E. Timor leaders hail 'special status' offer

JAKARTA (JP): The landmark agreement between Indonesia and Portugal to discuss the former's offer of "special status" for East Timor was enthusiastically welcomed yesterday in the tiny province as a step forward.

Community leaders lauded the move for giving hope that a solution to the long-standing dispute could at last be in the works.

Head of the board of directors of the Center for East Timor Development Studies, Domingos Maria das Dores Soares, said in the provincial capital Dili that the results of the two-day meeting in New York gave a sense of optimism to the East Timorese.

At the very least, he said, the two sides were not adverse to the idea of the "special status, based on a wide-ranging autonomy".

He said the exact specifics of the status should be left to the East Timorese to draft to avoid the impression that the people were excluded from the determination of their own fate.

East Timor youth leader Carlos F. Borromeo Duarte said the meeting's conclusion displayed Portugal's intent to resolve outstanding issues.

"What's important is that Portugal has the goodwill to resolve the issue. Why did Portugal always move back and forth over the issue of East Timor? Well, because they didn't want to lose face after having deserted it in 1975," he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

At the end of the talks, held under the aegis of UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan between the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers, the two sides announced in a communique they would discuss granting autonomy to the province.

The measure would allow East Timorese full governance except in the areas of foreign affairs, external defense and some monetary policies, Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas was quoted as saying by AP.

It would not mean a full withdrawal of forces, he said.

"There may be a residue of forces there, but in much more reduced form."

No mention was made of East Timorese demands for a referendum on independence among the province's 800,000 people, a proposal previously backed by Portugal.

The sides also agreed to allow Indonesia to open up an interest section in a "friendly embassy" in Lisbon, most likely to be the Thai delegation.

Portugal's interests in Jakarta are represented by the embassy of the Netherlands.

They also agreed that the all-inclusive East Timorese dialog would be continued by October and that East Timorese themselves, through Annan's coordination, would be included in talks.

Separately, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer welcomed the positive outcome of the talks.

In a press statement received here yesterday, Downer said there was a clear indication that both sides were willing to be flexible in their talks, with each agreeing to put aside points of principle to concentrate on substantive talks about autonomy in order to move the dialog process along.