East Timorese talks to be held in June

East Timorese talks to be held in June

UNITED NATIONS (AFP): Reconciliation talks between pro- and
anti-Indonesian East Timorese will be held in Austria next June
2-5, the United Nations announced on Tuesday.

Thirty East Timorese "of various political views" from within
and outside East Timor are being invited to attend the All-
Inclusive Intra-East-Timorese dialog, according to a statement by
the secretary general's spokesman.

The talks had been envisioned in a Geneva communique issued at
the end of the fifth round of UN-sponsored talks between
Indonesia and Portugal Jan. 9.

Initially they had been scheduled April 24-26 in Salzburg,
Austria. But Indonesia and its supporters had protested against
the manner in which UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
had organized the meeting without first consulting them.

Boutros-Ghali proposed in early March to postpone the talks
and add three invitations to Indonesia supporters.

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as
part of Indonesia in 1976.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas has stressed that the
Jan. 9 agreement did not provide for the meeting to deal with
East Timor's political status in order to avoid hampering
discussions between Indonesia and Portugal.

The sixth round of ministerial talks between Indonesia and
Portugal has been scheduled in Geneva July 8, according to the UN
statement.