Subject: LUSA: Bishop Belo calls for UN Presence
From: "Sharon R.A. Scharfe" <pet@web.net>08 FEV 99 - 22:20 East Timor:
Bishop Ximenes Belo Calls For UN Presence
Sydney, Feb. 8 (Lusa) - An immediate United Nations presence is needed if the East
Timorese are to be consulted on self-determination, East Timor bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo
told Lusa Monday. Contacted in Dili, the capital of East Timor, Belo said two or three UN
observers were urgently needed to mark a presence and earn the people's confidence.
Otherwise there will be no conditions to go ahead with the consultation, he stated. At
UN-mediated talks Sunday, Portugal and Indonesia agreed that the people of East Timor
would be consulted this year about whether to accept the special autonomy proposed by
Jakarta or choose independence. The accord signed in New York should be used to pressure
the Indonesian government and military into ensuring the safety of the East Timorese, Belo
said. The co-laureate of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize added that the situation on the ground
in East Timor was approaching "total anarchy", with armed pro-Indonesia militias
provoking a wave of violence throughout the territory.
Copyright© 1996 Agência Lusa E-Mail Agência Lusa
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