Progress, but no deal on East Timor talks

Progress, but no deal on East Timor talks

NEW YORK (JP): Both the Portuguese and Indonesian foreign
ministers reported progress on Thursday in negotiations on the
future of violence-plagued East Timor, but said an agreement
would not be ready for signing when their latest round of talks
ends on Friday.

The heads of the two delegations separately told journalists
at the end of the first day of the two-day United Nations-
sponsored ministerial meeting that an agreement will probably be
reached in a future round of discussions.

"I don't think that it will be possible for us to sign any
agreement at the end of our meeting tomorrow (Friday). Probably
in our next round of meetings," Indonesian Minister of Foreign
Affairs Ali Alatas said.

Alatas' counterpart, Jamie Gama, agreed the ongoing round of
discussions will not come to such an agreement.

"We worked very hard today. But, I suspect we are not going to
sign any letter of agreement tomorrow," he said.

Gama, however, said the meeting had made progress toward
settlement of the decades-long dispute.

"The meeting was positive. We try to overcome all the
difficulties and work towards a consolidation," he said.

Gama said the decision on the date for the signing of the
agreement would likely be decided at the end of their
negotiations.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan declined to comment
on the results of Thursday's meeting.

Alatas reiterated Indonesia's opposition to the presence of a
UN peacekeeping force during the direct ballot in East Timor. The
ballot, planned for July is to decide on Jakarta's offer of
either wide-ranging autonomy or separation from Indonesia.

"One thing for sure is the UN's presence will not be in the
form of a peacekeeping force. Because the UN has never proposed
the presence of such a peacekeeping force until now," he said.

On the same issue, Gama suggested that Indonesia prioritize
efforts to control violence in the territory.

"The most important thing is that Indonesia does not support
the paramilitary group, which is clashing with the pro-
independence group," he said separately.

Mass killing

Meanwhile, in Dili, the capital of East Timor, military chief
Col. Tono Suratman denied on Friday foreign reports of a mass
killing of up to 100 people in Covalima, Suai, some 200
kilometers southwest of Dili.

"Those reports are a pack of lies intended to create chaos in
East Timor," he told journalists. "They should be checked
further."

"We, who live in Dili, never heard of such a thing occurring
in Suai, so how can people who live in Jakarta know exactly what
happened there? It's impossible," he said.

Reuters quoted a local priest, Father Hilario, as saying that
pro-Jakarta militias have killed at least eight people and maybe
dozens more in East Timor this week despite a peace pact signed
just two days ago with independence supporters.

"From Monday until tonight, eight people have died," Father
Hilario said by telephone from Suai. "We don't know exactly what
happened. It may be more than 100 (dead)," he said, adding the
known victims were shot or stabbed.

Hilario said the Jakarta-loyalists captured and killed
independence activists. "It was not fighting," he said.

Further details were not immediately available because of poor
communications with the remote area, the news agency said.

East Timor's former Jakarta-appointed governor, Mario Viegas
Carrascalao, told Reuters his sources in Suai told him several
people died in fighting there on Thursday and Friday, and the
death toll could be more than 100.

The peace pact signed Wednesday has had limited success.
Although there were no confirmed reports of casualties, residents
remained wary because of rumors of coming violence and continuing
street checks.

On Friday, police said they had released 20 proindependence
youths detained since Thursday following a brawl with members of
a prointegration militia group.

The cause of the brawl was unclear, but it was believed to be
related to assaults on Sunday and Monday in Becora, East Dili,
where two or three houses were destroyed Monday by unidentified
people.

Prointegration spokesman Basilio Araujo told reporters on
Thursday night that five of their members had just been abducted
by proindependence groups in Ambenu, Covalima regency. However,
local authorities could not confirm the report.

Unrest in other areas such as Hera district near Dili could
not be confirmed either. Residents relied mainly on word of
mouth, as the only local paper, Suara Timor Timur, was
temporarily closed after prointegration groups destroyed the
office on Saturday, accusing it of running misleading reports on
them.

As of Friday, bus passengers still reported identity and
baggage checks by the Red-and-White Iron prointegration group in
the districts of Maubara and Loes in Liquica regency; and by the
Thunder (Halilintar) group in Atabae, Bobonaro regency.

The groups are headed respectively by Manuel Sousa and Joao
das Silva Tavares. Joao is also commander of all prointegration
groups and a signatory to the Wednesday pledge. Manuel led some
of his men on Wednesday to hand in their homemade weapons to the
Dili Police Headquarters.

A passenger requesting anonymity said he and fellow passengers
experienced such checks in Batugade in Balibo district, and
Tunubibi district heading to Maliana town in Bobonaro regency.

"All contents of our bags were taken out one by one," the
passenger from Kupang heading for Dili said. (imn/33/anr)