No progress in talks on Timor

No progress in talks on Timor

By Max Lane

The Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers and the UN secretary-general met in Rome on April 27 to discuss East Timor.

The first round of these talks, held in New York in December, ended in deadlock. This time too, no major results ensued. Indonesia's Ali Alatas and Portugal's Durao Barosso simply agreed to meet again.

The Timorese delegation in Rome refuted reports, circulated by some pro-Indonesian lobbyists, that the national liberation movement was severely divided. The East Timor delegation comprised Jose Ramos-Horta (Maubere National Resistance Council — CNRM), Mari Alkatiri (Fretilin) and Joao Carrascalao (UDT). The three had met previously in Sydney and issued a joint communiqué.

Ramos-Horta said the delegation met at length with Durao Barossa prior to his meeting with the UN secretary-general and Alatas. They also met with the secretary-general's staff for several hours and with a senior papal representative.

Following the meeting in Rome, Alatas flew to Washington. Indonesia is obviously concerned with the fact that Washington co-sponsored the resolution condemning Indonesia on human rights violations in East Timor at the Geneva Human Rights Commission in March.

Alatas told the Indonesian press covering the story in Washington that he expects increased attention to be put on human rights questions by the Clinton administration, although he remained confident of Washington's ultimate support for East Timor's integration into Indonesia.

In an obvious attempt to appease international public opinion, an Indonesian military spokesperson, Lt Col Anton Tompudung, announced on April 29 that the army would eliminate the East Timor field operation.

Admitting — despite earlier statements that troop numbers were already low — that 10 battalions were operating in the province, he claimed that they were now due to be gradually withdrawn at the rate of two every six months. This is part of the military's plan to disband the special East Timor Operations command, KOLAKOPS, and replace it with a "normal" territorial army command, called KOREM.

The establishment of a KOREM is an indication that the army intends to make its presence permanent. The whole of Indonesia is divided up into regions each covered by a KOREM.

These commands are the de facto political administration of the country, ultimately responsible for all aspects of political control and security.

KOREM commands retain a powerful intelligence and security apparatus which is the real spearhead of Indonesia's occupation forces as the East Timorese resistance becomes more focused in the country's major towns. It is also extremely dubious that the army will withdraw all its rapid deployment combat troops. Only the complete withdrawal of all Indonesian forces can end the terror by the occupation army.

From GLW issue 99