ETimor talks reconvene at UN

ETimor talks reconvene at UN

UNITED NATIONS (AFP): Portuguese and Indonesian diplomats meet
here from tomorrow to discuss East Timor after President Nelson
Mandela joined the search for a political settlement.

"When a statesman of President Mandela's international rank
throws his weight into an issue, you expect there to be some
impact, and of course we hope that it will be positive," UN
spokesman Fred Eckhard said Friday.

The South African president's July 15 unexpected meeting with
jailed East Timor resistance leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana"
Gusmao is considered an important political development by
officials here.

However it remains unclear how the UN-mediated talks might be
affected, as a settlement is considered a far-off goal.

The former Portuguese colony became part of Indonesia in 1976.

Observers noted that Mandela's companion is Graca Machel, the
Portuguese-speaking widow of Mozambican president Samora Machel
who had contacts with Fretilin.

After briefing the Portuguese president, Jorge Sampaio, on
Wednesday Mandela said he had recommended Gusmao's release in the
letter to Indonesian President Soeharto in which he asked to meet
the jailed Fretilin leader.

"We can never normalize the situation in East Timor unless all
political leaders, including Mr. Gusmao, are free," Mandela said.
"They are the ones who must bring about a solution."

Gusmao is currently serving a 20-year sentence in Jakarta for
plotting against the state.

Mandela, who has briefed UN chief Kofi Annan on his
initiative, insists that he is not seeking to undermine the UN
role in finding a solution for East Timor.

Annan's representative for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, will
travel to Pretoria to be personally briefed after hosting next
week's talks which run until Friday.

The negotiations here are the second to be convened by Annan
since he took office in January.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama and his Indonesian
counterpart Ali Alatas agreed on an agenda at the first round
here on June 19 and 20.

"We expect something positive," from the talks, said
Portuguese ambassador to the United Nations Antonio Monteiro.
Portugal's delegation is to be led by Foreign Ministry expert
Fernando Neves, while Indonesia is sending former UN ambassador
Nugroho Wisnumurti.

Monteiro told AFP it was hoped that Marker would make some
concrete proposals, saying that "it would be good to start with
immediate measures where common ground exists, to improve the
situation for the East Timorese."

The new secretary-general hopes that intensive talks at expert
level will be more productive than the ministerial tripartite
talks under his predecessor Boutros Boutros-Ghali between 1992
and June 1996 which led nowhere.

Eckhard said Friday that he did not want to predict what would
happen at the ambassador-level negotiations. "We have our fingers
crossed," he said.