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.