Portugal calls for E. Timor inquiry

JAKARTA (JP): Portugal's envoy to Indonesia Ana Gomes called on Wednesday for an international inquiry into the outbreak of violence against civilians in East Timor.

"We think that an international investigation is indeed necessary to establish what has happened in Liquica," Gomes said after meeting jailed East Timorese leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao at his special detention house in Central Jakarta.

Gomes was referring to the violence against civilians in Liquica Regency on Monday which was allegedly perpetrated by military-backed civilian militias.

"We do not know exactly what happened in Liquica, we do not know if four, 20, 40 or how many were killed.

"This time in Liquica, there were no observers. Nobody knows what happened yet," Gomes said.

Earlier on Wednesday, spokesman for the Armed Forces (ABRI) Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said five civilians were killed during the violence.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, however, said in the provincial capital of Dili on Wednesday that about 25 people were killed in the incident.

Belo traveled to Liquica earlier in the day to visit the site of the attack with East Timor Military Commander Col. Tono Suratman.

"I have a paper from the military commander stating that there were 25 bodies inside the priest's house, but according to other witnesses outside the church there were other bodies. I don't know exactly how many," he said.

"An international presence is absolutely necessary in East Timor to calm tensions and to deter the violence, from whoever is intending to launch it," Gomes, the head of Portugal's diplomatic post called its interest section here said.

Also on Wednesday, Gomes clarified Xanana's earlier controversial instruction to his followers to undertake a general popular insurrection against armed militia groups. She said he only "authorized his people to exercise self-defense against the aggression".

"I did not say that we were ready for a war but I call on the people to prepare themselves ... do not die like an animal, people cannot be killed just like that," Xanana said on Wednesday.

Xanana said that despite his statement, he remained committed to a peaceful solution in East Timor.

"Members of CNRT yesterday met with Bishop Belo and (Baucau) Bishop (Basilio Do) Nascimento to demonstrate our willingness to continue creating a peaceful atmosphere in East Timor," Xanana said. CNRT is the National Resistance Council for an Independent East Timor, which Xanana chairs.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas expressed "surprise" that the reported call to arms had come at a "sensitive and decisive" time of peace seeking solutions.

The International Committeee of the Red Cross was welcome to investigate the reported killings, he said, adding that Xanana's "emotional" statement might have been based on disinformation, which he said was rampant in the province.

Gomes said the violence in Liquica was aimed at disrupting tripartite talks between Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations which are scheduled to resume later this month.

"What we know for sure is that these kinds of actions are aimed at boycotting the consultation process at the United Nations."

Xanana on Tuesday called for a United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor to disarm the civilian population and halt violence in the former Portuguese colony.

But ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto rejected the call on Wednesday insisting that problems in East Timor were "the internal concerns of the Republic of Indonesia".

In New York, the United Nations on Tuesday also rejected calls for a peacekeeping force, but expressed concern over the violence in East Timor.

Wiranto warned the proindependence group against terrorizing civilian people, saying the military would administer stern measures against any individual or group which aimed to disrupt security and stability in the province.

Separately, Minister of Justice Muladi said on Wednesday the government would review its policy of housing Xanana in his present special detention quarters "if it was true that Xanana declared a war against ABRI and Indonesians".

The aim of placing Xanana in special detention "was so he could contribute more effectively to the settlement of the East Timor problem... not for declaring a war like that, whatever the reason," he said.

Muladi said Xanana should have been more careful with his words as he was considered one of the most prominent East Timorese figures.

The ministry's director general for correctional institutions had been assigned to meet Xanana to clarify the matter, Muladi added. (33/aan/byg/prb/rms)