Lopez to meet anti-integration East Timorese in Australia
Lopez to meet anti-integration East Timorese in Australia
JAKARTA (JP): An East Timorese delegation will fly to
Australia in the near future for reconciliatory talks with their
exiled countrymen who oppose the territory's integration with
Indonesia.
Ambassador at large in charge of East Timor affairs F.X. Lopez
da Cruz told journalists yesterday that the meeting was expected
to pave the way for reconciliation between the pro- and anti-
integration camps.
The planned meeting will be the third of its kind. Last
December and October, Lopez led a delegation in London with East
Timorese dissidents living in Portugal, East Timor's former
colonial master.
Lopez said yesterday that the reconciliatory talks would not
focus on East Timor's political status but on how the exiled East
Timorese could contribute to development of the youngest
province.
"We will meet as fellow countrymen to reconcile our
differences because we all believe confrontation will not solve
anything," he said after reporting to Soeharto on his recent
talks in London with anti-integration East Timorese living in
Portugal and Portuguese Foreign Minister Durao Barosso.
The diplomatic gathering in Australia is important as an
estimated 15,000 East Timorese are living in Australia, compared
to the 2,000 - 3,000 in Portugal, he said.
The London talks, held under the auspices of the UN Secretary
General Boutros Boutros- Ghali, were considered a breakthrough in
the efforts to seek a solution to the East Timor question.
East Timor integrated into Indonesia in 1976 but the United
Nations has not recognized it.
Lopez said the London meeting had special significance because
it was attended by the UN secretary general's special envoy,
endorsed by Pope John Paul II and approved by both the Indonesian
and Portuguese governments.
According to Lopez, at the end of the talks the anti-
integration delegates acknowledged Indonesia's efforts to develop
East Timor and promised to contribute.
The exiled leaders also proposed better respect for human
rights in East Timor, greater autonomy and withdrawal of troops
from the territory, Lopez said.
"The President assured us that he would be pleased to meet in
Indonesia with the anti-integration East Timorese to reach a
better mutual understanding," he said.
The president rejects the proposal that East Timor be given a
"special status" like Yogyakarta and Aceh because, in practice,
the two provinces are treated exactly like any others, Lopez
said.
But the President did agree that East Timor should be given
greater autonomy to manage its internal affairs as stipulated in
Indonesian law. (pan)