UN envoy on E. Timor meets Soeharto, Alatas

JAKARTA (JP): United Nations special envoy for East Timor Jamsheed Marker, on his first day of a two-week mission here, knuckled straight down to work yesterday, paying a courtesy call on President Soeharto and holding talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas.

"I am here on a fact-finding mission," Marker told journalists after meeting with Soeharto. His visit to the President at his residence on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta, was sandwiched between two sessions of talks with Alatas at the foreign ministry building.

Marker said he was to gather as much information as possible from both sides, Jakarta and Lisbon, and report back to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Annan appointed Marker as a special envoy earlier this year to help expedite and find an internationally acceptable solution to the East Timor question.

The UN secretary-general's office has sponsored talks between the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers since 1983 but not much progress has been made.

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated into Indonesia in 1976. Nevertheless, the UN still recognizes Lisbon as the administrative power there.

Earlier this month Marker visited Lisbon on a similar mission.

"The main thing is that the dialog continues.

"We have to find means of ensuring not only that the dialog continues, but that it is also productive," Marker, who was once Pakistan's ambassador to the UN, said yesterday.

Indonesia and Portugal have held eight rounds of talks under the aegis of the UN secretary-general.

Marker will go to East Timor tomorrow for a three-day stay.

Foreign minister Alatas said yesterday the President welcomed Marker's visit and hoped that through it the UN envoy could gain first hand information on the situation in East Timor.

Alatas said he would probably hold talks with Marker again at the end of his trip on March 30.

While in Indonesia, Marker is also scheduled to take a brief holiday on Bali.

Marker's arrival here comes on the heels of a two-day visit to East Timor by United States Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor John Shattuck.

Shattuck ends his visit to the province today.

Yesterday, he met separately with Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares and East Timor Armed Forces Commander Col. Mahidin Simbolon to discuss the latest developments in the province.

Shattuck said his visit to Indonesia was part of the political consultation process between Jakarta and Washington.

"The purpose of this visit is to emphasize the importance that the U.S. places on the positive discussion under the auspices of the UN secretary-general," he said. (33/mds)