Subject: RT - Indonesia will not discard East Timor
- Alatas
From: "Paula" <paularoque@mail.telepac.pt>Received from Joyo:
*Indonesia will not discard East Timor -Alatas 09:16 p.m Feb 02, 1999 Eastern
SINGAPORE, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Indonesia has said it will work towards ``wide- ranging
autonomy'' for East Timor, but has ruled out any rapid withdrawal from the former
Portuguese enclave, the International Herald Tribune reported on Wednesday.
``There is some misinterpretation here,'' Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told the
newspaper, when asked if Jakarta was ready to accept full independence for the troubled
territory.
``Indonesia does not intend to discard East Timor just like that,'' Alatas said in an
interview.
Jakarta made the surprise announcement last week it may let the restive territory go --
abruptly reversing 23 years of staunch opposition to any suggestion of independence.
``What we have in mind is very autonomy for the territory, and right now we are trying
to fill in the details to make this meaningful for all concerned,'' Alatas said.
Indonesia and Portugal had been discussing an autonomy package for the territory of
800,000 people at the United Nations ``for the past several weeks,'' he added.
The U.N. announced on Tuesday that Alatas and his Portuguese counterpart Jaime Gama are
to hold a formal meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York on Sunday and
Monday to discuss the plan.
Diplomats from the two countries also arrived in Lisbon and Jakarta on Saturday to set
up offices under the auspices of embassies of friendly nations, establishing the first
diplomatic ties since Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor.
Alatas reiterated Jakarta's position that independence would be granted only if
attempts at creating autonomous status for East Timor failed.
``If we cannot agree on an autonomous status...by April, the only alternative may be
abandoning East Timor altogether,'' the foreign minister was quoted as saying.
Alatas repeated the government's rejection of a referendum, long demanded by opposition
leaders and Lisbon, describing a public vote as ``a recipe for civil conflict.''
``Already now there is fighting between pro- and anti-independence factions, and we
don't want to be stuck with this problem for another couple of years,'' he said.
Factional tensions have been rising in East Timor amid reports that Indonesian
loyalists were heading to Jakarta to seek arms, fearing civil war if independence is
granted.
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