Government lets Xanana meet senior East Timor rebels

Government lets Xanana meet senior East Timor rebels

JAKARTA (JP): The government has permitted jailed East
Timorese rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao to talk with
any senior East Timorese rebels, including Ramos Horta, as long
as the meetings take place in Jakarta.

The decision was announced on Thursday by Information Minister
M. Yunus Yosfiah after holding a closed meeting with Xanana at
the Ministry of Justice office.

According to the minister, the talks between Xanana and his
fellow colleagues, including those who're still abroad, would
still be in the framework to solve East Timor's problems.

"As long as the meetings among the East Timorese leaders take
place in Jakarta, there will be no problem. Besides, the meetings
should still be in the framework to help solve East Timor's
problems which are currently being carried out by the United
Nations," Yunus told reporters.

His meeting with Xanana was a response over a letter mailed to
him recently by the East Timorese rebel, who is currently placed
at a special detention house in Salemba, Central Jakarta.

In the letter, Xanana wanted to meet with him to talk about
something, the minister said.

While Xanana was not able to be reached for comment, Yunus
said that the detainee was "happy" about the green light given by
the Indonesian government for his planned meetings with his
overseas friends.

Antara quoted the minister as saying that Xanana's meetings
with other East Timorese rebels would still be in connection with
the solution of problems in the area, particularly in regards to
the Aug. 8 ballot.

Yunus said that during Thursday's meeting Xanana also told him
that the Falintil guerrillas and all (proindependent) militia
would be willing to hand over all their guns under one condition:
it should be done in front of the United Nations (UN) police
officers.

Separately, the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET)
said from the East Timor capital of Dili on Thursday that its
staff had personally witnessed a militia-training class for
proautonomy militia at Atsabe town, not far from Atara town where
six people were killed on Sunday in one of the latest clashes in
the area.

Atsabe is about 50 kilometers south of Dili.

Seriousness

A statement made available to The Jakarta Post office said:
"The training activity reinforced the seriousness of a warning to
the UN on Tuesday that the militia was preparing an operation set
for today (Wednesday) in the Ermera regency."

"The UN passed this warning on to the (Indonesian) military
authorities of East Timor (Tuesday)," it said.

The Sunday clashes between proindependence and prointegration
supporters at the Atsabe town of Ermera regency killed six
people, it said. On Tuesday, the UN representatives revealed that
the death toll reached 12.

The press release was the second issued by UNAMET in the past
week. The first on Monday deplored what it called "brutal
attacks" by the militia there on Sunday.

The UNAMET advance mission has been preparing for the arrival
of a UN police force to supervise the Aug. 8 ballot on whether
the 800,000 East Timorese will accept an offer of autonomy under
Jakarta or independence.

All of the statements from UNAMET brought a sharp rejoinder
from Indonesia's military commander in East Timor, Col. Tono
Suratman.

Suratman told Antara that he "deplored" the first press
release, and said any statement made by the team should "first be
clarified (by the military) to prevent any misunderstanding".

The truth of any story, he said, should be verified with the
security apparatus.

Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto joined the
fray on Wednesday with a heavy-handed reminder to UNAMET that
they were there only to advise the Indonesian Police, not to take
action on their own.

"They will only give suggestions to the Indonesian Police,
while the responsibility for peace and order during the vote
will still be in the hands of Indonesian security personnel," he
said.

But UNAMET, in its second statement, said "the only credible
version (of the Sunday attacks) remains ... that a proautonomy
militia shot the six people at dawn on Sunday morning."

Violence between proindependence and proautonomy groups in
East Timor has spiralled since January when Jakarta said it might
consider letting go of East Timor, which it invaded in 1975, if
its people rejected a broad autonomy offer.

On May 5, Portugal and Indonesia, in a pact signed with the
United Nations, agreed to hold an act of free choice in East
Timor on the autonomy offer in the presence of a UN civilian
police force on Aug. 8.

The latest clash took place on Wednesday evening at Fatulete
village in Baucau, about 140 kilometers west of Dili, when three
unidentified masked men with rifles in hand attacked the house of
two military sergeants.

According to the deputy chief of East Timor regional police,
Col. Muafi Sahudji, one of the sergeants, Luis da Costa, died,
while his colleague and a civilian friend were badly injured.

The officer told reporters in Dili on Thursday that the
attackers might have been members of the Falintil. (bsr/33)