Amnesty still holds for Fretilin rebels, says Col. Simbolon

DILI, East Timor (JP): President Soeharto's amnesty for East Timorese separatist rebels scattered in the territory's jungles is still on the table, a military officer said Saturday.

East Timor Military Chief Col. Mahidin Simbolon said the amnesty's timeframe was unlimited so all members of the "peace- disturbing movement (GPK)" could surrender voluntarily.

The term GPK is the military's shorthand for separatist rebel groups in East Timor, Irian Jaya and Aceh. In East Timor's case, it refers to Fretilin, which has been waging a guerrilla war against the Indonesian government since 1976.

Simbolon said the amnesty was not limited to Fretilin members who voluntarily laid down their arms, but also to those who have been captured and confessed their actions against the government.

The military said recently that the number of guerrillas in the hills around the East Timor capital, Dili, had dwindled to less than 100.

Simbolon said three rebels recently captured, identified as Theofilo de Yesus, Manuel Amaral and Manuel, were "small players" in Fretilin.

The three, like others captured, will undergo a society reintegration program before getting the amnesty and rejoining their families.

Simbolon said the program had been effective although it bypassed normal due legal process.

The reintegration program has also benefited Mauhunu, who became Fretilin commander after the 1992 arrest of Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, he said.

Mauhunu, whose real name is Antonio Manekas, was arrested in 1993 and was immediately offered the reintegration program. Xanana is serving a 20-year jail term in Jakarta.

Mauhunu, and Fretilin political assistant Mauhudu, who was arrested at the same time, have become successful entrepreneurs and are raising families, Simbolon said, adding that they lived in freedom and believed East Timor was part of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Portuguese radio station TSF, current Fretilin commander Konis Santana said his faction was offering the Indonesian government a cease-fire.

Santana set two conditions: stop migration of Indonesians into East Timor and fewer soldiers in the territory, Reuters said.

The report did not say where and when the interview took place.

The renewed amnesty and the cease-fire offer comes before tomorrow's presentation of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize to East Timor Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and anti-integration spokesman Jose Ramos-Horta in Oslo.

They were jointly awarded the US$1.2 million for "their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the East Timor problem", a claim the Indonesian government has questioned.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was integrated into Indonesia in 1976, a move the United Nations never recognized.

Also on Saturday, governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares said that any notion to make East Timorese an independent state is "outdated".

"There is no logical reason to separate East Timor from Indonesia," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

The global tendency is that countries are moving to unite. Europe, for example, have sought single currency, he added. (33/01)