---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- The Australian 2aug99 =20 Downer warns: don't hurt Aussies By IAN HENDERSON THERE would be "enormous consequences" if any Australians were hurt in East=20 Timor during the Indonesian province's vote on its political future,=20 Alexander Downer warned yesterday.=20 On his return from a visit to East Timor =96 the first by an Australian fore= ign=20 minister =96 Mr Downer was forced to deny media reports of a rift between=20 Australia and the US over plans for peacekeepers in East Timor. "We are=20 working closely with the Americans and of course, above all, the United=20 Nations," the Foreign Minister declared, citing discussions on contingency=20 plans for security arrangements if East Timor voted for independence from=20 Indonesia.=20 Asked on the Nine network's Sunday program whether he was more or less=20 fearful about the safety of Australians following his visit, Mr Downer said=20 that was a difficult question to answer.=20 But he added: "I came away a little more optimistic about the East Timor=20 issue and, you know, a little more confident about the safety of Australians=20 in East Timor."=20 Mr Downer said "generally speaking", he was now "reasonably confident" about=20 the safety of the Australians there. "But I'm not taking it for granted and = I=20 made it clear, for example, to the pro-integrationists as well as to others=20 that there would be enormous consequences if Australians were hurt," he said= .=20 Mr Downer said he had maintained pressure for a solution to the fate of East=20 Timor.=20 And, responding to criticisms by Labor foreign affairs spokesman Laurie=20 Brereton, Mr Downer said it was "a very difficult and a very delicate=20 exercise" to use Australia's leverage successfully with Indonesia. "We need=20 to maintain, as best we can, influence on the Indonesian Government while, a= t=20 the same time, try to help prosecute a successful settlement to the East=20 Timor question," he said.=20 On the question of a foreign peacekeeping force on East Timor in the period=20 between the August 30 ballot =96 that will offer the community the choice of=20 either remaining in Indonesia or going its own independent way =96 and a=20 decision by the Indonesian parliament on the fate of East Timor, Mr Downer=20 again indicated Australia was sympathetic to the Indonesian view.=20 "They have a strong sense of their independence and the notion of foreign=20 troops being responsible for the security of their own country is something=20 which is absolute anathema to them," he said. "The fact is they are not goin= g=20 to allow that type of presence."=20 Mr Brereton told the Ten network's Meet the Press program that Australia was=20 failing to fully exploit its close relationship with Indonesia.=20 "Now is the time to express a strong and forceful view to them and that's=20 something that the Australian Government have gone out of their way not to=20 do," he said.=20 Asked about the prospect of a UN Security Council force in East Timor, he=20 said: "We should be leading world opinion in arguing with Jakarta for them t= o=20 accept such a presence."=20 In Dili yesterday, two gunmen shot another man dead, prompting an angry crow= d=20 to burn the house of a known pro-Indonesia militia member, witnesses said.=20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 1 Aug 1999 jam 23:11:49 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
