Proindependence faction set to share power

JAKARTA (JP): The East Timor proindependence faction pledged on Friday to share power with its pro-Jakarta rival if it won the United Nations-sanctioned self-determination vote in August.

"If it is in favor of independence, we will call a national conference for reconciliation and power sharing," self-exiled proindependence figure Ramos Horta told a news conference at his colleague Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao's special detention house in Central Jakarta.

"The prointegration people will be invited to join us in a provisional administration for at least three years under the UN and the Indonesian government will also be invited to take part with the UN in the transitional arrangement," Horta said.

The government allowed Horta into the country to participate in the church-organized peace talks which ended on Wednesday.

Horta fled East Timor days before the Indonesian Military was deployed to the territory in 1975.

East Timorese will participate in the UN-administered popular consultation to decide whether it would remain part of Indonesia or be an independent state.

Violence between the two warring factions has been on the rise since Jakarta said in January it would let go of the former Portuguese colony if its people rejected an autonomy offer.

Horta blamed pro-Jakarta militias for most of the violence and believed they had the support of the Indonesian Military.

"There is mounting evidence from the US State Department, Australia, EU and numerous journalists that at least there are elements of the army that are behind the militias," Horta said.

He said, however, "there is a growing concern in Jakarta about what is happening in East Timor" and he believed that President B.J. Habibie was committed to solving the East Timor problem.

"I have confidence in Habibie and ... this man has had the courage of a statesman," Horta said.

The government has barred Horta from visiting East Timor and campaigning for independence ahead of the ballot.

Horta said it was in Indonesia's interest to let him go and said he would like to go to East Timor in July or August, and would agree not to campaign.

"Let us assume the independence option wins. There will be tens of thousands of people ... parading around the country. We need people like Xanana, my colleagues and myself to control the crowd," he said.

"That will be our intention to convey a message of goodwill in the constructive approach to the people there ... not to exacerbate the feelings there," he added.

Evacuation

Meanwhile, AP quoted a UN spokesman as saying on Friday that six members of the United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) were evacuated from Liquica, some 40 kilometers west of the East Timor capital of Dili, after being threatened by prointegration militiamen.

It was the third time this week that officials of the UN were forced out of towns outside Dili.

Spokesman Yasuhiro Ueki said the six left Liquica on Thursday night for the safety of Dili.

Antara reported a fresh batch of 31 members of an unarmed UN civilian police force for East Timor's self-determination vote, including 10 Americans, arrived in Dili from Australia on Friday.

The officers, wearing sky-blue UN berets, disembarked from a special UN flight at Dili's Comoro airport.

The team consisted of 17 Australians, 10 from the U.S. and four from Zimbabwe.

Also arriving on board the same plane were six military liaison officers from Australia and New Zealand.

Ueki said the policemen would be deployed across East Timor on Saturday.

The new arrivals brings the number of UN civilian police in East Timor to 104.

The presence of the police force, which will number 274 when the full complement is here, was part of agreements signed by Indonesia and Portugal at the UN in New York in May.

Under the agreement, Indonesian police are responsible for security before and during the vote while the UN police will act as advisors.

The vote was originally scheduled for August 8 but UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has since decided to delay it for up to two weeks, citing security and logistic concerns.(byg/33)