Australia's Foreign Minister, who arrives in Dublin today, has been urged to announce a peace initiative for the Indonesian-occupied former Portuguese colony of East Timor.
A strongly worded statement from the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, to raise "Australia's hypocritical stance on East Timor" when he meets his Australian counterpart, Mr Alexander Downer, tomorrow.
The group intends to picket Dail Eireann, where Mr Downer is to meet the Ceann Comhairle, the Cathaoirleach and other TDs tomorrow. He is also to meet the President and the Taoiseach.
"If Australia wants to restore its much sullied reputation, it should discuss the possibility of a peace initiative on East Timor with Ireland. An initial step would be the opening of a United Nations human rights office" in the capital, Dili, said Mr Tom Hyland, the solidarity group's co-ordinator.
Instead of using its "key position" to promote democracy and respect for human rights in southeast Asia, Australia had "chosen to appease the Indonesian dictatorship by supplying it with arms, training its troops, exploiting East Timor's oil-rich sea, overlooking human rights abuses and implementing a heavy-handed policy in relation to East Timorese refugees". About 20,000 Timorese live in exile in Australia.
Recalling that 60,000 East Timorese died helping Australian troops fight the Japanese during the second World War, he criticised new Australian legislation cutting assistance to asylum-seekers. Up to 1,400 Timorese "will lose all of their income and support as a result of the cuts." Recent policy changes "make it virtually impossible for East Timorese refugees to seek asylum in Australia", he said. More than 7,000 Australians and members of religious bodies have declared that if there was a move to deport the Timorese they would offer them sanctuary in their homes, Mr Hyland said.