October 18, 1999
All factions in Indonesia's legislature have recognised East Timor's right to independence, after almost 24 years of army-enforced rule from Jakarta. The People's Consultative Assembly in Jakarta still has to ratify the decision but as all 11 factions are agreed on the matter, correspondents say this should be a formality. The transition to independence is dependent on the assembly revoking its 1978 ruling incorporating East Timor as Indonesia's 27th "province". Erna Witoelar, a member of the assembly commission which has been reviewing East Timor's 30 August vote for independence, said she expected the assembly to vote on the committee's recommendation before Wednesday's presidential election. Meanwhile, in East Timor an Indonesian Government task force has been holding talks with the international peace-keeping force and United Nations representatives on how to manage the transfer of power.
The BBC correspondent in the regional capital, Dili, says key issues in the first stage of discussions include Indonesia's demands to recover or dispose of its assets in East Timor. These range from state telecommunications facilities, and projects financed by the provincial government, to individual private properties. A spokesman for the UN mission in East Timor, Andrew Ladley, told the BBC that the talks were being conducted in a good atmosphere. He said the Indonesian team was being taken on a tour of Dili to bring home to them the scale of the violence by pro-Jakarta militias that followed the East Timorese independence vote. The task force plans to remain in East Timor until and the Indonesian assembly ratifies the vote, and transition is complete.
A key issue to be raised by the international community in the talks will be the issue of the return of refugees. Tens of thousands of people still live in refugee camps in West Timor. Repatriation has begun, but a fully-fledged programme can only start once the Indonesians allow flights from the west to east of the island.
Reports of murder and rape
Aid agencies will also want get access to the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi, from where human rights abuses and starvation have been reported. The pro-independence militia, Falintil, said in a statement it had reports of multiple murders and rapes recently carried out in the enclave. The militia called on the international community to intervene. The Indonesian delegation told the BBC it was now considering a proposal that some of its members should accompany UN staff to the enclave to assess the situation.
International force
The next decisive step towards independence for East Timor will come when Indonesia's assembly votes to ratify East Timor's 30 August vote for independence. After the ratification, UN peacekeepers will take over from the Australian-led Interfet. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said his country wants to command the new peacekeeping operation. And Australia has said it wants one of Indonesia's neighbours in the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) to lead the peacekeeping force.
But Timor independence leader Jose Ramos Horta saidon Friday that Asean countries were not neutral. He said the East Timorese would not accept an Asean state as leader of the UN transitional administration because they had been "accomplices of Indonesia".
