Indonesia quietly ends all claims to East Timor

Indonesia quietly ends all claims to East Timor

JAKARTA (JP): The country's 24 years of unhappy rule of East
Timor formally ended with little fanfare on Thursday with a
letter informing the United Nations of Jakarta's decision to
relinquish all legal claims to the territory.

Indonesian Ambassador to the United Nations Makarim Wibisono
presented the letter from President Abdurrahman Wahid to UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York, Antara reported.

If Indonesia's annexation of the territory in 1976 was
preceded with violence, including the sending of Indonesian
"volunteers" into the territory in December 1975, the end was
quiet and escaped the attention of the international media.

There was no special ceremony to mark the historic event, but
the UN office invited a number of journalists to witness the
presentation of the letter, which effectively returned East Timor
to its 1976 status as a "non-self-governing territory".

For Indonesia, the event signified the end of its de jure
claim to the former Portuguese colony. Jakarta effectively ceased
de facto control when the Australia-led multinational
peacekeeping force arrived in East Timor last month. A handful of
Indonesian civil and military officials remain in the territory
to oversee the transfer to the United Nations.

Indonesia's claim to East Timor was never recognized by the
United Nations, which continued to regard Portugal as the
administrative power in the territory.

Makarim told Antara that the letter informed Annan of last
month's ruling by the People's Consultative Assembly to endorse
the results of the UN-sponsored ballot in East Timor on Aug. 30.

In the ballot, 78 percent of eligible voters rejected
Jakarta's offer to remain part of the country under a wide-
ranging autonomy arrangement.

In his letter, President Abdurrahman asked Annan to protect
pro-Indonesia East Timorese and to guarantee and safeguard all
remaining Indonesian assets in the territory until their
ownership status could be determined.

The next phase will be the formal transition of power from the
Indonesian government to the United Nations, Makarim said, adding
that it would be followed by the United Nations initiating the
process toward East Timor's independence.

Makarim said Annan would promptly respond to the letter and
also indicated his intention to visit Indonesia and East Timor.

He did not set any date for the visit, but it could be this
year or next, the ambassador was quoted as saying.

Antara also reported that the United Nations and its
humanitarian agencies were seeking to raise US$199 million in
emergency funds for East Timorese both in the territory and
refugee centers in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara.

The funds are needed to finance its humanitarian operation,
including the provision of food, shelter and health treatment,
until June next year, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Eckhard estimated that some 650,000 people needed assistance.

He said as many as 75 percent of East Timorese had fled the
territory and 70 percent of houses and public buildings were
destroyed during the rampage following announcement of the ballot
results.

Meanwhile, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the newly appointed UN
administrator for East Timor, said on Wednesday that he would
leave New York on Nov. 7 or Nov. 8 and take up his post soon
afterwards.

Emphasizing the need to "establish relations of confidence"
with Indonesia, he told a news conference he would visit Jakarta
"as soon as possible after I take up my functions in Dili".

Asked how long it would take to prepare East Timor for
independence, he said "I do not have a crystal ball" and it might
be several months before he could give a definitive response.

Vieira de Mello was appointed on Monday as special
representative to Annan to head the UN Transitional Authority in
East Timor (UNTAET).

Vieira de Mello, who set up the UN's civilian administration
in Kosovo in June, said there were similarities with East Timor
but also "fundamental differences".

The most important was that "the endgame is clear" in East
Timor.

The job of UNTAET was to "assist the people in achieving their
long-frustrated wish for independence", he said.