Rival East Timor factions to start new peace talks

DILI, East Timor (JP): The second round of peace talks between disputing factions in East Timor will begin this weekend in Jakarta with 30 members from both the prointegration and proindependence camps, including 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co- laureate Ramos Horta.

The talks, called the Dare II talks after the mountainous area in West Dili where the first round of talks took place in September last year, will take place in Jakarta among others so jailed proindependence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao can participate.

"Xanana will be taken from his special detention house tomorrow at 8 a.m. to the (hotel) airport," Xanana's lawyer Hendardi said. He was referring to the Sheraton Bandara Hotel in Cengkareng, west of here. However a reservations officer at the hotel said she was not aware of the planned event there.

The event is scheduled to take place from Friday to Wednesday, including preparations, but organizers in Dili would not reveal the dates of the actual talks.

Like the first Dare talks, the event is jointly sponsored by Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Baucau Bishop Basilio do Nascimento.

In the talks last September, the prointegration and proindependence parties agreed to recognize their differing views and refrain from violence.

However, President B.J. Habibie's announcement in January that the government would grant East Timor independence if its offer of wide-ranging autonomy was rejected triggered continued violence between the two factions.

The two bishops and other East Timorese figures departed Dili for Jakarta on Thursday. Among those traveling to the capital for the talks were ambassador-at-large for East Timor and Front of the People of East Timor chairman Lopez da Cruz, and other prointegration leaders from the Forum for Peace, Democracy and Justice (FPDK), apart from Mahidi and Saka militia group leaders.

Representatives of the East Timor National Commission for Human Rights and the Commission for Peace and Stability also departed for Jakarta.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said the government had issued a visa to Horta to enable him attend the meeting. He said Horta would be allowed to visit Indonesia as long as he refrained from campaigning here.

"About visiting East Timor, we will see later," Alatas said before attending a meeting of the Council of Enforcement of Security and Law at Bina Graha presidential office. The meeting was chaired by President B.J. Habibie.

The Indonesian Embassy in Australia announced on Thursday it had issued visas to several self-exiled independence leaders, including Mario Alkatiri and Manuel Viegas Carrascalao.

Antara reported that before being issued a visa, Alkatiri was required to sign a statement saying he was traveling to Indonesia only to attend the peace talks.

After attending the council meeting at Bina Graha, Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto said the government had proposed the United Nations open additional polling stations for the direct ballot on the future of East Timor in Bandung, West Java; Semarang, Central Java; Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara; and Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara.

He said there were large numbers of East Timorese living in these cities. The UN previously agreed to establish polling stations in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, East Timor, Denpasar and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi.

"It is better to add more polling stations rather than mobilizing eligible voters to vote in other cities," Wiranto said. He added TNI had set a July 5 deadline for prointegration and proindependence forces to surrender their weapons to the police or military.

Also on Thursday UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal representative on East Timor Jamsheed Marker arrived in Dili to check the latest security developments in the province.

His arrival came two days after Annan announced a two-week delay of the direct ballot, originally scheduled for Aug. 8, for security and logistical considerations.

The spokesman for the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), David Wimhurst, said he had received death threats and was now being protected by UN security personnel.

Wimhurst has been the target of criticism by pro-Indonesian forces and the government, which have accused him of favoring proindependence groups. FPDK spokesman Basilio Dias Araujo said Wimhurst should be replaced by someone more neutral. (prb/33)