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)