The foreign ministers of Indonesia and Portugal completed an agreement yesterday that paves the way for 800,000 people in East Timor to vote on their future, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, announced at the United Nations.
He said the pact would be signed on May 5th because the Indonesian government needed to approve new sections of the accord on security and on how a vote would be held in the disputed former Portuguese colony.
Mr Annan also told a news conference he hoped that Indonesia would "effectively carry out its responsibility for law and order and the protection of civilians" in East Timor, where fighting has intensified since Indonesia, in a surprise policy switch, in January offered independence to the territory.
At issue is a wide-ranging autonomy package for East Timor that has been racked by sporadic violence since Indonesia invaded and occupied it in 1975 and annexed it a year later, a move not recognised by most of the world.
The UN is to put the autonomy plan to a direct vote in July or early August. If the plan is rejected, Indonesia has promised to reverse its annexation.
The Nobel Peace laureate, Mr Jose Ramos-Horta, a Timorese independence campaigner, in a separate news conference, called for an arms and financial embargo to pressure Indonesia to allow a free vote and keep order.
"We are not asking NATO countries . . . to bomb Jakarta into the Stone Age. We propose a milder form of military action by the western countries," he said, urging a halt to all supplies of weapons and military training to Jakarta. Mr Ramos-Horta said 90 per cent of the Timorese preferred independence. Autonomy under Jakarta "makes no sense for us", he said, adding: "I would prefer to join Mongolia . . . At least Mongolia never invaded us."
Accusing Indonesia's army of instigating the violence, he said their call for calm was like "expecting that Jack the Ripper would in London broker peace.
Details of the arrangements for the vote were not revealed, but Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, said there would not be a UN peacekeeping operation, which means troops or military observers. Diplomats said there would be some security component, possibly police.
Mr Alatas said peacekeepers had "never been proposed even by the United Nations. What we are talking about is a presence in terms of personnel and perhaps in terms of advisers."
But Portugal's Foreign Minister, Mr Jaime Gama, was doubtful of Indonesia's promise to keep the peace following killings and massacres that escalated over the last two weeks, mainly by pro-Jakarta militia against independence activists and their civilian supporters. "For the effectiveness of these agreements it is crucial to restore [peace] in the territory", Mr Gama said. That meant disarming the militia and not giving them weapons or other means "to counteract the spirit of the negotiations".
He said there was still intimidation and killings in mountainous areas, despite an agreement signed on Wednesday by the detained pro-independence guerrilla leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, and the proJakarta militias.
But Mr Alatas said this was a start and that disarmament could not begin until all fighting stopped and there was a "laying down of arms".