Bishop Belo heads to oslo to fetch Nobel Peace Prize

DILI (JP): Nobel peace laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo left yesterday for Oslo, one day early, to claim his award at the ceremony on Dec. 10.

His sudden departure surprised supporters who wanted to escort him to the airport in Dili. Originally scheduled to leave at 10 a.m. today, he boarded a Merpati aircraft heading for Jakarta at 12:20 local time yesterday.

Church officials said the Bishop decided to leave yesterday around 10 a.m.

Belo shares this year's Nobel Peace Prize with exiled East Timor separatist leader Jose Ramos Horta. The award ceremony will include an oration for the award winners.

Belo will be accompanied in Oslo by Domingos Sequera, representing East Timorese priests; Lucia Gusmao, representing the religious order; the bishop's younger sister, Julieta Filipe Ximenes Belo; and Amandio de Araujo, his nephew, who represents East Timorese youths.

Other entourage members include legislator Manuel Carrascalao, chairman of the Etadep Foundation, Florentio Sarmento, and Rector of the East Timor University, Armindo Maia.

No Indonesian official will attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in protest to the award being shared by Ramos Horta.

After receiving the award, the bishop is scheduled to pay Pope John Paul II a visit in Vatican and meet German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on Dec. 16 in Bonn.

Belo has been invited by 30 countries to visit, but he declined the invitations because he wanted to home in East timor in time for Christmas.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was integrated into Indonesia as the nation's 27th province in 1976. A small radical separatist movement, however, continues to solicit international support for its cause.

The United Nations continues to recognize Lisbon as the administrative power of the tiny province. (33/06)