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ASEAN members to participate in E.
- Subject: ASEAN members to participate in E.
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 16:35:00
[NOTE FROM DAVID ARNOTT: NOW, WHO WILL IT BE?]
ASEAN members to participate in E. Timor transition
Kyodo. Manila, 25 November 1999. Seven of the 10 member countries
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will send contingents
to the United Nations-led transition administration in East Timor,
Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said Thursday.
Siazon told a press conference he and his ASEAN colleagues
discussed over dinner ASEAN participation in the U.N. Transition
Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and seven of members
committed to a 'physical presence' in the next phase of East
Timor's transition to independence.
Siazon did not delineate which of the 10 ASEAN countries --
Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam,
Laos, Singapore, Cambodia and Myanmar -- will participate, but
Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia are already known to be
committed.
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was invaded by Indonesia
in 1975 and annexed as a province in 1976. It obtained de-facto
independence from Jakarta after the Indonesian parliament ratified
an Aug. 30 referendum in which the vast majority of East Timorese
chose independence rather than limited autonomy within Indonesia.
The referendum was followed by a rampage of killing, burning and
looting by pro-Indonesia militia, which prompted the international
community to send in an international force of peacekeepers.
The next phase of international involvement will focus on helping
East Timor reach full independence.
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