East Timor dialog ends with nod to diverse views

DILI, East Timor (JP): A two-day meeting on reconciliation between East Timor's political figures ended late on Friday with a joint statement signed at the site of the dialog in Dare, West Dili.

One of the 11 points in the communique signed at 9 p.m. acknowledged the right to differences of opinion and that "there should be no domination of one party over another."

The drafting of the 11-point communique got stuck for a few hours on whether to insert "self-determination" as a separate point. It was finally decided that the term was already included in another point on "referendum and autonomy."

The talks which began on Thursday were initiated by Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Baucau Bishop Basilio do Nascimento and were attended by 50 local public figures.

The bishops said they had been asked by the local government to initiate the dialog to defuse mounting tension between those for and against integration with Indonesia in the province in recent weeks.

Legislature speaker Armindo Soares Mariano, East Timor Military chief Col. Tono Suratman, local police chief Col. Timbul Silaen, Dili Mayor Mateus Maia and Dili regent Domingos Maria Das Dores Soares were among the participants.

Another point in the communique said participants acknowledged two views regarding East Timor -- those favoring an autonomous status and those favoring a referendum on self-determination.

In view of this reality "further efforts were needed to realize a common platform to unite the people of Timor Loro Sae," the local term for East Timor. A common platform should then be followed up by "the establishment of a representative forum" for all East Timorese, the communique said.

One suggestion was that similar meetings in the future should involve representatives of all political and social groups, including resistance leaders in jail, outside the country and in the province's jungles. The Sept. 10 to Sept. 11 meeting did not invite representatives from the above groups.

Another point was that all participants welcomed and supported the role of the local Church in mediating in future dialogs and that participants showed the political will to organize further talks in the effort to find common ground between the divided parties.

Organizers included Dili's Foundation for Law, Human Rights and Justice (HAK) and representatives from Fretilin, the main East Timorese separatist party, and the UDT, a minority political party in the province.

People outside the packed meeting room clapped when the communique was read out in Indonesian, Portuguese and English.

After the dialog ended, Belo told the press that participants had been able to talk "without the slightest pressure and had spoken from the depths of their hearts without being emotional."

Troops

Meanwhile the Armed Forces (ABRI), in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday, denied allegations that it had replaced combat troops withdrawn from the troubled province in July.

A non-governmental organization, Solidamor (Solidarity for Peace in East Timor), had earlier been quoted by Antara as saying that the much publicized beginning of ABRI's withdrawal of up to 1,000 combat troops had been followed up with the drafting in of replacements.

Solidamor also sent the press a paper written by the jailed resistance leader Xanana Gusmao which it said was read out at a recent seminar on East Timor held in New Zealand. Xanana said the troop reinforcements had "landed at secret army jetties at Viqueque, Com and Carabelo, near Vemasse."

ABRI's statement said "there are no additional troops in East Timor", except for task forces including those for health and "mental guidance."

The statement also denied allegations that ABRI had added "wild troops" such as the Saka, Makikit and the Alpha teams. These teams, ABRI said, were part of the local People's Militia (Wanra), a civilian component of state defense and security. "It is not true that the People's Militia are wild troops whose activities serve to disrupt society."

ABRI's presence in East Timor, it said, was not as a result of self-interest or to maintain East Timor as a training ground and a stepping stone for career promotion, rather it was "based on the fact that there are still armed rebels whose activities disrupt public and state security and must therefore be eradicated." (33/anr)