Little progress made at Geneva East Timor talks
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)