependence leader said disarmament at this point was
not possible as long as the military was around.

Leaders of the Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice said
disarming prointegration militias, which claim 50,000 members,
was a simple matter of "two hours" at the most, saying they had
adequate communication facilities.

Prointegration spokesman Basilio Dias Araujo told a media
conference that his militia had symbolically shown goodwill on
April 21, following the signing of the peace pact, by handing in
a number of homemade weapons.

David Ximenes, coordinator of the proindependence National
Council for East Timor Resistance (CNRT), told The Jakarta Post:
"We cannot disarm our members now. We want the military out of
East Timor first because they are the murderers. The militias are
only the shadow of the military... We have to meet the UN people
first before making commitments, and see the details of the
agreement.

"I am not really safe... soldiers are walking around in plain
clothes," he said from an undisclosed location.

The military has denied charges of links with militias.

David and some other proindependence leaders are in hiding
following an attack on their homes on April 17 in Dili, killing
13 people. David said the police could not be trusted either.

The agreement requires the police and military to be neutral.
Jailed CNRT president Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao called for a
UN peacekeeping force because he said the Indonesian Military
could not be considered a neutral force in the province.

Satisfied

Both Xanana and the prointegration leaders welcomed the
agreement.

In a statement sent from his special jail house in Central
Jakarta, Xanana said he was satisfied with the UN agreement. Its
success, he said, "will depend on the Indonesian government's
compliance with the terms of the agreement relating to its
responsibility to create a climate of peace and tranquility for
the population." The comment was sent hours after Indonesia and
Portugal signed the agreement.

However, Xanana said, "There is no doubt... that numerous
obstacles will continue to be placed in the path of the
preparation of a fair, democratic and transparent consultation."

He added that the agreement was "no cause for euphoria, nor a
guarantee of a resolution" of the problem.

"We must not view it with excessive pessimism nor loose faith
of the urgent need for a frank and serious dialogue capable of
giving rise to new spirits and hopes."

In front of Dili's University of East Timor, students rallying
for the third consecutive day danced and snapped up newspapers
announcing the New York agreement. However, some expressed
pessimism that the years of bloodshed would end, AFP reported.

The agency reported that many East Timorese first heard news
of the agreement from New York by radio.

Xanana, serving 20 years for armed rebellion, said the
agreement recognized the 23-year struggle by East Timorese since
the Indonesian military entered the territory in 1975.

"The immeasurable sacrifices," he said, had "not been in
vain."

He also thanked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, special envoy
Jamsheed Marker and the governments of Indonesia and Portugal.

Prointegration leaders here said they no longer rejected the
ballot, saying they were "powerless" to stop it.

"We welcome the ballot," Basilio said. However they raised
fears of "prolonged conflict" because it would only "leave a
group who wins and one who loses", according to Jose Tavares, a
founder of the Dili-based Forum for Democracy, Unity and Justice.

The organization leaders said they hope the UN civilian police
would cooperate with local police to ensure protection of all
East Timorese to enable voting to be free from fear.

A few weeks ago, prointegration leaders in Dili warned foreign
envoys that the UN police should not come and that they would
"fight" any party trying to impose their will on them.

The prointegrationists had wanted a "traditional dialog" to
avoid conflict.

But prointegrationists said international pressure had become
too strong, and the agreement was made for "face saving" both on
the part of the former colonial ruler Portugal, and Indonesia.

Nevertheless, leaders of the prointegration organization said
they would accept whatever the result of the ballot was. They
said only 10 percent of East Timorese were politically aware and
hoped the rest would not be "manipulated" by either side.

The organization leaders said they have been trying to inform
East Timorese on the coming ballot and the need to reduce
violence. They said they intended to talk to proindependence
groups to ensure the same.

In Dili, Udayana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri said
he was happy that clashes expected ahead of the signed agreement
did not materialize. "We hope the situation will get even better
by the time of the ballot," he said.

On Wednesday, UN members of an advance team coordinated by
Beng Yong Chew had met, among others, Governor Abilio Jose Osorio
Soares. They asked the support of the local administration for
the planned ballot.

Religious leaders Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and
Baucau Bishop Basilio Dos Nascimento said they were now ready to
conduct the second round of reconciliation talks.

The talks will take place at the end of May, a continuation of
the first talks in September. The second round was postponed
following the early April killings in Liquica regency which left
at least 25 dead.

"All people here, particularly their leaders, must respond
wisely to the historic moment so that the ballot can be conducted
safely and can result in a decision which will favor all East
Timorese," Belo said. (33/byg/anr)