Subject: RTP: Resistance says it will only hand over
weapons to UN
Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 10:10:20 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.org>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
May 14, 1999, Friday
Resistance says it will only hand over weapons to UN RTP Internacional TV, Lisbon, in
Portuguese 1200 gmt 12 May 99
Excerpts from report by Portuguese TV on 12th May
The Timorese resistance wants the UN to send a peace force to the territory and if this
happens, Falintil [East Timor National Liberation Armed Forces] is willing to hand over
its weapons. David Ximenes, a leader of the CNRT [the National Council of the Timorese
Resistance] has been in hiding for over a month. But our team has managed to speak to him.
[Reporter] These are difficult times for the CNRT. Its members were the first to be
threatened, and few are in Dili. David Ximenes, who has received death threats from the
[pro-integration] militias, is in contact with the outside world by phone and few know
where he lives. Our interview was preceded by security measures. The CNRT's main concern
is the process up until August [when the people are to be consulted].
[Ximenes] The process of getting to August is decisive, that is, there is instability
in the territory so obviously it cannot be Indonesia [guaranteeing security] because
Indonesia caused all this. I ask and continue to demand that a UN force is sent here to
keep the peace. Our Falintil is willing to hand over its weapons to the UN, not to the
Indonesian military.
[Reporter] Despite being in hiding for a month, David Ximenes remains confident about
the Timorese.
[Ximenes] We will get on because we can speak the same language. We all speak our
mother tongue. We have our principles. It was Indonesia who disrupted everything...
[Reporter] Vitor da Costa is the new CNRT spokesman. He was a guerrilla fighter for
years and is taking risks in talking freely.
[Costa] Our people are going to be forced to accept autonomy, to accept hoisting the
Merah Putih [militia] flag in front of our houses, to wear Merah Putih flags on our
foreheads. We are being forced to do this. We advise our people to do it, but let them
remember that on the day they are free to choose, they will vote against autonomy.
[Reporter] The CNRT has said it will campaign for the August consultation, even if
conditions leave a lot to be desired.
[Costa] The CNRT is the people's resistance. While the people continue to resist, the
CNRT cannot be destroyed, and the CNRT's objective is independence - it is the thought,
the objective in people's hearts and minds...
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