Xanana pays visit on independence fighters<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana"
\nGusmao wept openly on Sunday as the East Timorese guerrillas who
\nstruggled for over two decades against Indonesian rule welcomed
\nhim home with celebrations and tears of their own.<\/p>\n
Children in traditional Timorese dress sang and scattered
\nflower petals as Xanana arrived by helicopter at the headquarters
\nof East Timor's Falintil guerrillas high in the mountains above
\nthe capital Dili.<\/p>\n
"Our war is not finished," Xanana said in a speech to hundreds
\nof armed guerrillas lined up under a baking sun, Reuters
\nreported.<\/p>\n
"Our people are hungry, our people are crying, our people are
\ndying. We must wage war not with guns but to care for our land
\nand look after our people," he said in East Timor's Tetun
\nlanguage, his voice cracking with emotion.<\/p>\n
Seasoned guerrillas in camouflage uniforms, with unruly hair
\nand automatic rifles, veterans of years of warfare in the jungle,
\nwept openly as Xanana embraced them.<\/p>\n
Widows who lost husbands in the war sobbed and clung to him.
\nXanana whispered to them and wiped tears from their eyes. Women
\nhuddled round him, singing a Timorese freedom anthem. He clasped
\ntheir hands, sang with them, and wept with them.<\/p>\n
Xanana set his feet on his homeland for the first time on
\nFriday after seven years. He was arrested by the Indonesian
\nMilitary in 1992 and was sentenced for life on subversion
\ncharges. The Indonesian government released him last month after
\nEast Timorese voted against a wide-ranging autonomy offer on Aug.
\n30.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Saturday, Xanana gave a positive response to
\nIndonesia's offer of a reconciliation meeting between two pro and
\nanti-independence factions in East Timor. But he set a condition
\nfor the return of anti-independence militias into the strife-
\nstruck territory.<\/p>\n
Taufik R. Soedarbo, chairman of the Post-ballot Task Force in
\nEast Timor (P4TT), said the Indonesian government had offered to
\nfacilitate a reconciliation meeting between the two conflicting
\ngroups, which Xanana welcomed.<\/p>\n
"Xanana has given a positive response to the offer and said
\nsuch facilities will be helpful to creating peace in the troubled
\nterritory," Antara quoted him as saying after a closed-door
\nmeeting with Xanana in Dili.<\/p>\n
Also attending the meeting were National Council for East
\nTimor Resistance (CNRT) coordinator Leandro Isaac, Ian Martin,
\nwho chairs the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), and Maj. Gen.
\nPeter Cosgrove, chief of the Australian-led International Force
\nfor East Timor (Interfet).<\/p>\n
Soedarbo declined to say when and where the reconciliation
\nmeeting would take place.<\/p>\n
Xanana said in a media conference on the same day that he
\nwould allow prointegration militias, who have been accused of
\nrampaging through the territory after the Aug. 30 ballot, to
\nreturn to East Timor only if they apologized to the East
\nTimorese.<\/p>\n
"They are allowed to come back home but they must make an
\napology to the people for all damages caused by their brutality
\nafter the ballot," he said.<\/p>\n
Xanana, who chairs the East Timor Transition Commission,
\nreiterated that East Timor was seeking support from the World
\nBank, Japan, Australia and Indonesia to make preparations for the
\nterritory's independence.<\/p>\n
He said he would also need cooperation from Indonesia,
\nespecially during the transition period, on at least three
\nmatters -- the status of prointegration militiamen, repatriation
\nof East Timorese refugees and Indonesian assets in the territory.<\/p>\n
Abel Guterres, a CNRT executive, said about US$100 million
\nwould be needed to build infrastructure and to repair facilities
\ndamaged during the post-ballot violence.<\/p>\n
He said donor countries were scheduled to meet in Washington
\nin December to discuss financial aid for East Timor. (rms)<\/p>",
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