Protesters want U.S. to help solve Timor issue

JAKARTA (JP): Twenty-nine East Timorese students who have holed up at the U.S. embassy compound since Saturday said yesterday that they want the United States to take "real action" to help solve problems in East Timor.

The spokesman for the students, Domingos Sarmeto Alvez, told reporters who waited outside the gate at the embassy that they are pleased with President Bill Clinton's remarks at a press conference Tuesday night.

"We appreciate the statement made by President Clinton but the United states should take real and concrete action to help solve the problems," Domingos said.

Clinton told a news conference on Tuesday night that East Timor people should have a greater say over their own affairs and that he intended to discuss this issue with President Soeharto during his state visit.

The students have been occupying the U.S. embassy compound for five days. They said they intend to stay there until their demands are fulfilled.

The students have called for the release of guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, serving a 20-year sentence for subversion after his capture in late 1992. They also want him to be included in broad peace talks with Indonesia mediated by the United States.

However, the spokesman of the Armed Forces, Brig. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, said earlier that it was impossible to fulfill the protesters' demand because Xanana was sentenced through a legal procedure.

Syarwan added that the students' action discredits Indonesia's reputation on the international scene.

Yesterday, the students also held up a banner demanding that Indonesian government release their friends who were captured at various places, such as the Senen railway station and in front of the U.S. embassy.

The students also said that they are considering accepting the Portuguese government's offer of political asylum.

Portuguese Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva in Lisbon early this week that his country's foreign ministry was trying to arrange for the group to go to Portugal. (yns)