East Timor rival factions meet in Bali
East Timor rival factions meet in Bali
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): East Timor pro-independence and ex-
militia fighters commenced here on Wednesday a two-day meeting to
accelerate the return of tens of thousands of East Timorese
refugees remaining in East Nusa Tenggara to the former Indonesian
province.
A local reporter said that the meeting, which was held at the
office of Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, the chief of the Udayana
Military Command, was attended by, among others, independence
leaders Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao and Ramos Horta, six pro-
integration leaders, UNTAET (United Nations Transitional
Administration in East Timor) chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and
Commander of the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor Lt. Gen.
Boonsrang Niumpradit.
"I hope that in the near future, we will be able to put the
plan into effect. In brief, the proposal, which has been agreed
by both parties, is to return the refugees under the protection
of the militias," Kiki told reporters after attending the
meeting.
Kiki, however, did not elaborate further.
Tens of thousands of refugees still in East Nusa Tenggara were
among some 250,000 people who fled or were forcibly transported
to the province and elsewhere during the post-ballot violence in
East Timor in September of last year.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in May
that a total of 161,217 East Timorese refugees have returned home
since the violence abated in the former Portuguese colony.
The meeting on Wednesday came only two days after a New
Zealand member of the UN peacekeeping force was shot dead during
a clash with a group of unidentified armed men in the border area
of Fato Mean.
Earlier in the day, the UN Security Council urged Jakarta to
crack down on extremist militias accused of killing the
peacekeeper in East Timor.
The council urged the military to cooperate with UN forces "to
end incursions from West Timor, to disarm and disband the
militias, and to prosecute militia members guilty of crimes,"
Patricia Durant, the council president and Jamaica's ambassador
to the UN, was quoted as saying by AP.
From Bangkok, New Zealand and Australia on Wednesday called on
Indonesia to take strong measures to disarm and control the
militias, warning that refugee camps in West Timor could become
another "Gaza Strip".
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Phil Goff
warned that Jakarta must take stern measures to stamp out rogue
elements and stop the refugee camps in West Timor "from becoming
another Gaza Strip".
"Reconciliation between Indonesia and East Timor has taken a
huge step forward, but we need further security there," Goff told
journalists in Bangkok on the sidelines of ministerial meetings
between ASEAN and its dialog partners.
Similarly, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also
noted the need for action on Jakarta's part.
"We are still concerned about the activity of the militias in
West Timor, in the refugee camps and their raids across the
border into East Timor," Downer remarked.
Pvt. Leonard Manning is believed to have been killed in a raid
by militia gangs operating out of refugee camps in Indonesia's
West Timor.
Security in the camps has been a source of constant concern
for a number of months among several western aid agencies and the
United Nations, who suspended their operations there due to
security risks.
Despite their concern, neither Goff nor Downer directly
accused Indonesia of abetting the militias.
"There is no suggestion of Indonesian government collusion in
the incursions of militias from West Timor," Goff said.
Meanwhile, Downer suggested that the militias were actually
being backed by "elements of the Indonesia military" who wanted
to destabilize the government.
"The Indonesians have been taking measures to try and bring
the militias under control, but still there are problems so there
is more work to do," he said. (byg/mds)