Timor talks participants leave for Austria
JAKARTA (JP): A group of East Timorese invited by the United Nations to the third round of the All-Inclusive Intra-East Timorese Dialog (AETD) talks left here Wednesday for Austria.
The talks, the third so far, are scheduled to take place from Oct. 20 to Oct. 23, Antara reported yesterday. Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, who will act as an observer at the talks, is scheduled to leave Dili for Austria tomorrow.
Political questions are off-limits at the talks, which have been designed to develop mutual understanding between the two sides -- those who support and those who are against the Indonesian government.
A participant, Domingos MD Soares, said here Wednesday the Indonesian participants to the talks were ready to meet with the other side.
Soares is a member of a team entrusted with formulating the objectives and agenda of the talks.
"We, particularly the formulating team, have made adequate preparations, for instance on cooperation among all East Timorese both living in Indonesia and abroad in an effort to develop and maintain East Timorese culture," Soares said.
The East Timorese participants will strive to form a center of cooperation on East Timorese culture.
According to Soares, the Indonesian delegation would in principle accept and support proposals and endeavors to improve the welfare of all East Timorese as long as they did not infringe matters related to East Timorese integration.
The former Portuguese colony integrated into Indonesia in 1976 and became its 27th province, but the United Nations still considers Lisbon the administrative power there.
To deepen knowledge on East Timorese culture, the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry invited East Timorese cultural anthropologists Domingos de Sousa, Francisco Nascimento and Eugenio de C.J. Sarmento to brief the participants.
Belo said he would not stay long in Austria.
"As soon as the talks end, I will return to East Timor to attend the centennial anniversary of the Catholic church in Soibada," he said.
Soibada is 80 kilometers east of Dili. (swe)