UN envoy on E. Timor meets Soeharto, Alatas

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)