Pro-integration Timorese ready for fresh talks
Pro-integration Timorese ready for fresh talks
JAKARTA (JP): Fifteen East Timorese leaders will travel to Austria next week for the second round of talks with fellow countrymen opposed to their territory's 1976 integration with Indonesia.
However, Dili Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, head of the East Timorese Roman Catholic community, who took part in the historic first All-inclusive East Timorese Talks in Schlaining last June will be conspicuous by his absence this time. The second round of talks in Schlaining is slated to run from the 19th to the 22nd of March.
Antara reported that Dili's Vicar General Monsignor Jose Antonio da Costa has been tentatively named as Bishop Belo's stand-in. However, his participation has not been confirmed.
The first meeting last year was the first time that East Timorese leaders, divided by 20 years of civil war, met to discuss the future of their homeland. The meeting ended amicably with all participants agreeing to meet again. A row broke out on their return, with pro-integration delegates squabbling about the wording of the joint declaration.
The talks are being sponsored by the United Nations which is also sponsoring meetings between the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers to resolve the international status of East Timor. The United Nations still regards Portugal as the legitimate administrative power in East Timor.
The pro-integration delegation to next week's meeting will include East Timorese Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, senior politicians Francisco Lopes da Cruz and Salvador Januario Ximenes. Other participants include Domingos M.D. Soares, Armindo Soares Mariano, Florentino Sarmento and J. Piedade.
The anti-integration delegation last year included hardline East Timorese leaders in exile such as Jose Ramos Horta and Joao Carrascalao.
Indonesia has insisted the talks should not touch on political matters, which it argues are being discussed at the foreign ministerial meetings, but should rather focus on reconciliation and the future development of East Timor.
The message was stressed once again yesterday by Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung when he met with some of the pro-integration leaders at his office in Jakarta.
Gen. Feisal told the delegation that Indonesia wished the second round of talks to be a success, but underlined that as far as the government was concerned, the status of East Timor was resolved with the 1976 integration, according to ABRI's information center.
"That is final. What needs to be done now is to develop East Timor," Gen. Feisal said. (emb)