---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Antara, 18 Juli 1999 UN To Stay Put Following August Ballot New York, July 17 (ANTARA) - A two-day tripartite dialog on East Timor ended here Friday with a decision that the United Nations stays in the troubled territory after the UN- organised direct ballot on autonomy is held in August. The UN presence after the popular consultation was aimed at helping create peace and reconciliation between the rival factions there. UN secretary general's special emissary to East Timor Jamsheed Marker told reporters following the dialog that the agenda of the talks has changed from the balloting process to matters of creating and maintaining peace and reconciliation following next month's plebiscite. Indonesian and Portuguese government representatives also took part in the dialog. The Indonesian delegation was led by Nugroho Wisnumurti and the Portuguese by Ambassador Fernando Neves. Marker said they have been trying their best to anticipate an adverse security situation after the popular consultation on the UN-supported autonomy package. Until now, said Marker, they had made a few plans for the pro- and anti-integration factions. "It's time to think about what will happen after the ballot," he said. Marker, however, did not elaborate on the plans that the dialog had approved. He merely said that the Indonesian and Portuguese delegations will meet again, and the UN secretary general will ask the UN Security Council to renew the mandate for the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) which will expire on August 31, 1999. Both Wisnumurti and Neves said they had talked about ways of preventing an increase of tensions ahead of the ballot scheduled for August 21 or 22. Wisnumurti said the main agenda of the two-day talks concerned the UN role in East Timor after the ballot, regardless of its results. Neves added that the UN officials will remain in the former Portuguese colony for another few months following the ballot. The August popular consultation on a wide-ranging autonomy within Indonesia will pave the way for the East Timorese to determine their own future. If their majority reject the offered autonomy, Jakarta with allow the territory which integrated into Indonesia in 1976 to secede from the republic. The East Timorese in Indonesia and abroad eligible to cast a vote in the upcoming ballot have started registering themselves on July 16 and have the opportunity to do so until August 5. (T.LNY01/NN-03/20:56/INT-NG/21:31/nn03/TB02) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 21 Jul 1999 jam 05:34:50 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
