---------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- Jakarta lifts E.Timor travel ban for Australian CANBERRA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Australian shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Laurie Brereton said on Tuesday a ban on his planned visit to East Timor to serve as a monitor for the August 30 independence ballot had been lifted by Jakarta. ``I am pleased that the Indonesian government has agreed to allow me, as a member of the Australian Parliamentary Observer Delegation accredited with the United Nations, to visit East Timor,'' Brereton said in a statement. Brereton was banned from travelling to East Timor because of what Jakarta called his ``biased and partial perspective.'' He will now travel to East Timor on Thursday as a member of Australia's parliamentary monitoring team, led by former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer. ``This is a welcome although not unexpected development,'' Brereton said. Brereton, a member of the opposition Labor Party, has been highly critical of the conservative Australian government's East Timor policies. Australia is the only Western nation to recognise Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor. More than 430,000 East Timorese in the former Portuguese colony and thousands more around the world will choose between independence and special autonomy within Indonesia in a U.N.-run ballot on August 30. Indonesia invaded East Timor, home to 800,000 people, in 1975 and annexed it in 1976. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Aug 1999 jam 11:38:09 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
