Habibie to meet Belo today on East Timor

Habibie to meet Belo today on East Timor

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie will meet with Dili
Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo here this afternoon on what
many expect to be a follow-up on the initiative to give greater
autonomy to East Timor.

But Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung stopped short
yesterday of saying the troubled province would be the main
agenda, and maintained the meeting was part of Habibie's efforts
to gather input from different national figures.

"The meeting is a part of the President's proactive measures
to meet with various national figures to get as much as possible.
The talks may also touch the East Timor question," Akbar
remarked.

Belo, who arrived in Jakarta yesterday evening, said he was
ready to talk with Habibie and give advice to the President in
his capacity as a Catholic leader in the province.

"I will make use of this opportunity to discuss with him the
East Timor issue which has remained unsettled in the
international forum these past 23 years," Belo told Antara
shortly before departing from Dili yesterday.

This will be their first meeting.

Belo said the President had actually invited both he and
Baucau Bishop Basilio do Nascimento, but the latter could not
attend since he had already committed to lead an annual prayer of
a group of Canossian nuns in Dili.

"My mission is to bring peace and justice... I am not a
politician. The efforts to reach a solution on the East Timor
issue should be left to the people themselves," he said.

Last weekend, Habibie expressed readiness to grant special
status to the country's 27th province and to withdraw more Armed
Forces personnel from there.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas reported the
President's initiative to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan on Thursday. (prb)