Xanana in Jakarta to meet Abdurrahman
Xanana in Jakarta to meet Abdurrahman
JAKARTA (JP): East Timor independence leader Jose Alexandre
"Xanana" Gusmao arrived here for the first time since his release
from detention in September to meet with President Abdurrahman
Wahid.
Xanana's aide, Natasha Louise, told The Jakarta Post by
telephone that the former guerrilla leader, expected to be East
Timor's first president, arrived with his delegation from the
country's capital of Dili on Saturday night.
His team includes the deputy commander of the armed resistance
group Falintil, Taur Matan Ruak, and two liaison officers from
the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor,
Louise said.
She said that in Jakarta Xanana was joined by other pro-
independence leaders, Nobel co-laureate Ramos Horta and Mari
Alkatiri, who arrived here from Singapore on Sunday morning.
"We have confirmed a meeting with President Abdurrahman on
Tuesday at 4 p.m," Louise said.
Abdurrahman is due to return from a summit meeting of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila on Monday.
Louise said the delegation would also meet with other top
government officials whose names are not yet confirmed. She said
the East Timor delegation is due to leave Jakarta on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) in Jakarta, Sri Wahyu Endah, said Xanana and his
delegation were flown in from Dili to Surabaya, East Java, on an
ICRC airplane.
From Surabaya, the delegation left to Jakarta on a commercial
flight, Endah said.
An informed source told the Post that Xanana would also meet
with a number of human rights activists, lawyers and the Jakarta-
based Portuguese envoy Ana Gomes at a luxury hotel in South
Jakarta on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, Asmara Nababan, secretary of the Commission for
Investigation of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor, said the
commission was also scheduled to meet with Xanana before he
leaves for Dili on Wednesday.
The commission said after a meeting with Abdurrahman on
Saturday that it had secured permission from the President to
summon top military brass, including Coordinating Minister for
Political Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto, to question them on
the outbreak of violence in East Timor following the Aug. 30
ballot.
The commission recovered 26 bodies on Thursday from three mass
graves in East Nusa Tenggara, including those of three Catholic
priests, believed to be victims of a pro-integration militia
attack.
Horta said earlier this month that he and Xanana would pay a
visit to Abdurrahman on Nov. 30 to "begin the process of
reconciliation and rebuilding of relations" with Indonesia.
Xanana was captured by the military in 1992 for leading an
armed rebellion. He was sentenced the following year to life
imprisonment, which was later commuted to 20 years and then
pardoned on Sept. 7 by the government of former president B.J.
Habibie, after a ballot in East Timor rejected the government's
option of special autonomy status. (das/byg)
JAKARTA (JP): East Timor independence leader Jose Alexandre
"Xanana" Gusmao arrived here for the first time since his release
from detention in September to meet with President Abdurrahman
Wahid.
Xanana's aide, Natasha Louise, told The Jakarta Post by
telephone that the former guerrilla leader, expected to be East
Timor's first president, arrived with his delegation from the
country's capital of Dili on Saturday night.
His team includes the deputy commander of the armed resistance
group Falintil, Taur Matan Ruak, and two liaison officers from
the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor,
Louise said.
She said that in Jakarta Xanana was joined by other pro-
independence leaders, Nobel co-laureate Ramos Horta and Mari
Alkatiri, who arrived here from Singapore on Sunday morning.
"We have confirmed a meeting with President Abdurrahman on
Tuesday at 4 p.m," Louise said.
Abdurrahman is due to return from a summit meeting of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila on Monday.
Louise said the delegation would also meet with other top
government officials whose names are not yet confirmed. She said
the East Timor delegation is due to leave Jakarta on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) in Jakarta, Sri Wahyu Endah, said Xanana and his
delegation were flown in from Dili to Surabaya, East Java, on an
ICRC airplane.
From Surabaya, the delegation left to Jakarta on a commercial
flight, Endah said.
An informed source told the Post that Xanana would also meet
with a number of human rights activists, lawyers and the Jakarta-
based Portuguese envoy Ana Gomes at a luxury hotel in South
Jakarta on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, Asmara Nababan, secretary of the Commission for
Investigation of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor, said the
commission was also scheduled to meet with Xanana before he
leaves for Dili on Wednesday.
The commission said after a meeting with Abdurrahman on
Saturday that it had secured permission from the President to
summon top military brass, including Coordinating Minister for
Political Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto, to question them on
the outbreak of violence in East Timor following the Aug. 30
ballot.
The commission recovered 26 bodies on Thursday from three mass
graves in East Nusa Tenggara, including those of three Catholic
priests, believed to be victims of a pro-integration militia
attack.
Horta said earlier this month that he and Xanana would pay a
visit to Abdurrahman on Nov. 30 to "begin the process of
reconciliation and rebuilding of relations" with Indonesia.
Xanana was captured by the military in 1992 for leading an
armed rebellion. He was sentenced the following year to life
imprisonment, which was later commuted to 20 years and then
pardoned on Sept. 7 by the government of former president B.J.
Habibie, after a ballot in East Timor rejected the government's
option of special autonomy status. (das/byg)