RI-East Timor meeting ends in deadlock

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: Officials from the Indonesian Military (TNI) and East Timor Police met again on Wednesday to discuss a recent shooting that injured TNI officer First. Lt. Deddy Setyawan.

The meeting ended in a deadlock, as the East Timor delegates refused to disclose what they knew about the case pending a permit from East Timor's Attorney General to probe the shooting, Lt. Col. Yul Avianto, the chief of Indonesian troops securing border between East Timor and Indonesia, said.

Wednesday's meeting, facilitated by a United Nations Military Liaison Officer, was the second after the first meeting about the incident on Saturday, a day after the shooting took place in a border area between Indonesia and East Timor. The shooting, which triggered tensions between the TNI and East Timor authorities, happened after officer Deddy was injured after being shot by an unknown assailant on the border.

TNI soldiers claimed that the perpetrator shot Deddy from East Timor territory after Deddy and his troops chased some people believed to be smuggling fuel to East Timor from Indonesia. -- JP