Measures mulled for after Aug. 30
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas met with visiting United Nations (UN) special envoy Jamsheed Marker on Wednesday to discuss the period after the direct ballot in East Timor, which UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described as delicate.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, which he described as "preliminary discussions," Marker said they discussed the details of what measures should be taken during the period between the direct vote on Aug. 30 and Indonesia's decision to reject or accept the results of the vote in November.
"After the ballot, the situation will be very important, that is why we are discussing the details of what measures need to be taken," said Marker.
During the meeting, Marker was accompanied by the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) chief Ian Martin.
Marker will also attend the two-day tripartite talks beginning Thursday between Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director General for Political Affairs Nugroho Wisnumurti and his Portuguese counterpart, Fernando Neves. According to TV reports, Portuguese foreign minister Jaime Gama is also expected to attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, Annan proposed to the UN Security Council on Tuesday to double the UN military liaison officers and unarmed police contingents in East Timor to 710, including 410 police, soon after the referendum.
The UN also needed to "reassure all groups, in particular those who were in the minority in the ballot, that they have a role to play in the future political life of East Timor," AFP quoted Annan as saying.
Annan also recommended a three-month extension of UNAMET when its current mandate expires in September.
Separately, representatives of the two warring rivals in East Timor met in Jakarta. Jailed independence fighter Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao led the proindependence delegation, while the prointegration group was led by ambassador at large Lopez da Cruz.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin categorically denied an Australian newspaper report that the country planned to unilaterally send 15,000 troops to the territory.
The Carter Center, led by U.S. former president Jimmy Carter, meanwhile urged President B.J. Habibie to cease Indonesian Military and police support for armed militias.
"Both the military and police are actively campaigning for integration of East Timor into Indonesia," the center said in a statement issued in Dili.
In Fatuahi Hill, East Dili, a provincial police spokesman said a group of proindependence militia ambushed their rivals who just attended a meeting with opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri on Tuesday.
Spokesman Capt. Widodo said he still could not say whether the clash claimed any victims or not, and said the police were still not able to approach the place due to high tension there.
From Dili, AFP reported that prointegration militia twice attacked a student poll information center in the town of Viqueque, abducting two students and shooting at least two others dead. (33/prb)