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.