Pro-RI Timorese to attend Austrian talks
Pro-RI Timorese to attend Austrian talks
JAKARTA (JP): A senior East Timorese politician yesterday confirmed that 16 pro-integration Timorese are slated to attend next month's All-Inclusive Intra-East Timor dialog in Austria.
Lopez da Cruz told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the number of participants from both sides has increased, "so now there are 16 from our side and 14 from their side."
Lopez would not say who would be leading the pro-integration delegation from Indonesia, saying that it had yet to be discussed.
He further added that East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares is also scheduled to attend the discussion.
The United Nations on Tuesday announced that a total of 30 pro and anti-integration East Timorese would be invited to the talks set for June 2-5 in Austria.
The discussion is a follow up to the agreements reached during the fifth trilateral talks on Jan. 9 in Geneva between Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas and his Portuguese counterpart Jose Manuel Durao Barosso under the aegis of UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
The foreign ministers agreed that the UN would facilitate reconciliatory dialog between East Timorese on both sides of the integration debate without touching on the political situation of the former Portuguese colony which was integrated into Indonesia in 1976.
However the dialog was jeopardized and the originally scheduled date of April 26 had to be canceled when Indonesia expressed disappointment at the UN's handling of the preparations.
Without prior consultation, the United Nations sent invitations to 14 participants from abroad and 12 from Indonesia which included such names as Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Fretilin leader Ramos Horta and Abilio Araujo, leader of a Fretilin splinter group.
Lopez's tone yesterday was more upbeat than in March when he stated "anguish" at the UN's preparations.
Yesterday he expressed joy at Indonesian's success in lobbying to have an additional list of names included in the those invited to Austria.
He did not reveal the additional names.
Apart from announcing the new date of the reconciliatory dialog, the United Nations on Tuesday also announced that the sixth trilateral talks would be held on July 8 in Geneva.(mds)