Talks on E. Timor resume

Talks on E. Timor resume

UNITED NATIONS (AFP): A new round of closed-door talks between
Indonesia and Portugal focusing on a political solution for East
Timor opens here today.

The UN-sponsored talks, involving senior officials from
Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministries, are scheduled to
end Friday. They are the third round to be convened by UN chief
Kofi Annan who took office in January.

A Portuguese diplomat said "the main thing is that both sides
are talking".

The United Nations has never recognized East Timor's
integration into Indonesia in 1976, judging Portugal to be the
official administrating power.

Western diplomats noted that the talks are set to resume after
invitations had been sent out to separate informal multiparty
talks involving all the parties involved in East Timor.

The United Nations has not yet confirmed those talks, which
are to be held in Austria from Oct. 20 to Oct. 23 and include
Nobel peace prize winners Ramos Horta and Bishop Ximenes Belo.

Similar informal negotiations took place in March 1996,
between pro-Indonesian groups and the anti-integration movement.

In a statement issued Monday, Human Rights Watch accused the
Armed Forces of carrying out widespread arrests and detentions in
East Timor, particularly following a series of guerrilla attacks
coinciding with Indonesian elections in May.

But the report added that both sides in the conflict were
guilty of human rights abuses. It called on "members of the armed
opposition to end its practice of executing unarmed civilians
suspected of being collaborators or informers for the army".