| Subject: Autonomy
supporter joins independence leaders on E Timor council
Autonomy supporter joins independence
leaders on East Timor council
DILI, East Timor, Dec 11 (AFP) - A former
supporter of autonomy with Indonesia sat down with independence leaders
and UN officials on Saturday for the first meeting of East Timor's
governing council.
Salvador Soares, of the East Timor
People's Front, was the lone autonomy representative at the first meeting
of the National Consultative Council, a type of cabinet for East Timor.
"This is a momentous occasion, a key
milestone both in the establishment of the transitional administration and
in the evolution toward self-governance by the people of East Timor,"
Sergio Vieira de Mello, who heads the UN transitional administration in
East Timor (UNTAET), said in his opening remarks to the meeting.
De Mello chairs the council which
includes seven members of the National Council of Timorese Resistance
(CNRT), a Catholic priest and three other senior UNTAET officials.
Two other members, who will join Soares
as representatives from outside the pro-independence CNRT, have yet to be
named.
De Mello referred to the presence of
Soares and said the Council will be an important step in the process of
reconciliation among East Timorese.
Xanana Gusmao, the CNRT president who
also sits on the council, called Soares "our brother."
Soares is the former owner of Suara Timor
Timur, the Voice of East Timor newspaper whose offices were attacked by
pro-Indonesian militias earlier this year. The destruction silenced the
paper for a while but it re-emerged with a bias in favour of autonomy with
Indonesia during the campaign for the Aug. 30 ballot.
East Timorese overwhelmingly voted for
independence from Indonesia, a decision which unleashed a campaign of
destruction by Indonesian security forces and their militias in September.
Soares and the other councillors began
their first meeting by swearing to respect the results of the ballot, to
promote human rights and democratic principles, and to reject the use of
violence.
De Mello said he thought the council
could have been named the National Salvation Council.
"I do believe that is our
task," he said, and Gusmao agreed.
Speaking of the "sad, calamitous
state in which East Timor finds itself," de Mello said calamity calls
for unity.
"I hope we will be able to
demonstrate unity of purpose in this consultative council," de Mello
said.
Gusmao committed himself to working with
UNTAET and said he hoped other organizations "will understand that it
is this kind of working together that will help us solve the problems of
the Timor people.
"We know that our task won't be
easy," Gusmao said.
De Mello urged East Timorese to put aside
their political aspirations and put all their resources into forging a
partnership for the future.
"For now, in my view, we must pool
all of our energy, creativity and resources to achieve a common good, to
realize a shared vision and together build a country which will be a proud
home to all East Timorese," de Mello said.
The council will be the main way in which
East Timorese participate in the transitional political process. It will
create committees of East Timorese and international experts to make
recommendations on health, agriculture, education and other policy areas.
Councillors met around wooden desks
arranged in a square at a simple office in UNTAET headquarters.
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