Marker says East Timor visit a political mission

JAKARTA (JP): United Nations special envoy Jamsheed Marker said his fact-finding visit to East Timor was a political mission toward a solution to the longstanding dispute.

Marker, Pakistan's former ambassador to the UN, said Thursday he planned to present his report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan upon his return to New York.

"The human rights situation is a very important part of my work, but my mission is a political one," he said.

Marker spent three days in East Timor after arriving on March 20. He had earlier visited Portugal which the UN recognizes as the administering power in East Timor despite Indonesia's integration of East Timor in 1976.

Marker said steps would be taken to reactivate the UN-brokered negotiations between Portugal and Indonesia which had achieved little in 15 years.

He hailed Indonesia's cooperation in pursuing his fact-finding mission and willingness to seek a solution to the longstanding problem.

But Marker called for greater leniency during the investigation into East Timorese youths involved in a riot in Dili on Sunday.

He said he believed there were no deaths during the riot, based on reports from government and independent sources.

About 200 youths demonstrated at the Hotel Mahkota Timor, where Marker was staying, and were forcibly dispersed by riot police and security personnel.

Church sources said two people died in the melee. One was reportedly of shot and the other stabbed. Another 21 were reportedly injured, seven of whom were shot and the others beaten.

During his two-week visit Marker also met with several prominent people. Marker said his discussions with Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of the 30 million-strong Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama, were informative but he did not give details.

With strongest base in rural areas, Nahdlatul Ulama is Indonesia's largest religious, educational organization.

He did not say what he discussed with jailed anti-integration leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, who was arrested in 1992 and serving a 20-year prison term. He said he was in good health.

Marker also said the actions of 33 anti-integration East Timorese demonstrators who broke into the Austrian embassy in Jakarta earlier this week to meet him were unnecessary.

Marker said "there is not going to be any question of pressure by the UN about dealing with East Timor, but we will use persuasion, discussion, meetings." (01)