Hostile groups in East Timor to sign code of conduct

Hostile groups in East Timor to sign code of conduct

DILI, East Timor (JP): Proindependence and prointegration
groups here are set to sign a campaign code of conduct for the
Aug. 30 popular consultation.

No date for the signing has been set, but United Nations
Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) spokesman David Wimhurst said on
Tuesday the groups would sign the code of conduct later this
week.

Wimhurst said UNAMET hoped the two camps would endorse the
code of conduct as soon as possible, so it could be distributed
among the public before campaigning begins on Aug. 11.

He said UNAMET delivered a draft of the campaign rules to
proindependence and prointegration groups and was now awaiting
their approval.

The campaign rules will allow both camps to campaign on the
platform of bringing the troubled territory a better future,
Wimhurst said.

Wimhurst would not elaborate on the contents of the code,
except to state that it contained a stipulation that leaders of
each faction would conduct the campaign.

He also reiterated the United Nations' request that
proindependence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, who is
serving his jail sentence in a special detention house in
Jakarta, be released.

"But the decision whether to let him campaign and cast his
vote in East Timor is up to the Indonesian government," Wimhurst
said.

Indonesia has dismissed the possibility of Xanana's immediate
release, saying he will be discharged only after the popular
consultation.

Wimhurst also said UNAMET acknowledged the presence of foreign
and domestic poll observers, as well as official observers
dispatched by both the Indonesian and Portuguese governments.

International observers in the former Portuguese colony are
represented by the United States-based Carter Center, which also
monitored the country's June 7 general election.

More than 393,000 East Timorese inside and outside the
province had registered for the direct ballot as of Tuesday.
Voter registration will last for two more days.

Voter registration centers in foreign countries, including
Australia, Portugal and Macau, have registered some 10,000 East
Timorese who fled the province after it was integrated into
Indonesia in 1975.

Antara reported that a registration center on Jl. Kebon Sirih
in Central Jakarta had seen a rush of eligible voters coming to
register over the past three days. A UNAMET staff member, Jorge
Soares, said most of the people came from outside Jakarta.

Some 170 East Timorese residing in East Kalimantan could lose
their voting rights because no registration centers are located
in the province. UNAMET opened registration centers in Jakarta,
Surabaya, Denpasar, Yogyakarta and Ujungpandang in South
Sulawesi.

The registration center in Ujungpandang has so far registered
117 voters from Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya. An official
observer, Dharmaginta Thanos, said he was pessimistic this figure
would substantially increase due to the distance between the
registration center and prospective voters.

Antara also reported some 600 members of the armed
proindependence group Falintil had turned up to register in the
East Timor village of Odomao in Bobonaro regency.

The guerrillas registered with poll officials in two batches
on Sunday and Monday.

Julio Ferdial, alias Lian Atuiba Oin Najain, commander of the
Zegre Dometing group, a faction of Falintil, told the news agency
only Falintil's reserve members registered for the popular
consultation. Most of the guerrillas are still hiding in the
forests, he said.

Ferdial said his troops agreed to register after UNAMET
provided them security guarantees. (27/33/amd)