| Subject: AFP: Gusmao says no agreement on who will
disarm Timor factions Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 14:46:31 +0000 From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org> Received from Joyo Indonesian News: Gusmao says no agreement on who will disarm Timor factions JAKARTA, June 19 (AFP) - East Timor resistance leader Xanana Gusmao said here Saturday that agreement has yet to be reached on who would disarm the warring factions in East Timor despite the signing of a call to lay down arms. "Given the fact that the disarmament is not the responsibility of the Polri (Indonesian police), the Peace and Stability Commission (KPS) and the UN will later decide which instance will be in charge of overseeing the disarmament process," Gusmao said in a statement. The statement, received here early Saturday, was issued after pro- and anti-Indonesian East Timorese factions signed an accord calling on their respective followers to lay down arms to allow a vote on the territory's future to procede peacefully. An announcer at the signing ceremony said both sides had agreed to hand over their weapons to the Indonesian National Police. In the statement, issued from his detention house in Jakarta where he is serving a 20-year jail term, Gusmao, president of the CNRT (National Council of Timorese Resistance) said he considered a three-day meeting with pro-Indonesia leaders "a significant first step towards the creation of a peaceful environment in East Timor." No dates were given in the documents signed, but Indonesian armed forces chief General Wiranto said later the disarmament period would last from June 20 until July 5. The full complement of 274 unarmed UN civilian police to be sent to the former Portuguese colony under an agreement between Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations signed in May, is not scheduled to be in place until July 10. Gusmao also said he stressed during the three-day meeting the "necessity to close down all the military posts spread throughout the territory, and for TNI (the Indonesian army) to be confined to barracks as necessary conditions for the implementation of the diarmament." Back to June Menu |