Downer to meet with Habibie and Xanana

JAKARTA (JP): Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer is to meet with President B.J. Habibie and jailed East Timorese rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao for intensive discussions on the future of the territory when he visits Jakarta on Feb. 25.

Even as the plan for the visit was announced in Canberra on Thursday, signs of tension prevailed in East Timor.

The authorities responded by stepping up security in order to prevent another outbreak of violence between rival groups opposing and supporting Indonesia.

Downer said after visiting Jakarta he would fly on to Lisbon, Portugal, to meet his counterpart Jaime Gama on Feb. 28, insisting the country remains a key player in the solution to the East Timor question.

"I will be meeting with President Habibie for in-depth discussions on the future of East Timor. Following my meeting with President Habibie, I will meet 'Xanana' Gusmao. 'Xanana' is a central figure in the resolution of the East Timor issue," Downer said in a statement.

Before visiting Jakarta, Downer will lead a delegation of five ministers to the two-day Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Forum and the Australia Indonesia Development Area (AIDA) meetings in Bali starting next Wednesday.

"As the former colonial power in East Timor, Portugal remains a key player," Downer noted.

This will be Downer's second meeting with Habibie since he replaced president Soeharto in May. Following Prime Minister John Howard's letter to Habibie in December, Downer announced last month that Australia might withdraw its recognition of Indonesia's sovereignty over East Timor.

Separately, East Timor Police deputy chief Muafi Sahudji told Antara on Thursday he had sent two companies of police from Dili to Maubara in Liquica regency following the murder of a pro- integration teenager, Joanice Gomes, on Wednesday.

"We do not want to take any risk. That's why we sent the two companies in order to restore security and head off any possible backlash," Muafi said.

He said the situation in Liquica was relatively stable, but he did not want the risk of the pro-integration civilian militia, known as the Besi Merah Putih (Red-and-White Iron), retaliating over the death of their friend.

"It is possible that if rival parties do not exercise self- restraint, a civil war will erupt," the officer said.

Meanwhile speaker of the provincial legislative council Armindo Soares Mariano said Portugal could not pose as a defender of the East Timorese as it had never provided any financial assistance for its former colony during the last 23 years.

The legislator said Portugal only remembers its former employees and sends their monthly salaries through the state bank BDN. He alleged the country also continues to help anti- Indonesian movements.

"We have heard Portugal secretly sends assistance to pro- independence groups," he alleged. (prb)