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Subject: CDPM press release on Alas
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 17:39:00 +0100
From: Comissão para os Direitos do Povo Maubere <cdpm@esoterica.pt>

Press Release

In view of the gravity of the situation in East Timor, especially in the Alas area in which, since early last week, repeated summary executions and disappearances of civilians have led to an unspecified number of wounded and displaced people, the CDPM (Commission for the Rights of the Maubere People) and the ecumenical group "Peace is Possible in East Timor"

· Urge the President of the Republic and the Portuguese Government to contact the governments of countries with diplomatic representations in Jakarta, especially the governments of the US, Australia and EU countries, and request them to send their diplomatic officials to East Timor, with a view to help prevent further massacres and gather first-hand information about the violence being perpetrated there.

· Appeal to the UN Secretary General to send, with the utmost urgency, a team of observers to the territory, in order to: - prevent further bloodshed - ensure freedom of movement throughout the territory, including free access by humanitarian and Human Rights organisations - to monitor the withdrawal of Indonesian troops, in line with the commitment made to the UN by the Indonesia Government.

· Ask that the negotiations between the governments of Portugal and Indonesia, taking place under the auspices of the UN Secretary General in New York, be halted until Indonesia’s military operations in the territory have ceased and this fact has been verified by recognised impartial observers.

· Express solidarity with the East Timorese people, and their deepest regret that, yet again, they have been brutally repressed and isolated from the rest of the world.

Lisbon, 23 November 1998

Commission for the Rights of the Maubere People "Peace is Possible in East Timor"

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