Can UN ensure E.Timor’s transition to freedom?
by Mohan Bhatt
The people of East Timor have given a decisive mandate: an overwhelming desire for total freedom and to be out of Indonesia. But freedom may not be for the asking as the referendum result has to be considered by the Indonesian parliament (MPR) when it convenes in November. It has to approve and ratify the result. Besides, the Indonesian military and a number of militias, who operate with its blessings, are still not reconciled to East Timor going out of its control.

Anti-Milosevic groups unite
BELGRADE, Sept 5 — Representatives of civic movements opposed to the regime of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic have founded a “civic parliament of Serbia”, Beta news agency reported.

Pak refuses ‘delayed’ visas
ISLAMABAD, Sept 5 — Pakistan has virtually spurned an Indian offer to issue visas to Pakistan journalists for covering the ongoing parliamentary polls citing prolonged “delay” in issuing them.

Barak, Arafat infuse life into Wye accord

SHARM el-SHEIKH (Egypt), Sept 5 (PTI, AFP) — Egged on by a persistent USA, Israelis and the Palestinians signed a landmark deal here today for implementing the stalled Wye accord, breathing life into the frozen Middle East peace process.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Premier Ehud Barak signed the agreement at 12.15 a.m. (02.45 a.m. IST) in presence of US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan.

After initialling the agreement, a beaming Albright, who played a key role in nudging ahead the two sides to arrive at a deal, said a great task had been completed and “an even larger one remains.”

“The deal will provide a long awaited boost to the Middle East peace process besides benefitting nations in the region,” she said of the agreement reached after months of protracted negotiations.

Mr Arafat said the signing of the accord represented implementation of all clauses of the Wye land-for-security deal. “From now on, this is a ongoing process,” he said, adding both sides should stick to their commitments.

“We extend our hands to our new partner Israeli Premier Ehud Barak.

He also urged Syria to put aside past grievances and find ways to achieve peace.

The accord, which will take effect today when Mr Barak submits it to his cabinet, was widely welcomed. It is to be presented later to the Israeli Parliament for its approval.

US President Bill Clinton hailed it as an wonderful opportunity to move the peace process forward. “This will allow Israel and Palestine to resume implementation of the Wye accord and re-start permanent status talks on an accelerated basis.”

In New York, UN Chief Kofi Annan praised Mr Arafat and Mr Barak for the deal and expressed the hope that the accord “will pave way for further agreements leading to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”

Under the terms of the revised Wye deal, both sides will now focus on a final peace agreement, including Jerusalem’s future political status. February has been set as a deadline for drafting a guideline for final status talks which are to be completed by September 2000.

Militant Palestinian groups have, however, rejected the deal. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Islamic militant group Hamas, dismissed the accord as a “sellout” by Mr Arafat.

Demonstrators held protest marches in several Palestinian towns yesterday demanding release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Presently only 350 of them are to be released.

“The new Wye deal is a crucial step towards achieving a final peace deal, “Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said.

The agreement provides for opening of two safe passage routes across Israel to allow Palestinians to travel between West Bank and Gaza and for construction of a seaport in Gaza.

The southern route is expected to open very soon with a second northern passage opening at a later date. Seaport construction is due to begin in October.

Under the new agreement signed by Israel and the Palestinians, there is “no room” for backing down on key points of the Wye River accord which former Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu refused to honour, Palestinian Minister of International Cooperation, Mr Nabil Shaath, told AFP.

The difference between the two accords lies not in the amount of territory to be handed over, but in detailing the method of its implementation.

Under the accord, Mr Barak has committed himself to transfer 7 per cent of West Bank land on September 5 to Palestinian administrative control and Israeli military control (zone B). On November 15, 2 per cent of zone B will be turned over to full Palestinian control and a further 3 per cent to zone B, while on January 20 another 5.1 per cent of zone B will pass directly to full Palestinian control.

HEBRON: The Israeli army arrested six Palestinian journalists at a Jewish settlement near the southern West Bank town of Hebron today, witnesses said.

The six, including an AFP photographer and journalists working for other international news agencies, were taking photographs of bulldozers at Haggai settlement, south of Hebron.

Anti-govt protests helping India: Pak

ISLAMABAD, Sept 5 (PTI) — Alarmed by the success of the countrywide strike over the weekend, the Nawaz Sharif Government today warned the opposition against carrying out anti-government movements which, it alleged, were helping India.

“The anti-state attitude under the disguise of Opposition to the government would not be tolerated”, warned Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Choudhary Shujaat Hussain.

The minister, said those vitiating the atmosphere in the country for their own motives were not doing any service, rather they were creating the wrong impression and doubts about Pakistan abroad.

“People who are creating a situation of uncertainty in the country through their irresponsible statements were, in fact, supporting India and anti-state elements”, Hussain said, adding that such elements would not be tolerated at any cost.

The government has already armed itself with an ordinance to deal with terrorist activities which declared strikes and public rallies and other internal disturbance as terrorist acts punishable up to seven years in jail.

Meanwhile, emboldened by the success of a countrywide strike over the weekend, the Pakistan opposition has decided to exert pressure on the Sharif government to demand immediate resignation of the Prime Minister.

“The government must resign paving way for fresh elections under a neutral set-up”, former Prime Minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto said in a statement.

“The complete shutter down strike on Saturday is a proof that the government has lost its political and moral legitimacy,” Ms Bhutto said in the statement from London where she is currently living.

Gunshots boom in Dili: 25 killed

DILI (East Timor), Sept 5 (Reuters) — Indonesia’s military chief held crisis talks on Sunday as East Timor descended into chaos with up to 25 feared dead in violence overnight.

General Wiranto flew in as part of a hastily organised crisis team of ministers. As they landed in Dili, dozens of terrified and crying Indonesians were running the other way to get on military flights out, after East Timor rejected Jakarta’s rule.

Around 25,000 refugees had taken shelter at churches, a key police station and other locations. Many had taken to the surrounding hills to escape the pro-Jakarta militias, who were moving around unhindered by Indonesian military and police.

Gunshots were heard throughout the night and sources in Dili said attacks were still going on in some parts of the town today. Unconfirmed reports said up to 25 people had been killed, aid sources said, although none could confirm the reports.

“Many people have been killed, although we could not identify them,” an aid source said.

Asked what the military and police were doing to rein in the militia, another added: “They are doing absolutely nothing.”

Gen Wiranto held talks at the airport with military commanders and foreign minister Ali Alatas was to meet U.N. officials during the one-day visit.

President B.J. Habibie has vowed to honour Jakarta’s international commitments.

However, independence appeared a long way off on the streets of Dili on Sunday. Sources in the town said the militia had concentrated their forces in the Capital.

Truckloads of militiamen carrying machetes, home-made guns and other crude weapons were driving through the streets of Dili. Many wore red and white headscarfs — the colours of the Indonesian flag. Few other people were venturing outside.

Around 10,000 refugees had packed the main police station, while 2,500 had crowded into the house of Bishop Carlos Belo, the spiritual leader of the mainly Roman Catholic territory.

NEW YORK: East Timorese resistance leader Jose Ramos-Horta has warned that the tiny South Pacific territory risked “an imminent, extraordinary human catastrophe” after voting overwhelmingly to separate from Indonesia.

Ramos-Horta, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, told Reuters television yesterday that “thousands of lives” could be lost, not only at the hands of opponents of independence but because people who had fled for their lives now faced disease and starvation.

“I think that the UN Security Council must act promptly,” he said. “If it does not, thousands of lives will be lost over the next few days from killings by regular Indonesian troops but also from starvation because tens of thousands of people have fled their homes.

“There are tens of thousands of displaced right now. If they are not killed by Indonesian troops, they will die of starvation and lack of medical care.”

Can UN ensure E.Timor’s transition to freedom?
by Mohan Bhatt

The people of East Timor have given a decisive mandate: an overwhelming desire for total freedom and to be out of Indonesia. But freedom may not be for the asking as the referendum result has to be considered by the Indonesian parliament (MPR) when it convenes in November. It has to approve and ratify the result. Besides, the Indonesian military and a number of militias, who operate with its blessings, are still not reconciled to East Timor going out of its control.

Why did over 75 per cent of the East Timorese opt for freedom and not autonomy? The answer to this lies in the past quarter century. The Indonesian armed forces invaded E.Timor in 1975, a year after Portugal abandoned it after 400 years of colonial rule. The very next year the Jakarta jackboot consolidated its hold by making it the country’s 27th province without taking the consent of the East Timorese.

Over the past two decades the Indonesian army and paramilitary forces have assumed the role of an occupation force and have put down any move for autonomy, leave alone freedom, with an iron hand. These are a people who have literally jumped from the frying pan into the fire — their Portuguese masters being replaced by Indonesians.

An index of Indonesia’s human rights record is evident in the fact that since 1975 as many as 200,000 East Timorese have been wiped out during their liberation struggle and through starvation and disease — a fact acknowledged by rights bodies the world over.

The Island of Timor is the largest in the Lesser Sunda Isles, a part of the East Indies. Its western part is controlled by Indonesia with the capital, Kupang, while the eastern part is the territory which has now voted for independence. Indonesia has always treated it like a colony: they tapped the island for coconut, copra, sandalwood, coffee and the recent find of oil — to enrich Jakarta’s coffers.

But at the same time, Jakarta spent little on its development — E.Timor has the lowest living standard among the 27 provinces — neither did they set up industries there to provide jobs to E.Timorese youth. Their native language, Tetum, was not allowed to be used in the province’s administration.

The 24-year rule by the military spawned a number of militias which became fiercely loyal to the TNI (Indonesian armed forces), the largest being Aitarak. Others are Halilintar, Aifa, Ablai and Besi Mera Putik. Since the TNI created these Frankensteins, bridling them poses an unenviable task.

At the same time, the liberation movement gained momentum under the leadership of Fretilin, whose leader, Xanana Gusmao, was jailed in 1992 for espousing the cause of freedom. He was given a 20-year jail term. But in May, Indonesia to mollify world opinion converted it into house arrest. He is now scheduled to be released this week. Gusmao is tipped to lead the country.

Another leader is Jose Ramos-Horta, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who fled the island and has lived in Australia for 23 years. A third prominent leader is Bishop Carlos Belo, who shared the Nobel Peace award with Horta, and has been championing human rights on the eastern half of the island that is predominantly Roman Catholic.

The pro-freedom militias have formed an umbrella called National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) which has its own flag (it may be christened now as the E Timor flag).

One of its groups, Falintil, had assured the United Nations Assistance Mission to East Timor (UNAMET) that its work would not be hindered and its personnel would be safe. But it has not been able to fulfil the latter part — pro-Jakarta militias have attacked UNAMET personnel and four of them have died, six are missing.

This is because the Indonesia’s military and police have shown reluctance to control these militias. For example, Aitarak, the militia in cahoots with Jakarta has taken to the streets and directed its ire and fire at the UNAMET, who it sees as trying to take E. Timor away from Jakarta. The trigger-happy militias’ accoutrements include LMGs, Kalashnikovs, and AK-47s. But the pro-freedom militias like Fretelin are poorly equipped and have just guns, knifes, axes, machetes (some even use bows and arrows!)

Unless the umbilical cord between the pro-Jakarta militias and the Indonesian police and TNI is cut, the situation in East Timor is unlikely to improve and peace may remain a distant dream.

Had Indonesia woken up earlier and given E. Timor autonomy, perhaps it might have been accepted and not rejected outright as it has been now. Jakarta had not given the E. Timorese self-rule because it feared the step might have a domino effect and lead to such demands in other Indonesian hotspots like Aceh and Irian Jaya (the western part of Papua New Guinea).

The big question now is can UNAMET, with its limited staff and military liaison officers, be able to ensure a peaceful transition to freedom? It will be a Herculean task unless an armed peacekeeping force takes over.

Anti-Milosevic groups unite

BELGRADE, Sept 5 (AFP) — Representatives of civic movements opposed to the regime of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic have founded a “civic parliament of Serbia”, Beta news agency reported.

Delegations from eight towns and one municipality of Belgrade met in the central city Cacak to “unite the actions of civic resistance movements in a bid to form a democratic public of citizens of Serbia,” organisers said yesterday.

The aim of this parliament would be to “protect human rights, especially of those suffering from the regime’s repression and offering legal help to those who need it,” the agency reported.

This parliament is not a substitute for the republic’s assembly, political parties or local authorities. It will not adopt decrees and laws, it will form a democratic republic,” Nebojsa Popov, one of the speakers, said.

The seat of the civic parliament of Serbia would be in Cacak, 140 km south of Belgrade, where the first branch of the organisation was founded.

Pak refuses ‘delayed’ visas

ISLAMABAD, Sept 5 (PTI) — Pakistan has virtually spurned an Indian offer to issue visas to Pakistan journalists for covering the ongoing parliamentary polls citing prolonged “delay” in issuing them.

“India’s decision not to issue visas is condemnable as Pakistan always grants visas to Indian journalists during polls,” a senior information ministry official was quoted as saying yesterday.

The official’s comments came during PTV’s prime time news last evening during which India’s “delay” in issuing visas came in for heavy criticism.

Little Asian tigers
WASHINGTON: Call it the year of the mosquito along parts of the U.S. east coast. First, residents in sections of Virginia, Washington D.C., and elsewhere along the eastern USA, found themselves battling an infestation of the dreaded Asian tiger mosquito, according to recent news reports. Now officials in New York city are launching an unprecedented fumigation programme, after 24 people were stricken with mosquito-borne encephalitis. — AFP

Dinosaur tracks
TORONTO: Researchers say they have found dinosaur footprints believed to be more than 65 million years old in Canada’s north. A team of Canadian and US researchers say three tracks were discovered in the Faro/Ross river area of the Yukon, in the far reaches of Canada’s north. The footprints range from about ten centimetres to 45 centimetres. — Reuters

50 hostages freed
BOGOTA: Armed guerrillas released 58 hostages on the fifth day of their occupation of a partly US-owned hydroelectric plant in western Colombia. Rebels from the Laftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, still hold 87 workers inside the Anchiclaya plant the seized on Tuesday without firing a shot. — AP

Hillary Clinton
ALBANY (New York): Potential US Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has said that she opposes the release from prison of Puerto Rican nationalists offered clemency last month by her husband. The Clintons have come under fire from Republican critics who claimed the President’s clemency offer was aimed at helping his wife’s political fortunes among New York’s 1.3 million Puerto Ricans. — AP

Korean satellite
KOUROU (French Guiana): Western Europe’s 120th Ariane rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Saturday, placing in orbit a communications satellite for South Korea, the Arianespace company said. Saturday’s launch was the fourth Ariane mission this year and the 46th consecutive successful launch of an Ariane-4 rocket. — Reuters

Kubrick’s image
LONDON: The late film director Stanley Kubrick was angry over his reputation as a “monstrous nerd” in the last two years of his life but couldn’t decide what to do about it, his wife said in an interview published on Saturday. Christine Kubrick, 67, who was married to the director for 42 years until his sudden death in March, told the Times newspaper he was an outgoing man, not the recluse often portrayed in the media. His wife said he didn’t speak to reporters because he though his films were more interesting than he was. — Reuters