East Timorese leaders, UN staff to meet Megawati
East Timorese leaders, UN staff to meet Megawati
DILI, East Timor (Agencies): East Timorese leaders and UN
administrators will meet next week with Indonesian President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, who in the past has refused to talk with
representatives of the fledgling nation, a top official said
Thursday.
East Timor's UN governor Sergio Vieira de Mello said
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda had invited officials
of the world body and political leaders from East Timor for talks
in Jakarta next Thursday.
The delegation, comprising de Mello, independence leader
Xanana Gusmao, de facto foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta, and
Mari Alkatiri, who heads the country's dominant political party,
will meet Megawati and other Indonesian government officials.
"I welcome this invitation and believe we can now launch the
high-level consultations that have been stalled for some time,"
said de Mello. "This augurs very well for the future relations
between (East Timor) and the new government in Jakarta," de Mello
said.
Megawati, a staunch nationalist who previously supported East
Timor's occupation and annexation by Indonesia, recently
recognized the territory's right to secede.
Pro-Indonesian militias with the support of Indonesian troops
launched a campaign of murder, looting and destruction after East
Timor's people voted for independence in a UN-supervised
referendum in 1999.
Megawati's predecessor, Abdurrahman Wahid, maintained close
contacts with Gusmao and Horta and visited the region last year.
But his vice president, Megawati, refused to meet with them or
with the UN representatives governing the nation during its
transition to independence.
UN officials said she had refused to meet them six times
during her 21-month tenure as Wahid's deputy. She assumed the top
office after Indonesia's top legislative body impeached Wahid in
July.
The announcement of the visit came on the day that the results
in East Timor's first democratic election were announced.
Alkatiri's Fretilin party, which led the 24-year struggle against
Indonesian rule, won 55 out of 88 seats in the new assembly.
It also coincided with the anniversary of the murders last
year of three UN staffers in Indonesian West Timor (East Nusa
Tenggara) by East Timorese paramilitaries.
Meanwhile, Japan may send troops to East Timor to join UN
peacekeeping operations, with the country's defense chief due to
discuss the matter with Jakarta next week, a defense spokesman
said Thursday in Tokyo.
"We are considering dispatching our troops to East Timor to
take part in peacekeeping operations," the defense agency
spokesman said without elaborating.
Between 300 and 400 Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers would
go to East Timor early next year, the Asahi newspaper said,
quoting government sources.
If realized, it would be Japan's first large-scale deployment
of SDF troops on an overseas peacekeeping operation since Tokyo
sent 1,200 soldiers to Cambodia in 1992 and 1993.
Japanese troops in East Timor would mainly be engaged in road
construction, the daily said.
It was unlikely they would join the main UN peacekeeping force
on the island, which is involved in patrolling the area and
demobilizing guerrilla forces.
Japanese law bans its troops from joining UN peacekeeping
operations in areas where a cease-fire agreement is not in place.
Gen. Nakatani, director-general of the Defense Agency, plans
to visit Indonesia to discuss the issue ahead of a planned visit
to East Timor, the spokesman said.
"He will discuss the issue with Indonesian officials when he
visits Indonesia next week," the spokesman said. "Nakatani has
said Japan actively wants to support peace in East Timor."
Nakatani is due to visit Indonesia on Monday and hold talks
with Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the Asahi
said.
He would then make a three-day visit to East Timor from
Wednesday to meet with Sergio de Mello, special representative of
the UN secretary-general and in charge of the UN Transitional
Administration in East Timor, it said.