Ramos Horta not invited to East Timor dialog

Ramos Horta not invited to East Timor dialog

JAKARTA (JP): East Timor separatist leader Ramos Horta will
not be taking part in any dialog on the future of the territory,
a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said.

Irawan Abidin, the ministry's director of information, told
The Jakarta Post that the dialog on East Timor under the auspices
of the United Nations Secretary-General will only involve the
foreign ministers of Indonesia and Portugal.

Irawan was commenting on the headline in Saturday's edition of
Post entitled "RI welcomes Ramos in E. Timor dialog", which he
said could send the wrong signals.

He said the East Timor dialog at the United Nations remains
strictly "government-to-government".

Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers and the UN
secretary-general met in Geneva for their fifth round of meetings
last week. They agreed to facilitate meetings to bring about
reconciliation between the various opposing East Timor factions.

Minister Ali Alatas of Indonesia, upon his return from Geneva
on Friday, said that Ramos Horta would be allowed to take part in
the reconciliation meetings provided that he did not raise
political issues. (emb)