Subject: FT: E Timor negotiations delayed; setback
may be victory for hardliners
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 18:27:21 -0500
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>Financial Times [UK] March 9
1999
*E Timor negotiations delayed
Setback may be victory for hardliners
By Sander Thoenes in Dili, East Timor, Michael Littlejohns in New York and Peter Wise
in Lisbon
Indonesia yesterday announced it would delay by six weeks negotiations on the status of
East Timor, the Portuguese colony whose annexation by Jakarta in 1975 has never been
recognised by the United Nations. The move was interpreted by diplomats as possible
backtracking and a victory for hardliners in the government.
Ali Alatas, the foreign minister, said Indonesia would only detail its double offer of
autonomy or independence for East Timor, first proposed in January, by late April rather
than at a high-profile meeting with Portuguese representatives tomorrow.
Mr Alatas said he would still go to New York for the talks, sponsored by the United
Nations, but only to explain that the proposal needed to be reviewed by the Indonesian
cabinet first.
Head of the review committee will be Feisal Tanjung, co-ordinating minister for
security, former chief commander of the armed forces and considered the most conservative
member of the cabinet.
"This is a disappointment," said one western diplomat. "Until now the
tone has been set by a group of liberal advisers to President B.J. Habibie. They just lost
control."
In New York, United Nations officials expressed concern at the delay. One said the UN
had been expecting Mr Alatas to arrive with "an autonomy plan in his pocket".
In Portugal, analysts said that the situation seemed to be moving backwards away from a
resolution.
Mr Habibie's deadline for settling East Timor's status before the end of the year, and
hints that he was happy to wash his hands of it, had raised concern that Indonesia would
just walk out and leave East Timor in chaos.
Diplomats said Mr Habibie now appeared to be swinging in the opposite direction and
could be about to withdraw his offer of independence.
Talks may be set back by more than six weeks either way, as the United Nations and
Portugal have prepared a stance on the assumption that Indonesia wanted a speedy
transition.
In East Timor few people had heard of the delay yesterday but Rui Lourensco da Costa, a
Timorese human rights activist, accused the Indonesian government and its military of
creating excuses for such a postponement by orchestrating clashes between proponents and
opponents of independence. A string of recent killings has sparked an exodus of
non-Timorese residents.
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