---------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- With 1,400 observers in East Timor, UN rejects hundreds more Indonesians DILI, East Timor, Aug 24 (AFP) - With almost 1,400 observers here a week before the landmark vote on East Timor's future, the UN Mission here has rejected an Indonesian government request to accredit hundreds more, all of them Indonesian. But Indonesian sources here said despite the rejection, some 350 members from refused organizations had already arrived in the territory, transported here by an Indonesian navy vessel on Monday. The Indonesian and independent sources said Jakarta had tried to register 24 "Observer Groups" at the last minute, one of which was the Pemuda Pancasila, an organization known for its strong-arm tactics. Akbar Tanjung, the chairman of Indonesia's ruling Golkar Party, told Indonesian journalists before flying back to Jakarta Tuesday he intended to complain about the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) rejection, one of the journalists said. Sources here said in its rejection of the Indonesian request Saturday, UNAMET chief electoral officer Jeff Fischer had said the United Nations considered the request "a violation of the terms of agreement" for the August 30 vote. The agreement, reached in May at the UN headquarters in New York, between Portugal and Indonesia, said both Lisbon and Jakarta should have a roughly equal number of observers -- about 50 each -- and they are already in place. The sources also said few of the 24 new organizations proposed by the Indonesians as observers were in fact non-governmental organizations in the strict sense of the word. None had applied individually. The Indonesian government applied for them en-masse, the sources said. Apart from the official Indonesian and Portuguese delegations, most of the other 1,366 registered observers here are from such groups as the Carter Center of the United States, church and Catholic groups. One of the men who had arrived on the ship told an AFP correspondent he had spent "five days and nights to get here" from West Java. "They don't want me," said the man who was waiting outside the gate of the UNAMET headquarters here, dressed in a paramilitary uniform. He did not explain what his interest in East Timor was. Rumors were running through Dili on Tuesday night the Pemuda Pancasila were planning a protest demonstration in Dili Wednesday, but these could not be officially confirmed. The rumors raised concern of potential clashes because Wednesday is a scheduled day for a pro-independence rally for East Timorese here, who are scheduled to vote Monday on whether to accept an Indonesian offer of autonomy under the Indonesian flag. If the autonomy offer is rejected, Jakarta, whose troops invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975, has pledged to propose to the People's Consultative Assembly -- Indonesia's highest legislative body -- that it give East Timor its independence, ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Aug 1999 jam 14:12:32 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
