RI envoy hosts welcome dinner for Bishop Belo<\/p>\n
By Lela E. Madjiah<\/p>\n
OSLO (JP): Indonesian Ambassador for Norway Amiruddin Noor
\nhosted a dinner Sunday for Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes
\nBelo, who is here to accept the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize today.<\/p>\n
\"Please feel free to ask us for any assistance you may need.
\nWe would be happy to help in any way,\" Amiruddin told Belo at the
\ndinner.<\/p>\n
The head of the East Timor Roman Catholic community shares the
\nNobel prize with self-exiled East Timor separatist spokesman Jose
\nRamos-Horta. The bishop, traveling on an Indonesian passport, is
\nthe first Indonesian to receive the award.<\/p>\n
He arrived Sunday morning with his younger sister Julieta
\nFilipe, nephew Amandio de Araujo, Indonesian Catholic priest Y.B.
\nMangunwijaya, and two church officials from East Timor -- Father
\nDomingos Segueca and Lucia Gusmao.<\/p>\n
Two Indonesian embassy staff welcomed Belo at the airport.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has officially welcomed the award given to the
\nBishop, but questioned the Nobel committee's decision to award it
\njointly to him and Ramos-Horta.<\/p>\n
Indonesian officials have said that Ramos-Horta was a senior
\nofficial of Fretilin which was responsible for killing their
\nfellow East Timorese in the civil war that erupted in the wake of
\nthe Portuguese withdrawal from the territory in 1975. Officials
\nsaid Ramos Horta's various campaigns for the separatist cause
\nhave undermined rather than contributed to the efforts to bring
\npeace to East Timor.<\/p>\n
No representatives from the Indonesian government will attend
\ntoday's award giving ceremony because of the presence of Ramos
\nHorta. An embassy source confirmed that none of the other ASEAN
\nambassadors to Norway would attend the ceremony at City Hall.<\/p>\n
Earlier Sunday, Bishop Belo led a solemn mass at St. Olav
\nCatholic Cathedral which was attended by hundreds of people. Oslo
\nBishop Gerhard Schwenzer accompanied the Dili bishop in the mass
\nwhich was widely covered by local and international media.<\/p>\n
Bishop Belo said he would accept the Nobel Peace Prize on
\nbehalf of \"all the victims of the East Timor conflict and also of
\nthose who have suffered in the defense of freedom, truth, justice
\nand peace in Indonesia and other parts of the world.\"<\/p>\n
He called on world leaders to set their interests aside and to
\nhelp find a just and peaceful settlement of the conflict.<\/p>\n
Prayers were conducted in Latin and other languages, including
\nIndonesian, English, Norwegian, Arabic, French, Cantonese,
\nPortuguese and Tetum, an East Timorese language.<\/p>\n
King Harald, Queen Sonja, previous Nobel laureates and members
\nof the Norwegian Nobel Committee, led by chairman Francis
\nSejersted, are among those who will attend today's ceremony at
\nCity Hall.<\/p>\n
The two winners will present separate orations after accepting
\ntheir diplomas and medals.<\/p>\n
The event will be highlighted by a torchlight procession past
\nthe Grand Hotel, where the laureates and their entourages stay.
\nToday's event will close with a banquet at the hotel.<\/p>\n
Belo and Horta are scheduled to meet with Norwegian Prime
\nMinister Thorbjorn Jaglan on Wednesday morning. They will also
\nmeet with members of the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs of
\nthe Storting, the Norwegian Parliament, and Norwegian Minister
\nForeign Minister Bjorn Tore Godal.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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