Subject: RT: Resistance wants troops out before vote
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 09:22:12 -0500
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>E.Timor resistance wants troops
out before vote 07:02 a.m. Mar 18, 1999 Eastern
By Stephen Weeks
HONG KONG, March 18 (Reuters) - East Timor resistance leader Jose Ramos-Horta said on
Thursday Indonesian troops should withdraw from the territory before it votes on its
future in July.
``I will publicly oppose it, denounce it, if the U.N., the international community,
wants to impose a vote on the future of the country with Indonesian troops on the
ground,'' Ramos-Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, told a news conference.
Ramos-Horta said he was concerned that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had failed to
mention an agenda for Indonesia troop withdrawal when U.N.-sponsored talks between
Indonesia and Portugal cleared the way this month for a vote on whether they want autonomy
within Indonesia.
The autonomy package is not scheduled to be completed until April. Rejection of the
proposal could open the way for independence for the 800,000 people in the restive
territory.
``He did not talk about a calendar for Indonesian troop withdrawals, for the disarming
of the armed bands. The U.N., the international community, must demand at least partial
withdrawal of Indonesian troops,'' he said.
The Indonesian military did not have to withdraw completely but the number of remaining
troops ``must be proportional to a U.N. multinational force on the ground'' in East Timor,
Ramos-Horta said.
Holding the vote while the Indonesian army and pro-Jakarta para-military groups were
still in East Timor in strength would be courting disaster, he said.
``If the U.N. simply relies on the will of the Indonesian side and pushes ahead with
this vote, bloodshed is almost certain because the Indonesian army will be there, the
paramilitary will be there, and their interest is to disrupt the vote, to intimidate the
people.''
Ramos-Horta said he had discussed the matter with East Timor guerrilla leader Xanana
Gusmao on Wednesday and they were in full agreement.
``We oppose a vote without Indonesian troops first being out, the paramilitary must be
disarmed,'' he said.
Gusmao was moved from prison to house arrest in Jakarta last month after serving five
years of a 20-year sentence for leading armed resistance to Indonesia's occupation of the
territory.
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony near northern Australia in 1975 and then
annexed it. An estimated 200,000 Timorese died in fighting or the ensuing disease and
famine.
Ramos-Horta said despite the dramatic change in Indonesian policy on East Timor this
year, he was sceptical about whether Jakarta was really committed to leaving.
``There are dark forces at play in Indonesia today who are not interested in any
consolidation of democratic reforms. Democratic reforms, rule of law, that would be
detrimental to their economic and political interests,'' he said.
He pointed the finger at ousted president Suharto and his entourage as well as army
intelligence units.
``According to our sources, in the last two months US$5 million has been spent by army
intelligence and by the Suharto clique in distributing guns (in East Timor).''
He did not elaborate.
Indonesian President B.J. Habibie, who replaced Suharto, made the reversal on East
Timor this year, saying he wanted the conflict settled by next January. If East Timor
rejected autonomy, he said he would consider full independence.
Ramos-Horta said there would be no civil war in East Timor if it gained independence
because the resistance would not persecute or discriminate against anyone.
``We do not agree with a war crimes tribunal in East Timor, as we also believe a truth
and reconciliation commission on a South African model is not applicable to the reality of
East Timor,'' he said.
``One reason is that those truly responsible will be gone and we will only be trying
the small fish,'' he added.
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