Portuguese president holds talks on rebuilding E. Timor

Portuguese president holds talks on rebuilding E. Timor

DILI, East Timor (AFP): Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio met
with East Timorese leaders on Sunday to discuss the difficult
challenge of rebuilding the territory, ravaged by last year's
militia violence.

Sampaio is the first Portuguese head of state to visit the
tiny half-island which was a colony of Lisbon for more than 400
years, before Portugal's abrupt withdrawal in 1975 triggered
Indonesia's invasion and 24-year occupation.

Sampaio has described his three-day visit to East Timor as the
realization of a long-held dream.

"Portugal doesn't want anything from East Timor, the old times
are old times. Today what we have is friendship, a desire to have
cooperative relations and we hope that this country can overcome
all the difficulties," he said Sunday after meeting Nobel peace
laureate Bishop Ximenes Carlos Belo.

East Timor was facing "an equally difficult" challenge of
rebuilding, he said, after pro-Jakarta militias went on a rampage
here, angered when the East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to
sever ties with Jakarta in a UN-organized ballot on Aug. 30.

Sampaio was speaking in front of the charred ruins of Belo's
house which was burned down in the orgy of terror and
destruction.

"It is with emotion and with a historic sense that I am here
with you. I did not expect to be here with your damaged house
behind us," he said, adding it was important that the world be
reminded of the challenges ahead.

Belo said: "This is an historic moment for me. In front of the
ruins of this house that was for many years a refuge and where
all the people would come.

"We told the president our wishes and our aspirations to
rebuild East Timor."

Sampaio also called on donor countries who met in Tokyo in
December to make good on promises to help East Timor.

"I hope that the donor countries that pledged in Tokyo ... now
materialize these expectations. It is crucial for the programs to
be put in place," he said.

Sampaio also took time out to pay his respects to about 150
people killed by Indonesian troops in a cemetery massacre in
1991.

During an unscheduled stop, Sampaio walked alone with Gusmao
and Belo past some of the graves in the Santa Cruz cemetery in
Dili where the victims were killed and buried, spending a few
minutes in silent contemplation.

Sampaio also met independence leader Xanana Gusmao and Sergio
Vieira de Mello, the head of the UN Transitional Administration
in East Timor (UNTAET), to discuss practical help from Portugal.
East Timor is now under UN administration as it moves towards
full independence in two to three years.

"I received from the president and his ministers a guarantee
that Portugal will do everything it can to strengthen even more
that cooperation," de Mello said, adding East Timor was looking
for Portugal's help in such fields as the judiciary, health and
education.

De Mello said the 800-strong contingent of Portuguese troops
to be based in the territory with international peacekeeping
forces would include 300 specialists in reconstruction and public
service work.

Gusmao said he and Sampaio had discussed education, which "is
a basic fundamental of our development."

Lisbon has offered to help restore East Timor's education
system by sending teachers and setting up a curriculum, Gusmao
said.

The resistance movement has decided to adopt Portuguese as the
new state's official language.

Sampaio later flew to Becora to meet Portuguese troops
stationed there.

"This mission has a very special significance to Portugal and
to its armed forces," Sampaio told about 140 Portuguese troops
and some 40 Portuguese civilian police.

"They are coming back to East Timor within the United Nations
to guarantee the security of the territory and to guarantee a
peaceful independence. The security of the territory is the first
condition to make possible reconciliation and rebuilding," he
added.

Later the street in front of the Portuguese mission in Dili
was renamed Avenida de Portugal and Sampaio met with mission
staff for talks.