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Rebel attack a warning to negotiate: Ramos Horta

Source
Agence France Presse - June 2, 1997

Cologne, Germany – East Timor resistance spokesman Ramos Horta said Monday a bloody weekend rebel attack is a warning to the Indonesian authorities to negotiate a solution through the United Nations.

Speaking on the German radio Deutsche Welle, he expressed regret at the loss of life but refused to condemn the attack, which cost the lives of 18 police and soldiers and wounded nine others Saturday in Baucau.

"In combat soldiers on both sides take casualties. How can I condemn the act of the East Timorese independence fighters in attacking Indonesian military personnel?" he said.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said he regretted the loss of life throughout the 22-year conflict.

"I feel very bad, it's a dilemma for me. A soldier is also a human being, he didn't lose his personality just because he happened to be a soldier," Ramos Horta said.

He regarded such attacks as "a very serious warning to the Indonesian side that they must negotiate seriously with the secretary-general of the United Nations to find a quick resolution to the conflict."

"These daring attacks were a warning by the guerrillas and by the people as a whole that it can no longer continue to tolerate the abuses, the torture that have been going on, and got worse in the last few months."

Ramos Horta said the East Timor rebels never attacked civilians.

But he added: "I do not believe that violence or armed resistance can resolve a problem that is political. It's a case of self-determination, so Indonesia should not try to resolve it by force."

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