A compromise on East Timor?

Indonesian President B.J. Habibie's offer on East Timor is a dramatic leap for Jakarta to take but one that falls short of meeting the demands of the East Timorese themselves. Habibie says he is prepared to release the resistance leader Xanana Gusmao from prison immediately, to order a troop withdrawal from East Timor and to grant wide powers of autonomy to the territory. The price: international recognition of Indonesia's 1976 annexation of East Timor. Gusmao has rejected the offer, saying that there won't be a solution without a referendum on full independence. The question now is whether these two inflexible positions can be massaged into a compromise acceptable to all sides.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald