Subject: LUSA: Portugal will not renounce East
Timor's right of self-determination
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 07:47:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Sharon R.A. Scharfe" <pet@web.net>05 AGO 98 - 11:39 East
Timor/UN: Portugal will not renounce East Timor's right of self-determination
New York, 05 Aug (Lusa) -
Portugal is not prepared to renounce East Timor's right of self-determination, Portuguese
Foreign Minister Jaime Gama said in New York before the present 10th round of talks with
his Indonesian counterpart Ali Alatas under the auspices of UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan. Gama made the statement after a dinner hosted by Annan in an honour of the foreign
ministers of Portugal and Indonesia on Monday. However, Gama said that while never
relinquishing East Timor's right of self-determination Lisbon would be prepared to accept
that the occupied territory's process of self-determination be carried out "step by
step".
Gama also said he hoped Alatas would have "new proposals" about a possible
solution to the East Timor problem. The Portuguese foreign minister also stressed that
both the United States and the European Union were in favour of an internationally
supervised referendum in East Timor on the right of self-determination. Lusa/Fim
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