UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced yesterday that Indonesia and Portugal had agreed on a "direct" ballot for the people of East Timor to decide whether they wanted autonomy or independence.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Ali Alatas had previously refused to accept a direct vote for the troubled former Portuguese colony that Jakarta invaded in 1995.
Portugal's Foreign Minister Jaime Gama called the agreement a "turning point" in discussions the two countries have been holding for years over East Timor.
"The meeting has reached an agreement that a method of direct ballot will be used to ask the people of East Timor whether they accept or reject the autonomy proposal," Mr Annan said after two days of talks with the ministers.
But he said the "specific modalities of how the popular consultation will be carried out" were not yet resolved. Indonesian and Portuguese officials will meet on April 13th and 14th and the two ministers will come to New York again on April 22nd, Mr Annan told a news conference.
At issue is a wide-ranging autonomy plan that Indonesia is offering, which the Timorese are expected to turn down in favour of independence. The UN had hoped the plan would be completed this week but Indonesia's cabinet on Monday demanded some major revisions.
If the East Timorese reject autonomy, Mr Alatas said the Indonesian legislature, to be elected in June and meeting in August, would move to rescind the 1976 annexation, putting the territory on the road to independence.
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony of 800,000 people, has for more than 20 years been the centre of a dispute that earned Jakarta international notoriety for its army's harsh rule. Indonesia's annexation of the territory is not recognised by the United Nations or any other country.
One major stumbling block was how the Timorese would make their voices heard, with Portugal insisting on a direct vote and Indonesia ruling out a referendum, saying this would be cumbersome and require U.N. peacekeepers.
Mr Alatas, according to diplomats, proposed that UN conduct a "rolling ballot," with UN teams going from town to town rather than voting taking place on a single day.
At the press conference, however, he said "there has never been at any time a proposal by Indonesia that such a consultation would stretch out over weeks or months." But he gave no clue about how the ballot would be held.
In response, Gama said exiled Timorese would obviously not vote at the same time as those living in the territory.
Meanwhile, the jailed East Timor guerrilla leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, and the commander of pro-Indonesia militias in the territory said yesterday they had agreed to discuss its future peacefully.
"This is the first meeting and we have committed to peace," Mr Gusmao said at a joint news conference with Mr Joao da Silva Tavares, after 1 1/2 hours of talks. "We have been enemies for 23 years but from today, after the discussion, we have agreed to put down our weapons," said Mr Tavares.
Mr Tavares said he had presented Mr Gusmao with a peace proposal, which Mr Gusmao was going to read.
"We have agreed to respect each other and stop violence, abolish all hatred and start a new page," said Mr Gusmao.
Mr Tavares declined to say whether both sides' weapons would be handed over to the Indonesian armed forces (ABRI).