Hope for Habibie-Belo meeting wanes rapidly

DILI (JP): Hopes of another meeting between President B.J. Habibie and East Timor bishops appear to be dimming after Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo hinted there were no signs the government had met any of the preliminary steps to ensure peace in the troubled province.

Belo said Friday that he and Bacau Bishop Basilio do Nascimento would leave for Jakarta to meet with Habibie only if the two saw changes in East Timor on 13 recommendations Belo brought up in a meeting with Habibie on June 24.

"It is important for me to see first whether the government has made changes in response to the 13 key points. If no changes are made, we will not leave for Jakarta to meet the President's invitation," he said at his residence.

Among the points was the withdrawal of troops, the holding of a referendum on the province's future, the teaching of the native Tetum dialect and Portuguese, the former colonial language, in schools apart from compulsory Indonesian, and that only migrants with job or special skills be allowed to settle in East Timor.

Habibie was quoted on Wednesday by Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus as saying that he hoped to meet with Bishop Belo as part of his "prosperity and cultural approach" to the province.

He also conveyed his wish to meet Bishop Basilio when he received East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, Ambassador-at-large Lopez da Cruz and legislator Salvador Soares at Merdeka Palace recently.

The authorities have denied charges by non-governmental organizations that a withdrawal of troops earlier this year was a pretense to send new troops to East Timor.

Foreign minister Ali Alatas has repeatedly stated there will be no referendum on the province.

"The government is tough with its stance on East Timor. It has offered a special status with greater autonomy as a permanent solution to the East Timor issue. Those who have demanded a referendum for East Timor are only a minority group," he said after a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission I on defense and foreign affairs in Jakarta.

Belo said he had not yet received an official invitation from the President for the dialog, which Habibie said was also aimed to evaluate the latest developments in the tiny province.

Belo, the 1996 Nobel peace prize laureate with East Timorese proindependence figure Jos Ramos Horta, said evaluation was not his job.

"It is the governor's job to make an evaluation on latest developments in the province... not the job of the two bishops."

Belo reiterated the need for further dialog between East Timorese supporting the government's proposed autonomy and proreferendum groups.

"It is useless for the two groups to go to war," he said. "A prolonged tense situation in the province will make it lose its credibility in the international fora."

The last dialog initiated by both bishops in September in East Timor ended in a decree in which the two groups agreed to recognize their mutual differences.

He warned that there were indications that internal problems and rifts among the East Timorese would worsen in the future if opposing groups declined to negotiate.

Belo called on opposing groups to avoid friction, vengeance and prejudice among themselves and the public.

He expressed regrets over a brawl between two opposing groups in Baucau which disrupted the Christmas celebration at the town's cathedral. Four were reportedly injured. (rms/33)