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)