Mgr Belo to return home on Christmas eve
DILI, East Timor (JP): Dili's Catholic community is bracing itself for the homecoming of their Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo who is scheduled to return on Christmas eve.
Belo's return date and plans for a huge welcoming celebration were formally announced by the Dili diocese in churches throughout East Timor during Sunday's services.
Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares said last week the provincial authorities did not plan to hold an official welcome party for Belo, but would not prohibit the Catholic community from spontaneously celebrating his return.
Local Catholic youths and university students have provided about 3,600 T-shirts for the expected crowd. The T-shirt carries Belo's picture and his motto in Latin saying Caritas Veritatis, Veritas Caritatis (love in truth, truth in love).
Several hours after touching down at Komoro airport, Belo will deliver a Christmas eve mass at Dili Cathedral.
Separately, chairman of East Timor branch of the National Committee for Indonesian Youth, Agustino Goncalves, called on people in the province not to spoil Belo's arrival celebration.
"Everybody must attend the celebration in a peaceful mood," Goncalves said.
Belo jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize with Fretilin rebel leader Jose Ramos Horta. They claimed their awards in Oslo last week.
Belo told the press after a mass at the Don Bosco Salesian church in Stockholm Sunday that East Timorese youths were frustrated with the lack of job opportunities.
"Not too many industries have been built in East Timor," Belo said reported Antara. "There are not enough jobs for East Timorese youths who have completed their schooling."
Belo refused to discuss political issues at the press conference.
After speaking at the Aachen City Hall, Belo accepted DM 10,000 in financial aid for Catholics in East Timor.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported Belo met German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Bonn Monday.
During a visit to Germany Belo has kept a low profile, being filmed at one mass and giving few comments to reporters. He was not expected to talk to the press after meeting Kohl, said a spokesman for the German bishops conference.
Demonstrations
In Jakarta, dozens of pro-integration East Timorese met with Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs Soesilo Soedarman yesterday to express their dissatisfaction with Ramos Horta.
"Ramos Horta has been exploiting the East Timorese issue for his own good," Remondo Da Silva, a liurai (local king) of Lospalos district in Lautem regency, told Soesilo.
Claiming to represent East Timorese from the 13 regencies of the province, da Silva also expressed gratitude to the government for development.
They reiterated their pledge of loyalty to the government.
Separately, some 20 pro-integration East Timorese youths protested at the Norwegian Embassy yesterday over what they called the "inhuman treatment" police accorded two East Timorese students who went to Norway to demonstrate their opposition to the Nobel committee's choice of Ramos Horta.
"We are really disappointed with the way the Norwegian police treated us and how journalists accused us of being agents without respect for the presumption of innocence," the students have said.
At issue was their arrest in Oslo on Dec. 10. They were accused by the local police of being Indonesian agents sent to disrupt the Nobel award ceremony. (08/imn/33/amd)