Little progress made at Geneva East Timor talks

JAKARTA (JP): The eighth meeting between Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers under the auspices of the United Nations Secretary-General ended in Geneva on Thursday, with little headway in resolving the East Timor question.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said in a news conference yesterday following the meeting that progress had been slow, although details on substantial issues of the framework for a solution to the East Timor issue had been discussed.

The one-day talks were a continuation of meetings sponsored by the UN Secretary-General in an attempt to find an internationally acceptable solution to the East Timor issue.

The seventh round of talks were held in London in January.

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as part of Indonesia in 1976. Nevertheless, the UN still regards Lisbon as the administrative power there.

As reported by Antara from Geneva yesterday, the ninth round of talks between Alatas and his Portuguese counterpart, Jaime Gama, will be held in New York on Dec. 21.

Both foreign ministers also positively welcomed the Secretary- General's proposals to organize another All-Inclusive Intra-East Timor Dialog.

The dialog brings together Timorese on both sides of the integration debate. Two dialog sessions have been held, the last one in Austria in March.

However, Alatas questioned the benefit of possibly alternating the dialog between Lisbon and Jakarta.

Alatas said that given the current climate in relations, it would be best to hold the dialog in a neutral country, as proposed by Gama.

He then questioned whether the Portuguese government could guarantee that the Indonesian delegation would be given a favorable reception, given a previous experience where an arriving delegation was met by a hostile demonstration.

During their talks, the two ministers also touched on the possibility of establishing an East Timorese cultural center.

In his press conference, Alatas reasserted Indonesia's objection to a proposal to open interest sections in each others' respective capitals if it were tied with conditions for the release of Timorese political prisoners.

During the March summit meeting between European and Asian leaders in Bangkok, Portuguese President Antonio Guterres approached President Soeharto and suggested the possibility of opening interest sections, provided that Jakarta released jailed Timorese rebel Xanana Gusmao.

Alatas on Thursday said Indonesia rejected such a proposal, originally put forth by the UN Secretary-General, on which Portugal is now placing certain new conditionalities.

Alatas further questioned the relevance of Gama's expressed intention to visit Jakarta and meet with Xanana.

"We agreed to disagree about the visit," Alatas said(mds)