June 17, 1999
Web posted at: 6:19 p.m. EDT (2219 GMT)

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- A referendum on the future of East Timor may have to be postponed due to logistical and security problems, a U.N. source told CNN.

The vote, currently scheduled for August 8, will allow East Timorese to choose between independence or autonomy within Indonesia, part of a peace accord to end 24 years of fighting between Indonesian forces and Timorese rebels.

"It is beginning to look as if a short postponement is unavoidable," the source said.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has not made a final decision on the referendum, but was expected to release a report on East Timor next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Annan's special representative for East Timor, retired Pakistani diplomat Jamsheed Marker, was leaving for the territory late Thursday. His assessment was expected to have a strong influence on the secretary-general's decision about any delay.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he supports a delay until the territory is secure enough to ensure a free vote.

A native of East Timor, Ramos Horta has been living in exile in Australia and Portugal. He shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to win independence for East Timor.

Pro-independence and pro-autonomy factions have clashed in recent weeks, despite agreeing to a peace pact in April, and U.N. officials said the level of violence remains high in many parts of the former Portuguese colony that was invaded by Indonesia in 1975.

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However, the rival factions agreed at a meeting in Jakarta Thursday to cease intimidation and violence ahead of the referendum, and adhere to a "code of conduct" that bars the use of guns or money to prod people to vote for either side.

"There has to be an equal opportunity for anyone to campaign for the poll," said Benediktus Marbun, a coordinator for the East Timor Peace and Stability Commission.

The commission consists of representatives from the rival movements, U.N. officials and the Indonesian Human Rights Commission.

A U.N. official said the meeting was held in Jakarta because pro-independence groups did not feel safe enough to meet in East Timor. The location also enabled East Timorese rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, who is serving a 20-year sentence under house arrest in Jakarta, to attend.

Marbun declined to comment on Foreign Minister Ali Alatas' statement Wednesday that Indonesia will not give Ramos Horta a visa for East Timor if he plans to campaign for the territory's independence.

The commission was to meet again Friday to discuss disarmament, one of the thorniest issues.

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