FED: Australia becoming more hopeful on Timor ballot

AAP General News (Australia)
08-13-1999
FED: Australia becoming more hopeful on Timor ballot

CANBERRA, Aug 13 AAP - Australia is becoming more hopeful this month's East Timor autonomy
ballot will proceed, with tentative signs the security situation in the province is improving,
a Senate inquiry today heard.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade deputy secretary, John Dauth, said Australia had
made 120 complaints to Indonesia about its failure to ensure the security of the East Timorese
people since the April agreement to hold the ballot.

Most of the violence has been blamed on paramilitaries backed by the Indonesian military,
TNI, but Mr Dauth said there were now signs that Indonesia was finally heeding Australia's
repeated complaints.

"There's certainly some growing evidence that the Indonesian military, TNI, are taking a
less engaged approach with the militias," he told the Senate inquiry.

"I'm certainly not going to be definitive about that but if that is the case then I think
that is obviously a source of satisfaction that TNI is playing its proper role as the arbiter
of security in East Timor."

As a result, Mr Dauth said he was now more confident the August 30 ballot could proceed
after twice being delayed by the United Nations because of violence, mostly caused by the
militias.

But he admitted the security situation was still far from perfect.

"The situation has been very serious, continues to be serious, continues to be far from
perfect," Mr Dauth said.

"It's, in our view, showed some recent signs of slight improvement but is far from
perfect."

But he said the registration for the ballot, which had seen nearly 450,000 East Timorese
sign up to vote, had been extremely heartening.

"The registration proceeded far more smoothly than I for one had judged was likely," he
said.

"It was a singular success."

AAP ss/mfh/arb/de

KEYWORD: TIMOR AUST (CARRIED EARLIER)

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.