Indonesia willing to face Portugal on E. Timur at UN

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is prepared to confront Portugal in the United Nations General Assembly over the question of East Timor, even to the point of voting on the issue, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said.

The East Timor issue could return to the assembly's agenda if Portugal continued to boycott the current negotiations with Indonesia under the auspices of the UN secretary-general, Alatas said.

"Indonesia is ready for any confrontation with Portugal through a vote," the minister told Antara in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, at the World Economic Forum.

Alatas met with UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan on the margins of the forum Saturday to discuss the prospect of reviving the East Timor negotiations. Talks planned for last December did not take place following a change in the UN leadership and Lisbon's decision to boycott further discussions.

The East Timor issue was last debated at the General Assembly in 1982. Since then it has been removed from the assembly's agenda every year to allow Indonesia and Portugal to continue negotiations under the UN secretary-general's mediation.

At stake is the question of the sovereignty of East Timor. While Indonesia insists the majority of East Timorese voted to integrate with Indonesia, the United Nations continues to regard Portugal as the territory's administering power.

The December talks would have been the ninth involving the two countries' foreign ministers.

Alatas said that Indonesia was always prepared to cooperate with the UN chief to find a "fair and comprehensive" settlement on East Timor through the tripartite discussions.

During Saturday's meeting, Annan promised to appoint a senior member of staff to oversee the East Timor dialogs, Alatas said.

"The SecGen said he would appoint, in the near future, a senior and experienced staff member to handle the dialog in a sustainable way," he said.

Annan would study the "modality" of the negotiations, and whether or not the talks should be limited to foreign ministerial level, or also involve lower level officials, Alatas said.

In Davos Alatas also met with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata and Swiss foreign minister Flavio Cotti.

Ogata, according to Alatas, expressed her gratitude for the Indonesian government's assistance in the handling of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia.

Last year Indonesia closed the Galang refugee center in the Riau province after the UN had assisted in the voluntary repatriation of the thousands of remaining "boat people".

Ogata stated her intention to maintain the UNHCR representative office in Indonesia even though the problem of the Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees had been sorted out.

She disclosed her intention to turn the UNHCR representative office into a regional office for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Alatas said.

In the meeting with his Swiss counterpart, Alatas invited Cotti to Indonesia in November.

Cotti is scheduled to become president of the Swiss federation next year. (emb)