Susilo, Gusmao, de Mello meet to discuss E. Timor

Susilo, Gusmao, de Mello meet to discuss E. Timor

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Indonesia's top political and security
officials held closed-door meetings here with East Timor leader
Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao and United Nations officials late on
Thursday.

Held at the Sheraton Laguna Hotel in Nusa Dua, 15 kilometers
south of here, the formal talks only began at 11.30 p.m. local
time after dinner. They had already met for an informal meeting
which took place between 8 p.m. and 10.30 p.m.

Until the formal talks began, the full agenda of the meeting
remained unknown.

Leader of Indonesian delegation Coordinating Minister for
Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
said the meeting was aimed at "finding a comprehensive settlement
to the East Timor refugee issue". But Gusmao hinted that the
talks also touched on cross-border incidents.

It was the first encounter between Indonesian government
officials on the one hand and East Timorese leaders and UN
officers on the other since an attack left three UN High
Commissioner for Refugees workers in Atambua dead last week.

Apart from Susilo, the Indonesian delegation comprised
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra,
Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo A.S. and National
Police chief Gen. Rusdihardjo.

Also attending the talks were the head of the UN Transitional
Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Sergio Vieira de Mello,
senior UNTAET officers, the deputy commander of UN peacekeepers
in East Timor and Gusmao who had traveled to Bali to meet the
delegation, the UN and officials in East Timor said.

Ahead of the bilateral meeting, Susilo and other security and
political ministers held talks with East Timor prointegration
leaders at the Padma Hotel.

Former pro-Jakarta East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres
told reporters after the meeting that the government offered East
Timorese (refugees) a vacant island to live on.

"I accept the offer as a token of appreciation from the
government of Indonesia. But I don't know what sort of island it
will be. I don't know either how we (East Timor refugees) can
develop the island into a new province in the future," Guterres
said.

Foreign spy

The meetings in Bali came hours after Minister of Defense
Mahfud M.D. hinted at the possible involvement of foreign
countries in the recent rioting in Atambua, a town close to the
border with East Timor.

"We have preliminary evidence on the possibility of a foreign
intelligence operation launched by a certain country, which is
connected with the incident," he told a press conference in
Jakarta.

He added the government's thorough investigation into the
attack would continue and its results would be announced to the
public.

Mahfud said the government had lodged a note of protest to
UNTAET over alleged vote rigging during the Aug. 30 ballot in
East Timor last year but it remains unanswered by the UN
authority in the territory.

In response to an alleged foreign role in the Atambua case,
Maj. Gen. Ferry Tinggogoy, deputy chairman of the House of
Representatives Commission on defense and foreign affairs, called
on the government to take firm action in dealing with foreign
countries, including Australia, which supported the recent UN
resolution on the Atambua case.

Meanwhile, Udayana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Kiki
Syahnakri, who oversees Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa
Tenggara, said the military would investigate the possible
involvement of Australian intelligence in the Atambua killings.

"We still cannot confirm (Australian involvement). But we will
go ahead with the investigation of indications of foreign
intervention in the case," Kiki said as quoted by Antara.

Kiki also said the military is working closely with UNTAET in
probing the deaths of the international workers.

The general played down a report of a massive exodus of local
people and East Timorese refugees from Atambua following an
increase in the activities of the pro-Indonesian militias in the
regency.

In a related development, some 80 health workers assigned to
help East Timorese refugees have left the province following the
incident last week.

Valens Sili Tupen, chief of the health ministry's office in
Belu, said the health workers, some of whom were physicians, were
forced to go back home because of the tension before and after
the incident. (yac/rms/prb/zen)