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For immediate release: 11.00 pm AEST, Wednesday 12/8/98

East Timorese political parties unite in support of self-determination

SYDNEY: The five East Timorese political parties in East Timor have made a combined call for self-determination for their people and set out a plan to end the illegal Indonesian occupation and annexation of their country.

The five, UDT, Fretilin, Apodeti, Kato and Trabalhista, rejected out of hand any notion of East Timor being incorporated into Indonesia as some kind of autonomous province.

The World President of the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT), João Carrascalão, said tonight UDT had vigorously promoted self-determination for the East Timorese people during last week's talks in New York between Portugal and Indonesia under the auspices of the United Nations.

In the course of those talks, Portugal agreed to discuss, without prejudice, the Indonesian proposal that East Timor be incorporated into Indonesia as an autonomous province.

Portugal's position sounded alarm bells for East Timorese who fear a replay

of 1975, when Portugal publicly supported self-determination in East Timor while secretly negotiating an agreement which opened the way for the Indonesia invasion.

Mr Carrascalão said the declaration by the five parties was the authentic voice of East Timorese.

"It is vital for everyone outside East Timor who is involved in these issues to listen to the people actually living there under the daily oppression of the brutal Indonesian military regime," Mr Carrascalão said.

"We must support them in every way we can. One of the first steps they, and

we of UDT around the world, propose is the release of Xanana Gusmão and the

participation of East Timorese in the talks on East Timor's future. It is heartening to see the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan's, support for this."

Mr Carrascalão said it was a measure of the fortitude of the East Timorese that after 23 years of brutal repression and genocide in which 200,000 innocent East Timorese people have been killed, the five political parties still exist and have put aside their differences to openly challenge their oppressor.

In 1974, UDT and Fretilin were contending for power, Trabalhista, the Labour party, and Kota, the traditional monarchist party, were diamentrically opposed, and Apodeti was campaigning for integration into Indonesia.

NOTE FOR EDS: FIVE PARTY STATEMENT FOLLOWS FURTHER INFORMATION: João Carrascalão, President, UDT % (02) 9823 5616 0418 767 101 Issued on behalf of UDT by Geoffrey Heard & Associates Melbourne, AUSTRALIA - % +61 3 9583 0788 ***

Five Parties Statement - Dili, 11/8/98 CONSIDERATIONS:

* That the representatives of the five undersigned political parties defend the fundamental principle of self-determination and independence of East Timor and Indonesia is offering out of charity a form of autonomy within Indonesia which obviously could end up as the final solution for East Timor.

* The the three ambassadors from the European Union visited East Timor recently and approved a joint declaration defending the right to the East Timorese people to be consulted about the future of their homeland and

to have a self-determination referendum.

* Some points agreed between Portugal and Indonesia at the 4-5 August, 1998, meeting with the United Nations in New York, contributed to a

positive movement towards a negotiated solution to the problem of East Timor.

* That Portugal and Indonesia agreed to discuss autonomy of East Timor within Indonesia as proposed by Indonesia with the participation of East Timorese representatives. STATEMENT:

We, the representatives of the UDT, Fretilin, Apodeti, Kota and Trabalhista

(Labour) Parties, within East Timor, state the following:

1. We completely reject any discussion of East Timor being an autonomous province within Indonesia as proposed by Indonesia.

2. We demand Portugal send a committee of observers to East Timor to observe the situation on the spot before entering a dialogue and substantive discussion with Indonesia about the autonomy for East Timor proposed by Indonesia.

3. We wish to go ahead with dialogue under the proposal in our joint declaration by UDT, Fretilin, Apodeti, Kota and Trabalhista, dated 25 July,

1998, which follows: We completely reject the program proposed by the Indonesian Government for East Timor to have autonomy within Indonesia, regardless of the form of that autonomy, as this would legalise the current integration of East Timor

within Indonesia, which is the result of the illegal annexation and military occupation (of East Timor by Indonesia)Šwe demand a referendum for

the East Timorese people as the only viable way to find a final solution. Therefore we propose the following conditions:

(i) Free the President of National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, and all the other East Timorese political prisoners. Xanana Gusmão's freedom is an essential condition, along with his participation in the dialogue, to finding a solution to the problem of east Timor.

(ii) The presence of a high commissioner of the United Nations, with powers to participate in identifying and resolving problems, starting with controlling the withdrawal of troops, the extinction of the practice of physical oppression (of the East Timorese people) before the hand over of powers to a transitional government and then to the government chosen by the East Timorese people. MOREŠ

(iii) The end of Indonesian military operations against the civil population as follows: (a) End military operations in the whole of East Timor. (b) Disarm all the East Timorese who have been trained and armed as military, police, or auxiliaries, and dismantle the organizations in which they are involved. (c) A cease fire between Indonesian military and Falintil (East Timorese resistance army) and Falintil to be allowed to occupy a guaranteed

neutral zone. (d) Formation of a police body comprising Indonesian, Portugal, and CNRT (National Council of East Timorese Resistance) forces. (e) Total withdrawal of Indonesian military forces from East Timor. The period of execution of all these should be 18 months.

(iv) Formation of a transitional government comprising all political groups in East Timor under two high commissioners, one from Portugal and the other from Indonesia, under the supervision of the United Nations, for a period of five years. During this period, the following should be completed: (a) The rehabilitation of all aspects of East Timor life. (b) Infrastructure development with the participation of Portugal and Indonesia. (c) Formation of an East Timorese army to take the place of the transitional tripartite police force.

(v) Self-determination referendum under the supervision of the United Nations, Portugal and Indonesia. Finally - to proceed with the transfer of powers from the transitional government to the government chosen by the East Timorese people.

Signed by: Leandro Isaac East Timor Regional President, UDT (Timorese Democratic Union) David Dias Ximenes Representative, Fretilin Frederico Almeida Santos de Costa Executive President, APODETI (Democratic Popular Association of Timor) Leao Petro dos Reis Amarai President, KOTA (Traditional Monarchist Party) Paulo Freitas de Silva President, Trabalhista (Labour Party)

Geoffrey Heard MarketNOW Marketing - PR - Advertising that sells like crazy. Tel: +61 3 9583 0788 Email: gheard@surf.net.au

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