DATE=12/13/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR / INDONESIA (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257088
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The head of the United Nations in East
Timor says the newly-independent territory wants
to forge strong ties with Indonesia, the country
that occupied East Timor for nearly a quarter
century. As Patricia Nunan reports from
Jakarta, Sergio Vieira de Mello says the East
Timorese should put the past behind them and work
towards a better future.
Text: The head of the United Nations in East
Timor -- Sergio Vieira de Mello -- says East
Timor is open to future relations with Indonesia,
its former rival. Mr. de Mello says, in a
meeting with East Timorese independence leader
Xanana Gusmao, they had agreed East Timor should
forget the past and concentrate on future
relationships.
The top U-N official in East Timor says the
territory wants to start working towards strong
diplomatic and economic ties with Indonesia. In a
meeting Monday with Indonesian President
Abdurrahman Wahid, Mr. De Mello suggested opening
an Indonesian consulate in the East Timorese
capital, Dili. Mr. de Mello's spoke to reporters
after his meeting with the Indonesian president.
Mr. de Mello is the head of the United Nations
Transitional Authority in East Timor -- the body
formed to help East Timor establish government
institutions after it was granted independence by
Indonesia in October.
That decision ended 24 years of fighting in East
Timor between a guerrilla independence movement
and the Indonesian military, which invaded the
former Portuguese colony in 1975.
In another step towards peace in East Timor, the
head of the territory's armed anti-independence
militias ordered the disbanding of all militia
groups.
Militia leader Joao Tavarres called on his
supporters to surrender their weapons to
Indonesian authorities and to stop wearing their
uniforms.
Mr. Tavarres -- a self-proclaimed leader of some
militia groups -- was speaking in Atambua on the
border of East and West Timor. It is unclear
whether the commanders of other militias will
order their forces to do the same.
Human rights groups say hundreds of people were
killed and hundreds of thousands were forced to
flee their homes after the anti-independence
militias overran East Timor in September, in
reaction to the news that the territory had voted
to break free of Indonesian rule.
Aid workers in West Timor say the militias --
which have received support from Indonesian
soldiers -- are still active along the border and
have prevented East Timorese refugees from
returning home. (signed)
NEB/PN/GC/WD
13-Dec-1999 05:44 AM EDT (13-Dec-1999 1044 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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