UN chief seeks quick solution on E. Timor
UN chief seeks quick solution on E. Timor
GENEVA (Reuter): United Nations chief Kofi Annan said yesterday that Portugal and Indonesia were ready to revive UN- sponsored talks on East Timor and he hoped the two sides could reach agreement quickly on the troubled territory.
Annan said he would meet Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas in the Swiss resort of Davos, where the World Economic Forum is hosting its annual gathering to Feb. 4.
The new UN secretary-general said he had met Portuguese and Indonesian envoys in New York to discuss resuming the talks, which were to have taken place in December but were postponed.
"They are prepared to move the process forward and continue the talks," Annan said.
"Since both sides are ready and prepared to move forward, I intend after appropriate consultations to set in motion the mechanism for the talks," he added, without giving a date.
"We will try to keep it on a sustained basis and try to bring the parties to some conclusion as quickly as possible."
Alatas told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday, after meeting President Soeharto, that he expected to discuss the East Timor issue with Annan in Davos.
Alatas accused Portugal of trying to drag out the East Timor issue and seeking to blame Jakarta for the lack of a settlement.
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was integrated into Indonesia in 1976 and has since become Indonesia's 27th province.
The United Nations did not recognize the integration and still regards Portugal as the territory's administering power.
Tensions in the East Timor capital, Dili, have risen recently as Indonesian security officers searched for youths suspected of involvement in the murder of a soldier on Dec. 24.
Meanwhile, a statement from the Malaysian Attorney-General said yesterday that four members of a pro-Malaysian government youth group that disrupted a conference on East Timor last November will be charged today,
The 60 participants of the Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor II (Apcet II) would not face charges, the statement said.
Members of the youth group broke up the Nov. 9 meeting at a Kuala Lumpur hotel, overturning furniture and manhandling participants.
The four, members of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's United Malays National Organization (UMNO), would be charged with illegally disrupting the meeting, the Attorney General said. The participants welcomed the decision.
"However, we are concerned that the several hundred others who participated in the disruption and are equally responsible are getting off scot-free," the November 9 Civil Rights Group said in a statement yesterday.
The Malaysian government had opposed the conference, fearing it would harm ties with Indonesia.
Apcet II aimed to focus attention on East Timor.
More than 100 people, including participants and journalists, were detained after the aborted conference. Malaysia subsequently deported 46 foreign participants.