Two Timorese seek asylum at Australian embassy
Two Timorese seek asylum at Australian embassy
JAKARTA (JP): Two East Timorese women entered the Australian embassy in Jakarta yesterday and asked for political asylum.
The Australian government was studying the demands last night.
"Yes, there were two East Timorese women in the embassy and they were asking for asylum," John Milne, the embassy's spokesman told The Jakarta Post by phone.
The Australian government has not decided whether their demand would be met or not.
"We're still talking about the matter," Milne said.
The pair entered the embassy about lunch time, he said.
He declined to give further details.
Quoting East Timorese sources, Reuters identified the two women as 23-year old Maria Sarmento and 25-year old Odilia Victor, both residents of Dili. The two are members of the underground Council for National Maubere Resistance, or CNRM, and were present at the Nov. 12 1991 demonstration which turned into a riot and left at least 50 protesters dead.
The Director of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ghaffar Fadyl was not available for comment on the asylum request. His staff said he was in Cairo.
Although Australia has recognized Indonesia's sovereignty in East Timor, it irritated its neighbor last year when it agreed to take in a number of East Timorese asylum seekers.
This is the first time that such an embassy break-in was all- female.
Five East Timorese apparently abandoned a bid to enter the Bulgarian embassy last week after being told the ambassador was not available to see them, a source at the embassy told Reuters.
Last year, the British, French, Japanese and Dutch embassies were targets of a wave of East Timorese young men seeking asylum.
None were granted by the governments of the embassies in question, but they all eventually won a passage to Portugal, the former ruler of East Timor.
In all the cases, the Indonesian government denied their claims that they were being persecuted or that they were wanted by the law. The government also stressed that they were free to leave whenever they wanted.
The latest embassy break-in comes less than a week before Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers resume their dialog in London to determine the future of East Timor. The meeting is being held under the auspices of United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. (01)