UN defers E. Timor debate again
JAKARTA (JP): The United Nations is set to defer once again the debate on East Timor at this year's General Assembly, Antara reported yesterday.
The general committee, which prepares the agenda for this year's assembly, unanimously agreed Wednesday to an Egyptian call for a deferment. Greece seconded the proposal, the news agency said in a dispatch from the United Nations.
The East Timor issue has been on the assembly's agenda since 1976 but its debate has been deferred every year since 1983 in order to allow the UN secretary general to promote dialog between Indonesia and Portugal, the two disputing parties.
The Egyptian representative cited the same point in calling for a deferment, underscoring UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's Sept. 15 progress report on the East Timor issue.
The issue was listed as the 95th item on this year's agenda.
The committee's decision would be brought to the assembly's plenary meeting on Sept. 19.
Annan, who assumed his post in January, has appointed Pakistani diplomat Jamsheed Marker as his special representative on the East Timor question.
Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers have conducted several meetings since 1983 to try to resolve the status of the former Portuguese colony.
Portugal abandoned the territory in 1975 before completing the decolonization process, leaving in its wake a bloody civil war.
That same year, a group of tribal leaders in East Timor declared their intention to join Indonesia, and the move was formalized by the Indonesian House of Representatives the following year.
The United Nations, however, continues to regard Lisbon as the territory's administering power.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that Mary Robinson, the new UN Human Rights Commissioner, said in Geneva that she hoped to meet with Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas at the general assembly to discuss the East Timor situation.
Robinson, a former Irish president, vowed to take a balanced approach with governments under fire for alleged human rights abuses, but to "stand up to bullies" when necessary. (emb)