Subject: LUSA: Alkatiri says 10-year transition
period is "long"
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 07:05:43 -0500 (EST)
From: "Sharon R.A. Scharfe" <pet@web.net>18 DEZ 98 - 09:09 East Timor:
Mari Alkatiri says 10-year transition period is "long"
Maputo, Dec 18 (Lusa) - The first vice-president of FRETILIN, Mari Alkatiri, regards as
"long" a 10-year transition period for East Timor leading to a referendum on
self-determination. Speaking to LUSA in the Mozambican capital on Thursay, Alkatiri made
the remark when commenting on jailed East Timor's guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao statement
earlier this week that East Timor was not ready for immediate independence and that a
10-year transitional autonomy status was acceptable if it would lead to a referendum on
self-determination. Gusmao made the politically important statement in a special interview
with LUSA in the Cipinang prison on Tuesday. Alkatiri said he regarded a 10-year
transition period as "long" because the international community would possibly
not be ready to monitor the process for "so many years." However, Alkatiri said
he agreed on the need for a transition period before independence. While declining to say
how long the transition period should be, the first vice-president of FRETILIN was merely
prepared to say that the process depended on political changes in Indonesia, "that
have their ups and downs."-Lusa nnnn
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