Hendropriyono surveys East Timor: Horta

Hendropriyono surveys East Timor: Horta

Agence France-Presse, Dili, East Timor

Indonesia's intelligence chief flew into East Timor for talks
with top officials here at the weekend to determine whether it is
safe for President Megawati Soekarnoputri to attend the former
Indonesian province's independence celebrations on May 19-20.

Lt. Gen. (ret), A.M. Hendropriyono, met the UN chief
administrator in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, Foreign
Minister Jose Ramos Horta and Dili's Bishop Felipe Carlos Ximenes
Belo on Saturday during a 24-hour visit.

"His visit to East Timor had to do with a security risk
assessment to enable the president to make a final decision,"
Ramos Horta told AFP.

The East Timorese leadership is eager for Megawati to join a
host of world leaders at its independence declaration ceremony on
next Sunday night.

President-elect Xanana Gusmao traveled to Jakarta to
personally invite her to the landmark event, reinforcing an
earlier invitation from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

But Megawati, who is facing fierce parliamentary opposition to
her presence at the independence party, has still not given an
official reply.

Hendropriyono was followed by a team of presidential security
and protocol officers, Ramos Horta said.

On Sunday the team was surveying the seafront capital Dili,
where charred shells of buildings still bear testimony to the
Indonesian army-backed militia rampage that followed East Timor's
vote for independence.

"They will then go back and the president will make a final
decision," said Ramos Horta, who also chairs the independence
celebration committee.

"But I believe they have found among us absolute cooperation
at every level to ensure not only the security of President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, if she decides to come, but of every
single invitee of every country."

Ramos Horta said there was no ill-feeling towards Megawati for
the 1999 violence.

"I do not expect anti-Indonesian demonstrations, quite the
contrary," he said.

"Our people understand how important is the visit of President
Megawati and they also know how much effort she has made to
normalize relations with East Timor, and we're all very impressed
with the leadership and statesmanship she has shown so far."

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Australian Prime Minister
John Howard, and the president and prime minister of former
colonial ruler Portugal are among leaders of delegations from 80
nations who will attend the massive two-day independence
ceremonies.