---------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- Not all East Timorese rebels able to register for vote RAILUKA, East Timor, Aug 6 (AFP) - Some 80 members of the armed wing of the East Timorese pro-independence movement have been unable to register in this far-flung hideout for the United Nations-held ballot on the territory's future, a rebel leader said here Friday. "A total of 184 men in my area have registered while the rest, 84, including me, have yet to do so," Deputy Falintil Commander of Region III Falor Ratelaek said in his jungle hideout in the Manatuto district. Friday was the last day of the 22-day registration period ahead of the August 30 ballot. Falintil is the armed wing of the National Reistance Council of East Timor (CNRT), the umbrella organisation of the pro-independence movement in the former Portuguese colony invaded by Indonesia in 1975. "I don't think we will register as we have asked the UNAMET (the UN Mission in East Timor) to come here to register us, but they haven't been able to," Ratelaek, 44, said. He said his men could not go down to a registration post without the necessary guarantees of safety from both UNAMET, which organizes the polls, and the Indonesian authorities. UNAMET said early Friday that it had registered over 427,190 in East Timor and 12,380 in registration stations outside the territory. So far, Ratelaek said, the Falintil respected the May 5 agreement between Indonesia and Portugal allowing the UN to hold the ballot to see whether people accepted an Indonesian offer of autonomy. Jakarta has said that it may free East Timor which it annexed in 1976 without the recognition of the United Nations, if the autonomy offer was rejected. Ratelaek also said Falintil respected an agreement entered by leaders of both camps in Jakarta calling for a laying down of arms ahead of the polls but said the Falintil would not immediately surrender their weapons. "This (surrender of arms) will never happen as long as Indonesian soldiers are still here and are still providing arms to the militias," he said. "The reality is that pro-independence supporters are still harrassed, terrorized and even killed." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 6 Aug 1999 jam 17:34:35 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
