Sir, - Lest the silence of individual public representatives be interpreted as indifference, I would like to make my feelings about the drastic situation in East Timor perfectly clear, and to inform your readers that the President of the European Parliament, Madame Nicole Fontaine, last week sent a delegation of parliamentarians to East Timor. We will be discussing the matter in a special debate next week.
Successive Indonesian governments have undoubtedly had some very good friends in both the European Parliament and in many European governments as well as in the US. Many MEPs have expressed our opposition to the sale of arms to Indonesia. There are many serious economic problems in that country but I believe that the World Bank cannot continue to assist this weak and faltering regime and that all aid to Indonesia should be suspended until effective action is taken to address the appalling violence in East Timor.
Irish MEPs have consistently raised concerns about East Timor and I have personally refused several invitations to visit Indonesia as a guest of the Indonesian Government. - Yours, etc.,
Mary Banotti MEP, European Parliament Office, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.