UN resolution will hamper Timor talks

JAKARTA (JP): Last week's resolution by the UN Human Rights Commission criticizing Indonesia's human rights record in East Timor will hamper efforts to revive talks with Portugal to resolve the East Timor issue, the government said yesterday.

The resolution, "would inevitably impact unfavorably on the current efforts by the UN Secretary General to recommence the tripartite dialog on East Timor," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

"Indonesia strongly rejects the resolution... because it contains totally unfounded allegations and misrepresentations."

The resolution, proposed by the European Union, was adopted at the commission's annual meeting in Geneva Wednesday after a 20-14 vote. Russia and Japan were among 18 commission members that abstained.

The resolution was included in the commission's chairman final statement.

"Since Portugal and its supporters have consistently shown a tendency to manipulate the contents of those chairman statements, accusing Indonesia unfoundedly of non-compliance of these statements, Indonesia this year refuses to accept the chairman's statement again (because it) was completely one-sided and highly intrusive," the statement said.

The tripartite talks refer to the negotiations that Indonesia and Portugal have held since 1983 under the auspices of successive UN secretary generals. Kofi Annan, secretary general since January 1, is exploring the possibility of reviving the talks that have been stalled since last June.

The statement is the first official reaction from Jakarta to the resolution, which one local political observer has described as detrimental to Indonesia's East Timor diplomacy.

The former Portuguese colony was integrated into Indonesia in 1976, but the move has not yet been recognized by the United Nations which continues to regard Lisbon as the administering power. (emb)