Gusmao weds Aussie girlfriend

Mon, 03 Jul 2000 | Source: AP

DILI (AP): East Timorese resistance leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao wed his longtime Australian girlfriend Kirsty Sword in a secret ceremony on Sunday, officials said.

The two married at a seminary in the town of Dare, 15 kilometers south of Dili. Only 20 family and friends attended, said an aide to Gusmao who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ines Almeida, a press officer for the National Council of Timorese Resistance, a political umbrella group that Gusmao heads, confirmed the wedding took place but refused to give details.

It is Gusmao's second marriage. He divorced his first wife of 28 years, Emilia Baptista, after he was released from prison last year.

Articulate and charismatic, Gusmao, 54, is the symbol of East Timor's struggle for independence from Indonesia, which invaded in 1975 after 400 years of Portuguese colonial rule.

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