EAST TIMOR: Ramos Horta: no support for West Papuan 'secession'

WELLINGTON — East Timorese leader Jose Ramos Horta, currently cabinet member for foreign affairs, told Radio New Zealand International on June 7 that his country cannot support West Papua's demand for independence from Indonesia. Horta said East Timor cannot support every secession claim in the region.

"While we abhor what is being done to the West Papuans, to the Acehnese — while we are perplexed at the inability of the Indonesian side to address the root cause of the unhappiness and rebellion in West Papua and Aceh — we must also say that we cannot as a small nation in the making go around and endorse every secession claim in the region or anywhere in the world."

[From TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, via Pacific Islands Report. Visit the TAPOL web site at <http://www.gn.apc.org/tapol>.]

From GLW issue 452