Timorese women win safe passage to Portugal
Timorese women win safe passage to Portugal
JAKARTA (JP): Two East Timorese women left for Portugal last night after spending two days in the Australian Embassy. A few hours earlier, two separate groups of East Timorese attempted to break into the Japanese and New Zealand embassies.
The two East Timorese women left for Lisbon yesterday evening after sheltering in the Australian Embassy on Jl. HR Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, since Wednesday.
Maria Sarmento, 23, and Odilia Victor, 25, had originally asked for refuge in Australia but like earlier East Timorese asylum seekers, they ended up going to Lisbon.
They left under the facilitation of the local office of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"The women's departure for Portugal follows precedents established recently in relation to East Timorese who have sought asylum at various embassies in Jakarta," Australian embassy spokesman John Milne told The Jakarta Post.
He added that during discussions with embassy officials, the two women indicated a willingness to go to Portugal.
"As has been the case in the past, Portugal expressed its willingness to accept the two women if they wish to travel to Portugal, and the Indonesian authorities agreed to their departure," he said.
In the morning, seven East Timorese youths tried to scale the fence of the Japanese Embassy on Jl. MH Thamrin.
Aware of the possible break-in, police fended the Timorese from scaling the fence which had been fortified with barb wire after a similar but more successful incident two months ago.
Police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Hariatna told the Post yesterday that the seven were being detained for questioning at the Central Jakarta Police precinct.
At about the same time, at the New Zealand embassy on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, five East Timorese youth entered the embassy compound.
The Indonesian foreign ministry's acting spokesperson Koko Wijanarko yesterday confirmed to the Post that the five had taken refuge at the embassy and were asking for political asylum.
Nevertheless, Koko scoffed at their demands for asylum and brushed the incident aside as another publicity stunt to attract attention in conjunction with the coming trilateral talks.
Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas and his newly appointed counterpart Jaime Gama are due to meet at the seventh United Nations sponsored trilateral talks in London on Tuesday to find an internationally acceptable solution to the East Timor issue.
The former Portuguese colony was integrated as Indonesia's 27th province in 1976. The UN, however, still recognizes Lisbon as the administrating power there. (01/bsr/mds)