Indonesia and Portugal Sign Pact Giving E. Timor a Choice

Indonesia and Portugal signed landmark accords Wednesday to enable the people of violence-plagued East Timor to choose wide-ranging autonomy under continued Indonesian rule or move toward independence.

If they reject autonomy, as has been widely predicted, Indonesia promises to reverse its annexation of the former Portuguese colony and allow the United Nations to put it on the path to independence.

The signing in New York, by Foreign Ministers Ali Abdullah Alatas of Indonesia and Jaime Gama of Portugal, climaxed more than 15 years of U.N.-sponsored negotiations that followed Indonesia’s 1975 invasion and later incorporation of the territory of 800,000 people as its 27th province.

“This is a historic moment,” said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who signed the main pact. “I strongly urge all elements and political tendencies in East Timor to refrain from any resort to force and to cooperate with the United Nations in fulfilling its vital tasks.”

Meanwhile, gunmen killed a policeman in a northwestern Indonesian province where soldiers fired on villagers earlier this week, killing 38 people.

Also, the military dispersed two small groups of students who were collecting money for the shooting victims’ relatives and warned that it would shoot on sight at mobs in northern Sumatra’s Aceh province.

“There shouldn’t be any more gatherings of people like this. Soldiers will take stern action if people become anarchic,” said regional military commander Johny Wahab.

Monday’s shooting was one of the deadliest events in recent years in Aceh, where rebels fighting for an Islamic state have long operated.