Subject: LUSA: Ramos Horta sends message to meeting
of "liurais" in Macau
From: "Sharon R.A. Scharfe" <pet@web.net>11 FEV 99 - 09:15 East Timor:
Ramos Horta sends message to meeting of "liurais" in Macau
Macau, Feb 10 (Lusa) - East Timor Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta said in a
message released in Macau on Thursday the United Nations should prepare his occupied
homeland for independence. Ramos Horta said in the message sent to the First Convention of
East Timor Traditional Sovereign Rulers ("liurais") in Macau the UN should
establish a transitional administration in East Timor after Indonesia's withdrawal from
the half-island off northern Australia. Ramos Horta, vice-president of the Timorese
National Resistance Council, also said in the message from Lisbon dated February 10 that
East Timor would be able to "survive without Jakarta." The Nobel Peace Prize
laureate, who lives in Australia and Portugal, also said his homeland had reached an
"historic moment, ... a moment of prudence, intelligence and creativity, ... a moment
of tolerance, unity and reconciliation."
Ramos Horta urged East Timor's pro-Indonesian residents not to fear independence of
their homeland. East Timor has been under military occupation of Indonesia since December
1975. Jakarta has indicated it is ready to withdraw from East Timor if the territory's
population rejects its offer of autonomy. Ramos Horta also said in the message that East
Timor's resistance movement, namely FRETILIN (Independent East Timor Revolutionary Front)
and the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) should have the necessary courage and humility to
recognise mistakes made in the past that contributed to the territory's tragedy in the
past 23 years. FRETILIN and UDT fought a brief civil war before the Indonesian invasion of
East Timor in 1975.
Ramos Horta described "brother" Xanana Gusmao as "our leader." The
Indonesian ministry of justice transferred Gusmao from a prison cell to special detention
in a government-owned house in Jakarta on Wednesday. Ramos Horta, who shared the Nobel
Peace Prize with East Timorese Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo in Oslo in 1996,
said he was confident that the international community would support the establishment of
a free and independent East Timor. Ramos Horta was unable to attend the meeting in Macau
because of previous engagements, including an audience with Portuguese President Jorge
Sampaio in Lisbon on Thursday. The three-day meeting of traditional East Timorese
chieftains, known as "liurais" in Tetum, is organised by the Macau East Timorese
Association - Rai Timor. About three dozen "liruais" take part in the meeting
that centres on East Timor's future political and administrative structure. The meeting,
which opened on Thursday, will also discuss self-government, including public
administration and local "kingships" held by the traditional chieftains, and
human resources development. The "liurais" are planned to set up a Senate on
Friday.
The UN has never recognised Indonesia's annexation of East Timor, a former Portuguese
overseas province. The UN continues to regard Portugal as the territory's legitimate
administering power. Lisbon demands that East Timor be given the right of
self-determination. The 18,899 square kilometre territory has about 750,000 inhabitants,
91 per cent of who are Roman Catholic. Tetum and Portuguese are its main languages.-Lusa
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