Rival East Timor factions to start new peace talks

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)