Bishop Belo heads to oslo to fetch Nobel Peace Prize

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)