Portuguese premier seeks meeting with VP Habibie

Portuguese premier seeks meeting with VP Habibie

LISBON, Portugal (AP): Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio
Guterres has proposed meeting with Indonesian Vice President B.J.
Habibie this week to discuss the thorny subject of East Timor, a
government official.

"Our interest is to have this meeting on the highest level,"
Ana Paula Zacarias, spokeswoman for the Portuguese Foreign
Ministry, told the Associated Press Wednesday.

Guterres met with Indonesian President Soeharto two years ago
in Bangkok and this is a "renewed proposal for a second round of
negotiations", Zacarias said.

Guterres has proposed meeting during the Asia-Europe Meeting
being held in London this week.

"So far we have no confirmation if the meeting is going to
take place," Zacarias said.

The former Portuguese colony integrated into Indonesia in
1976, but the United Nations still recognizes Lisbon as the
administrative authority in East Timor.

Timorese separatist leader Jose Ramos-Horta met with British
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in London on Monday and "received
assurances (from Cook) that he would raise the issue with his
Indonesian counterpart" sources close to the self-exiled
separatist leader said.

But Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas last
week said that East Timor would not be discussed in the meeting
because it was an irrelevant issue.

He also said that participants in the meeting knew and
accepted this fact.

Alatas further stressed that no meeting had been scheduled
with the Portuguese prime minister and that none was likely to
occur.