Subject: RT: UN Talks Suspended
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 16:50:01 -0500
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Portugal halts E.Timor talks
over massacre allegations 04:17 p.m Nov 20, 1998 Eastern
LISBON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Portugal said on Friday it had suspended talks with Jakarta
on East Timor after reports of a massacre in the Indonesian-ruled former Portuguese
colony.
Foreign Minister Jaime Gama told journalists that he had ordered diplomats in New York
to halt a scheduled meeting with Indonesian representatives, one of a series brokered by
the United Nations, which is seeking a negotiated settlement to the problem of the
disputed Pacific territory.
Prime Minister Antonio Guterres said that he had sent a message to U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressing his ``profound concern'' about the reports.
Portuguese news agency Lusa quoted Timor resistance sources as saying a large number of
people had been killed in incidents in Alas on the southern coast of the Timor.
There was no immediate confirmation of the reports.
Portugal, which abandoned East Timor shortly before Indonesia invaded in 1975, backs
calls by the resistance movement for a referendum on the future of the territory which
Jakarta regards as an integral part of Indonesia.
A small guerrilla army is still active in the rugged territory and Indonesia has a
large military force stationed there.
Under the terms of a recent accord between Lisbon and Jakarta, Indonesia was due to
start reducing troop levels in East Timor.
But resistance groups have accused Indonesia, the world's largest Moslem nation, of
flouting the accord and sending more soldiers to the mainly Roman Catholic territory.
Gama said that he had asked Annan to act ``firmly and rapidly'' over the alleged
massacre.
He said that he had also contacted the International Red Cross and the Geneva-based
U.N. Commission on Human Rights urging them to investigate the allegations.
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