UN asks RI to free jailed E. Timorese

UN asks RI to free jailed E. Timorese

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters): United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan has called on Indonesia's new president, B.J. Habibie,
to release East Timorese political prisoners, excluded from a
recent amnesty, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said Thursday.

Annan, he said, had written to Habibie "assuring him of his
commitment to work with his government and with the government of
Portugal in the effort to find as early as possible a just,
comprehensive and internationally acceptable solution to the
question of East Timor".

The secretary-general called "on the new government to release
East Timorese political prisoners", Eckhard said.

Habibie replaced President Soeharto last month after months of
political and economic turmoil that included the worst riots in
the country in decades.

His government immediately released several political
prisoners, with the promise of more to follow.

However, government officials have said the case of East Timor
separatist leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao would not be
considered since he was jailed on criminal charges, not political
ones.

The UN has mediated talks between the foreign ministers of
Indonesia and Portugal since 1983 to try to find an
internationally acceptable solution to the former Portuguese
colony.