Subject: LUSA: Belo will not participate in AIETD Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 16:59:32 -0400 (EDT) From: "Sharon R.A. Scharfe" <pet@web.net> 16 OUT 98 - 11:44 East Timor/Portugal: Bishop Dom Ximenes Belo says he will not take part in next "intra-Timorese" meeting in Austria Lisbon, Oct. 16 (Lusa) - East Timorese Roman-Catholic Bishop Dom Ximenes Belo has said he will not take part in the fourth ''intra-Timorese'' meeting in Austria between 31 October and 2 November because the meeting's agenda once again failed to include the occupied territory's political statute. ''I will not go because if I cannot talk about the political problem (of East Timor) it is not worthwhile to take part these meetings,'' the bishop told the Lisbon-based Catholic radio station ''Renascenca'' on Thursday. Belo, who is the apostolic administrator of Dili, capital of East Timor, explaned another reason for his decision not to take part in the meeting in Austria was that ''not all people have been invited,'' namely representatives of the East Timorese resistance movement. A source close to the meeting said that for the first time the United Nations would invite East Timor residents supporting self-determination to participate in the round talks at a medival castle some 100 kilometres from Vienna, The source singled out Ma 'Huno, fkrmer c mmader of the FALINTIL freedom fighters, and Armandina Gusmão, ièv!iled armed resistance leader Xanana Gusmão. FALINTIL is the wing of East Timor's resistance to occupation by Indonesia. Francisco Lopes de Carvalho, member of the political commission of the Timorese of National Resistance Council (CNRT), is also expected to participate in the meeting for the first time. East Timor's former governor, Mario Carrascalão, is also scheduled to take part in the meeting, which according to its organisers will comprise about 35 representatives of East Timor's various political currents.-Lusa nnnn Copyright© 1996 Agência Lusa E-Mail Agência Lusa Back to October Menu |
||||||||||||||||||