Four killed in separate attacks in East Timor

DILI, East Timor (JP): Four people were shot dead in two separate clashes in East Timor on Monday, police and military said.

The first clash took place when proindependence guerrillas ambushed a car carrying six men, including a local official and soldiers, on a road outside of Maligu village in Bobonaro regency, about 165 kilometers southwest of Dili, the spokesman for the East Timor Police, Capt. Widodo, said.

He said Manuel Soares Gama, a 51-year-old local official, died instantly. Army Pvt. Angelino Asa Bere, 40, died later at a hospital in the nearby town of Maliana.

The four who survived the attack were the car's driver, two employees of a local electricity plant and an Army corporal.

Widodo said security forces were searching for the attackers.

In a separate incident, troops killed two rebel guerrillas in an armed clash near Ermera regency, 60 kilometers southwest of Dili, on early Monday, East Timor deputy military chief Col. Mudjiono said.

Violence between proindependence and prointegration groups has escalated since the government's announcement in January that it would let the troubled province go if its wide-range autonomy proposal was rejected by the East Timorese.

In Jakarta, chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights Marzuki Darusman said on Monday the government needed to clarify the confusion over the number of casualties in an attack on proindependence supporters in Liquica last week.

The Armed Forces (ABRI) insists five people were killed in the attack. Dili Bishop and Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo said at least 25 people were killed in the violence.

"We need a third party to clarify the issue fairly and openly ... so (the matter) does not aggravate and complicate the already difficult situation there," Marzuki said.

The secretary-general of the rights commission, Clementino dos Reis Amaral, said last Friday the rights body would send a fact- finding team to the province this week to investigate the attack.

Also in Jakarta on Monday, President B.J. Habibie summoned several Cabinet members to finalize the draft of the government's autonomy proposal for East Timor. Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said he hoped the final document would be completed on Wednesday.

Alatas said the government was being very careful in drafting the proposal because it wanted to submit a comprehensive document.

"Do not expect spectacular progress because this work must be conducted carefully," Alatas said.

Habibie's adviser on foreign affairs, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, disclosed details of the draft in an interview with The Jakarta Post on Saturday. According to Dewi, who is actively involved in drafting the proposal, the plan is similar to the autonomy China gave Hong Kong.

Alatas described Dewi's statement as speculation. "Hong Kong is Hong Kong, Timtim (East Timor) is Timtim," he said.

Dewi met with Habibie after his meeting with the Cabinet ministers.

"I still cannot specifically disclose the contents of the package because if I elaborate it will violate procedures," Alatas said about his agreement with United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan and Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaime Gama.

Alatas indicated he would meet with Gama under the auspices of the United Nations later this month.

Meanwhile, a visiting emissary of Pope John Paul II called on East Timorese in Dili on Monday to pray for peace in the troubled territory.

The call was read out by Vatican Ambassador to Indonesia Monsignor Renzo Fratini during a Mass attended by 5,000 people, 60 priests and 150 nuns in Dili Cathedral.

"Pope John Paul II sends his warm regards to Catholics and all people of East Timor ... and hopefully peace and justice will bloom here ... ," Fratini said.

"All East Timorese must try to establish unity and peace so that harmonious coexistence can soon be realized," Fratini quoted the Pope as saying.

Fratini, who arrived in Dili on Saturday, has met with farmers, fishermen and traders, and also has visited thousands of youths in the town of Manatuto, 64 kilometers east of Dili.

He is scheduled to return to Jakarta on Tuesday.

Fratini said he understood the differences in political views among East Timorese but pleaded that the differences not result in violence.

In Yogyakarta, about 150 East Timorese students rallied on the campus of Gadjah Mada University on Monday in support of a call by East Timorese independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao for proindependence groups to fight back against prointegration forces.

Meanwhile, hundreds of East Timorese students in the Central Java capital of Semarang have begun leaving for East Timor in order to participate in the United Nations-sponsored direct ballot to determine the province's future. The ballot is scheduled for July. (23/33/44/byg/har/prb)