Timorese likely to leave Polish Embassy this week
Timorese likely to leave Polish Embassy this week
JAKARTA (JP: The 12 East Timorese youths holed up at the Polish embassy since Thursday are expected to leave for Portugal this week.
The head of the local office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Henri Fournier, told Reuters yesterday that the asylum seekers would probably leave on Monday (today). "I don't see what could be the obstacle," he said.
A diplomat at the Polish embassy told The Jakarta Post the men were still at the embassy, but he did not know if they had been granted asylum in Portugal.
"We gave them food, they had a wash, but up to now there's nothing new," Commercial Attache Marec Kijewski said by telephone. "Maybe there will be changes."
He said the twelve men met with Fournier but added that the embassy was not directly involved in the discussion.
The 12 were the latest from the territory to seek refuge outside Indonesia.
Fifty East Timorese have in recent months secured passage to Portugal, the former colonial power in East Timor, after seeking refuge in the British, Dutch, Japanese, French, Australian and New Zealand embassies in Jakarta.
East Timor integrated into Indonesia in 1976. Lisbon, however, is still regarded by the United Nations as the territory's administering power.
The 12 men in the Polish embassy initially told diplomats they were seeking political asylum in Poland.
The last batch of asylum seekers, five Timorese who sought sanctuary at the New Zealand embassy on January 15, arrived in Portugal two days later under the auspices of the Red Cross.
Meanwhile, troops killed six rebels and captured two in the Viqueque and Ermera regencies in an operation last week, local military spokesman Capt. L. Djoko Purwadi said in Dili Saturday.
The soldiers also seized two M-16 and one SP-1 assault rifles and a magazine of bullets in the operation, he said.
In the dawn operation led by Second Sergeant Mukadi, troops killed a rebel identified as Kristofa, also known as Araca Bia, and captured Martinho, alias Aranluli, in Ermera on Jan. 25.
"One of those caught alive was a member of a clandestine group. He was returned to his family after some questioning," Djoko was quoted by Antara as saying.
In Viqueque, the operation led by Capt. Eko S. ambushed a group of seven rebels armed with M-16 and SP-1 rifles at 6.45 a.m. on Jan. 26.
Five of the insurgents were killed and their arms confiscated, he said.
"In both operations, none of our soldiers were killed or wounded," Djoko said. (swe/pan)