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09 DEZ 98 - 09:04 East Timor/Portugal: Ramos Horta says Jakarta once again acts in "bad faith"

Lisbon, Dec 9 (Lusa) - Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Jose Ramos Horta said in Lisbon on Monday that negotiations between Portugal and Indonesia about his occupied homeland should be suspended because UN special envoy Tamrat Samuel failed to visit the village of Alas. Scores of East Timorese civilians were reportedly killed by Indonesian troops in the village last month. Ramos Horta said that due to the present situation negotiations between Lisbon and Jakarta over the problem of East Timor should not be continued, adding the Indonesian government had once again shown "total bad faith" and a complete disrespect for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. A spokesman for the Portuguese foreign ministry said that UN investigations into the recent incidents in Alas "might not include a specific visit to the village of Alas," adding that the International Red Cross had visited the village at least twice "without reaching any conclusive results." The UN envoy arrived in East Timor on Sunday. The UN envoy visited Dili, capital of East Timor, and the territory's second largest city, Baucau, during his three-day stay which included meetings with leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and community and student representatives.-Lusa nnnn

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For more information on Parliamentarians for East Timor, Please Contact: Sharon Scharfe, International Secretariat, PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR EAST TIMOR Suite 116, 5929-L Jeanne D'Arc Blvd., Orleans, ON K1C 7K2 CANADA Fax: 1-613-834-2021 E-Mail: pet@web.net

"... where there are profits to be defended, law, justice, freedom, democracy and peace are the victims." -- Xanana Gusmao, Jailed Leader of East Timor in Preface to "Complicity: Human Rights and Canadian Foreign Policy -- the Case of East Timor" (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1996).

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