Portuguese envoy visits tense E. Timor

Portuguese envoy visits tense E. Timor

DILI, East Timor (Reuters): The first official Portuguese representative to visit East Timor in more than 23 years arrived in its capital Dili on Saturday and said she was confident the bloodied territory would soon have its freedom.

Diplomat Ana Gomes landed in the former Portuguese colony amid hope that the troubled province will soon be allowed to decide its future. But there has also been tension between pro- independence activists and pro-Indonesia militias and the military.

"I am very emotional," said Gomes, who last year became Lisbon's representative in Jakarta, the first since Portugal broke off diplomatic relations with Indonesia a day after Jakarta invaded East Timor in 1975.

"I'm here to thank them for the extraordinary example of tenacity in the fight for freedom and justice that the people of East Timor gave the whole world."

In talks last week at the United Nations, Indonesia and Portugal agreed East Timorese should be given a "direct ballot" on whether to accept an autonomy package being drawn up by Jakarta. Previously, Indonesia had resisted any vote.

Indonesian President B.J. Habibie has said if East Timor rejects autonomy, it will be offered independence -- a dramatic U-turn by a country which for two decades refused to countenance independence. There were fears that if East Timor broke away, other parts of the multi-ethnic archipelago could follow suit.

"We are confident and encouraged by the progress of the talks in New York," Gomes said on arrival at Dili's Comoro airport.

"The people of East Timor are closer to enjoying fully their freedom."

But Gomes's arrival sparked little reaction in tense, downtrodden Dili. Only a few curious onlookers were at the airport to mark her arrival, and in the dusty streets of the seaside town life went on as normal.

Tension continues to simmer. A coffin was brought to the airport to be flown out on the plane on which Gomes arrived. It carried the body of one of two youths killed in a clash between pro- and anti-independence groups earlier in the week near Baucau, 100 km (60 miles) east of Dili, members of the funeral cortege said.

Residents of the town of Liquicia, west of Dili, said a priest was attacked and wounded there early on Saturday by members of a pro-Indonesia militia. The militia has taken over the nearby town of Maubara, forcing thousands to flee.

In Dili, the military staged a show of force ahead of Gomes' arrival. The streets around the governor's office were closed off in the morning for a training exercise which involved dozens of soldiers posing as chanting protesters and being dispersed by members of the security forces in riot gear.

The exercise was followed by a parade in the center of town, with hundreds of troops and police lining up for inspection.

Gomes's low-key, four-day visit involves meetings with key figures in East Timor including Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Belo, spiritual leader of the territory of 800,000 people.

Portugal, whose hasty withdrawal from Timor in 1974 triggered the Indonesian invasion, is committed under its constitution to securing the right of the East Timorese to decide their fate.