East Timor talks end on a subdued note

East Timor talks end on a subdued note

JAKARTA (JP): Highly anticipated peace talks between rival
factions from troubled East Timor ended on a subdued note on
Wednesday, less than two months before a UN-sponsored ballot to
determine the province's future.

"Despite a good atmosphere around the negotiating table, deep
divisions remain (between proindependence and pro-Jakarta
supporters," Father Domingos Sequeira, spokesman for the church-
organized three-day Dare II dialog and reconciliation talks, said
in a media statement.

"On the last day of talks, delegates from prointegration and
proindependence groups refined a statement of the basic ideas
they can agree on, but could find little common ground on
(establishing) a joint committee for the implementation of these
ideas," he said.

"Although both sides agreed on the crucial necessity for
further dialog, they were unable to produce a procedure to carry
the Dare II talks forward."

He said the most significant achievement of the conference,
held at the Sheraton Bandara Hotel, was an agreement in principle
to respect the June 18 agreement on the disarmament of pro-
Jakarta militias and Falintil, the armed wing of the East Timor
Resistance Council, the main proindependence body.

The June 18 agreement was organized by the Peace and Stability
Commission. It was set up following a military brokered peace
deal in East Timor's capital of Dili on April 21.

The statement also said both factions agreed to respect the
outcome of the UN administered popular consultation.

"Given the attendance at the conference of an unprecedented
array of top political and military leaders from both sides, this
is a considerable achievement."

Among the 60 representatives at the conference were jailed
leader Jose Alexandre 'Xanana' Gusmao, Nobel co-laureate Ramos-
Horta and pro-Jakarta counterparts Lopez da Cruz and Domingos
Soares.

Towards the end of the morning session, Baucau Bishop Basilio
do Nascimento, who with Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo
organized the meeting, expressed his "hunger" for real substance
to the talks, the statement said.

"This appeal produced a suggestion that a joint commission be
formed to secure the interests of both sides before and after the
popular consultation." However, the delegates decided "the idea
needed further consideration and should be left open".

The statement said a suggestion from proindependence delegates
that Xanana be released from detention to participate in
campaigning for the popular consultation did not gain approval.
Xanana is serving a 20-year term for armed rebellion and was
granted special permission by the government to take part in the
meeting.

Xanana had expressed confidence that the growth of democracy
in Indonesia would lead to his release, the statement said.

It added that prointegration delegates continued to press the
argument that "wide-ranging autonomy within the Republic of
Indonesia is already a concession (and) should be matched by
flexibility on the part of pro-independence leaders".

Prointegration delegates, the statement said, also pressed for
a greater assurance of neutrality from the United Nations Mission
in East Timor (UNAMET).

Jamsheed Marker, the UN secretary-general's special envoy on
East Timor, told a news conference earlier in the morning that he
rejected "totally, completely and absolutely" the allegations of
UNAMET bias.

"The UN is an impartial organization -- we have men and women
from all over the world and they have come here out of their
dedication for this particular assignment," Marker said.

About 600 UNAMET personnel and 300 UN civilian police will be
deployed to supervise the August ballot.

"They're all volunteers, nobody has been dragged to this
against their will ... so I totally reject this, I do not think
the Indonesian government has made the allegation." He said there
were a number of irresponsible allegations about UNAMET's role.

Both factions declared in a final document from the meeting,
read in Indonesian and Portuguese, their determination "to
establish a platform of common positions with the purpose of
finding a durable solution to the question of Timor Lorosae".

The document was signed by the participants, Belo, Basilio and
UN representative Tamrat Samuel.

Observers of Wednesday's talks included the head of the
country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama,
Abdurrahman Wahid, and Lt. Gen. Soegiono, the Armed Forces chief
of general affairs.(byg/33)