Lisbon - Fourteen of 16 political parties in East Timor signed a non-violence accord yesterday before elections next month, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported.
The national unity pact is designed to avoid bloodshed in the run-up to August 30th elections for a new 88-member governing body. The assembly will help draft a constitution and steer the tiny former Indonesian territory to independence.
In a report from Dili, East Timor's capital, Lusa said only the Timorese Nationalist Party and the newly-created Parentil party declined to sign the pact.