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)