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East Timorese resistance leader 'surprised' with plan to form territory's 'shadow government'

Source
Lusa - January 20, 1997

Lisbon – East Timorese resistance leader Mari Alkatiri has said to be "surprised" with Josi Ramos Horta's announcement last week of a plan to form a "shadow government" for the territory occupied by Indonesia. Alkatiri who lives in Mogambique and is in charge of the legal affairs of East Timor's resistance movement Conselho Nacional da Resistjncia Maubere (CNRM) told Lusa on Friday that Ramos Horta's announcement had been "premature" although he stressed that there were "no major disputes" between the two leaders. Alkatiri said that their differences were more "of conceptual rigour" saying that "I totally disagree with the shadow government. To whom would it be a shadow? To an illegal (Indonesian) governor?" Ramos Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, announced in Macau on Friday resistance movement plans to form a "shadow government" later this year that would seek to involve East Timorese from the widest possible political spectrum, including "people who are currently working for Indonesia". East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power. Lisbon demands that East Timor be given the right to self-determination. Lusa/Fim

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