UN-sponsored talks resume on East Timor after brief halt
UN-sponsored talks resume on East Timor after brief halt
UNITED NATIONS (Agencies): United Nations-sponsored talks on
the question of East Timor resumed on Wednesday after being
broken off last Friday, a UN spokesman said.
The talks, involving senior Portuguese and Indonesian
officials, were halted by Portugal after reports circulated that
44 people had been killed in a military operation around the East
Timor village of Alas, some 125 miles (200 km) east of Dili, the
capital.
Indonesia has categorically denied the reports and lambasted
Portugal of trying to derail the negotiation process by trying to
link the unsubstantiated report with the talks.
Indonesia's sovereignty over the former Portuguese colony is
not recognized by the international community and the United
Nations has long been trying to broker an acceptable solution.
"The tripartite talks have resumed," a UN spokesman said.
Earlier, reporters were told that Secretary-General Kofi Annan
and his personal representative for East Timor, Pakistani
diplomat Jamsheed Marker, had been in touch with all parties
concerned regarding "the recent reports of violence and the
allegations of a large number of civilian deaths."
"The effort to ascertain the veracity of these reports is
continuing," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard added.
"The secretary-general welcomes the announcement that the
Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights will conduct an
investigation," Eckhard said.
"Meanwhile the secretary-general is eager to maintain the
continuation of the talks between Indonesia and Portugal under
his auspices."
As part of the ongoing process of consultations, UN officials
would visit East Timor shortly and Marker would also travel to
Indonesia and East Timor in mid-December, Eckhard added.
In Canberra, Australian Defense Minister John Moore said on
Thursday that he had asked Indonesia's permission to allow
Australia monitor the security situation in East Timor, according
to Reuters.
Moore said Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas
had already given approval for Australian military observers to
visit East Timor and that he would raise the issue with Minister
of Defense and Security Gen. Wiranto during talks on Friday.
"I think the Indonesians concede the right of the Australians
to see what is going on there," Moore said before embarking on
his Indonesian visit.
"If Alatas says it is okay and the minister for defense in our
discussions tomorrow says okay, I can't see why this won't
occur," he told reporters.
Moore will meet Wiranto on Friday in Surabaya and plans to
meet with President B.J. Habibie on Saturday.
Moore said there was no immediate plan to reinstate suspended
joint military exercises with the Indonesian Army's special
forces Kopassus, but added it was important that Australia
maintain close links with the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI).
"It is in the Australian national interest to be close to
ABRI," Moore said.
Indonesia is Australia's most important ally in Southeast Asia
following the signing of a 1995 bilateral defense pact.