In a statement issued on his behalf by his lawyer, Hendardi, chair of the PBHI, Xanana Gusmao, the president of the CNRT said that generally speaking, nothing new had emerged from the meeting between President Habibie and PM John Howard. The two men exchanged information about the postponement of the UN tripartite talks till 5 May and announced that the date of the ballot had been fixed for 8 August.

"Our client regrets the political position adopted by the Australian Prime Minister as expressed in his statement in Denpasar which made no reference to the terrible events in Liquisa and Dili which resulted in a number of civilian deaths. This is in contrast with the Prime Minister's angry reaction when he was still in Australia." At that time, reacting to the Dili tragedy, he said that he wanted to meet President Habibie as soon as possible.

Xanana was hoping that the Australian Prime Minister would pay attention to these tragedies and would exert pressure on President Habibie and the Army commander in chief with regard to the serious events in East Timor during the past weeks. It is necessary to seek clarification about the army's political standpoint because it has still failed to adopt a position of neutrality even though it promised to do so.

This is extremely important, said Xanana, because the security situation in East Timor has failed to improve in spite of the peace accord that was signed on 21 April. "On that occasion, the army leadership committed itself to a position of neutrality."

But at the same time, Xanana welcomed Australia's commitment to provide financial assistance and medical staff as part of its involvement in helping take forward the peaceful settlement of the situation in East Timor.

"Our client also expressed the hope that the tripartite talks leading to the signing of an agreement would not be further postponed on 5 May." The postponement from 24 April till 5 May had given the militias the opportunity to mobilise their forces and to exert more pressure by means of threats, terror and other acts of violence against the civilian population, resulting in yet more people dead and wounded and the destruction of property, all of which had forced thousands of people to go into hiding.

Postscript

Suara Merdeka also reported the military commander in Dili Colonel Tono Suratman as saying that the pro-integration militias would soon be disarmed. "It will happen in a few weeks time," he said. He gave no further details although the militias who want to remain with Indonesia are continuing to take actions against the pro-independence people.

The paper also reported that the East Timor solidarity organisation Solidamor has issued a statement signed by a number of non-Timorese NGOs urging the Indonesian government to release Xanana Gusmao before the ballot on 8 August.