East Timor rival factions sign pact

JAKARTA (JP): East Timor's rival factions signed a disarmament agreement at the Ministry of Justice here on Friday, as the United Nations mission in the troubled territory accused the Indonesian Military of helping militia groups intimidate villagers and assault one old man.

The agreement was signed by jailed independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, president of the Resistance Council of East Timor (CNRT), and Leandro Isaac, a member of CNRT.

Signing for the prointegration faction were Domingus Soares from the Forum for Peace, Democracy and Justice and civilian militia commander Joao da Silva Tavares.

Pro and anti-independence leaders grouped in the Commission for Peace and Stability (KPS), which was set up following a military-brokered peace deal in the East Timor capital of Dili on April 21, also called on their respective followers to end hostilities.

"We have agreed to call on all followers from the CNRT and its organization Falintil (its armed wing) and the prointegration faction with its mass organizations to lay down all forms of firearms, grenades, explosives, homemade weapons and traditional weapons such as spears, arrows, machetes and others to the authorities, or police in this case, under the supervision of the KPS," the seven-point agreement says.

The police, under an agreement signed in May by Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations, are responsible for security for the August ballot in which East Timorese will choose between independence or autonomy within Indonesia.

The document says that both factions "agreed to stop enmity or violence and to stop legal violations against anyone or any group".

It says that both factions "will invite all followers to actively participate in the popular consultation, from the voter registration period to the polling day".

The document also says that "the violations of the agreement will be referred to the KPS to be forwarded to the authorities".

Also present at the signing were representatives from the Dili Church, local military and police, the United Nations Mission in East Timor and rights organizations.

The signatories then met Minister of Defense and Security /Indonesian Military Commander Gen. Wiranto.

He said the agreement, the second regarding disarmament of the disputing parties after the peace pact in Dili, was only "a moral guarantee".

Violations from both sides would be handled by the Indonesian police, in line with the New York agreement of May 5 regarding the ballot, Wiranto said.

He also denied UNAMET's statement that said its officers had witnessed Indonesian soldiers directing violent actions against civilians on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim Organization, Abdurrahman Wahid, said on Friday that he will leave for East Timor later this month to try to persuade East Timorese to fully accept the result of the August ballot.

Accusations

The United Nations said in Dili on Friday that its officers saw soldiers directing pro-Jakarta East Timorese militiamen burning houses and beating up an old man.

"Our team encountered... groups of Besi Merah Putih militia, accompanied and directed by TNI (the Indonesian Military) soldiers and witnessed those groups in the act of burning property and assaulting an old man," UNAMET chief Ian Martin told reporters in Dili.

Witnesses said militiamen armed with machetes looted houses in Leotela village, 30 kilometers west of Dili, before dousing them with petrol and lighting them. Martin said the militias wanted to drive people out of the village.

The violence between pro and anti-independence factions in East Timor has been on the rise since Jakarta said in January it would let go the territory if its people rejected an autonomy offer.

Martin added that the United Nations had also discovered several home-made guns on Thursday at the house of a militia member.

"These things we have reported and taken up at senior levels with the Indonesian Military and police because they make clear how much still remains to be done if conditions of security are to be created for the popular consultation," Martin said.

"We remain very seriously concerned indeed about the security situation, especially... in the western districts."

Martin also said East Timorese officials were campaigning against independence in contravention of a deal between Portugal and Indonesia signed at the United Nations in May.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan must decide by Wednesday if conditions in the troubled territory are right for a fair vote. Martin declined to comment on the possibility of a delay. (33/byg/imn/rms)