Portugal and Indonesia renew East Timor talks
Portugal and Indonesia renew East Timor talks
GENEVA (Reuter): Portugal and Indonesia resumed talks about East Timor yesterday but Portuguese Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said the two countries were still "in completely opposite positions" over the territory's future.
Barroso told reporters before meetings with Indonesia's Foreign Minister Ali Alatas and United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali that he expected fresh proposals from the U.N. chief to kick-start the dialogue.
But he expressed frustration at the lack of results from four previous meetings with Alatas and pointedly reminded Indonesia of East Timorese protests in Dili, capital of the territory, and in Jakarta.
Earlier yesterday, East Timorese youths staged a pro- independence protest around the university campus in Dili.
"The latest incidents in Dili and also in Jakarta should make the government of Indonesia aware that some progress should be made as soon as possible," Barroso told reporters.
He added: "We are waiting for some proposals from the secretary-general, some proposals to bring some progress on this issue. It is the fifth time we meet with the secretary-general so I think that it's about time that we find something concrete to show the international community and the Timorese."
The dialogue began in 1983, broke off in 1991 and was reactivated in late 1992 under the eye of Boutros-Ghali. Since then the foreign ministers have concentrated on "confidence- building measures" designed to lessen tension in East Timor.
Asked whether the question of East Timorese self-determination -- demanded by Lisbon but long rejected by Indonesia -- was still on the agenda, Barroso said that was the "substance of the matter".
"This is very difficult because we are in completely opposite positions," he added.
"But we think that apart from that difference, we have some room to find some solution, at least some transitional solution and we are ready to work with the government of Indonesia to try and find that solution and, of course, according to international law and the basic human right of self-determination."
Alatas told reporters the talks were "not about politics" but on ways to increase cooperation between Lisbon and Jakarta.
At their last meeting, in May 1994, the ministers agreed to start talks with the opposing factions within East Timor and to institute a variety of confidence-building measures.
That dialog has not yet begun in earnest. But a U.N. spokeswoman said the ministers would issue a joint declaration after yesterday's talks and Boutros-Ghali hoped that "all- inclusive intra-Timorese dialog" would soon begin.
She declined to comment on whether Boutros-Ghali would present any new proposals.