---------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------- 08/29/1999 21:49:00 ET Australia says evacuation from East Timor unlikely CANBERRA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Australia said on Monday it did not expect East Timor, now voting to decide its future, to become dangerous enough to justify an evacuation. "Our expectation is that the situation in East Timor won't get out of hand to the extent that there would be a need for evacuation," Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said. "In the event that there was a need for an evacuation, we would obviously just not evacuate Australians, but other members of the international community and we have a whole process for doing that," he told reporters before briefing cabinet on the East Timor situation. Australian defence forces in Darwin are on stand-by to evacuate people from East Timor if the situation deteriorates. Rioting in the troubled former Portuguese colony has claimed at least a dozen lives in the past few days. Most of the violence has been blamed on militias opposed to independence. There are fears that the result of the twice-delayed U.N.-run ballot will be met with a violent backlash from the losing side. Downer said early reports about the voting process were encouraging. East Timorese will choose in the ballot between special autonomy within Indonesia or complete independence. "I have heard that there are very substantial queues for voting, including in the town of Maliana which is one of the strife-torn parts of East Timor, so that is a positive early indication," Downer said. "But there are a lot of hours to go yet so I am not calling anything at this stage." Asked about a peace accord signed between pro-independence guerrillas and pro-Indonesia militias on Sunday, Downer said events would show whether the agreement to limit the carrying of weapons really meant anything. "The judgment I make about the peace accord is going to be based on what happens on the ground during the course of today and also over the next few weeks," Downer said. "I wouldn't rush to any rapid, unguarded conclusions before I saw how it was implemented." Downer said the result of the ballot was not expected to be announced before September 6 or 7. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 30 Aug 1999 jam 04:52:16 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
