Subject: LUSA: UDT, FRETILIN and Ramos Horta insist
on Xanana's unconditional release
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 08:45:11 -0500 (EST)
From: "Sharon R.A. Scharfe" <pet@web.net>19 JAN 99 - 08:44 East Timor:
UDT, FRETILIN and Ramos Horta insist on Xanana Gusmao's unconditional release from all
types of detention
Sydney, Jan 19 (Lusa) - Jailed East Timorese guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao has
accepted, in principle, an offer by the Indonesian government to be transferred from
prison to house arrest in Jakarta, the president of the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT),
Joao Carrascalao, told Lusa in Sydney on Monday. Carrascalao said an official
representative of the Indonesian government had recently informed Gusmao of the
possibility of being granted house arrest. Carrascalao said the move would be beneficial
to the current negotiations over the future of East Timor, adding the development was
advantegeous although it was "not the ideal solution." The UDT leader also said
the move did not demonstrate Jakarta's good will but was only proof of the Indonesian
government's vulnerability over East Timor. He said that Australia's recent decision to
recognise East Timor's right of self-determination might have conributed to Jakarta's
decision to move Gusmao from prison to house arrest. Carrascalao also said his party
continued, nevertheless, to demand "total freedom" for Gusmao. Carrascalao also
said that the granting of house arrest could put an end to speculation over statements
attributed to Gusmao in jail. Estanislau da Silva, FRETILIN representative in Australia,
also welcomed the news, saying house arrest instead of imprisonment would allow Gusmao to
play a more active role in the current negotiations over the future of East Timor. Da
Silva also told Lusa in Sydney on Monday that FRETILIN would, however, continue to insist
on Gusmao's "unconditional release" from any kind of detention by the Indonesian
authorities. East Timorese Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Jose Ramos Horta told Lusa in
Sydney on Monday that the possible granting of house arrest should not divert attention
from demands of Gusmao's uncondicional release from detention. Ramos Horta stressed that
Gusmao's illegal detention was based on a trial "without any legitimacy and
transparency." The Nobel Peace Prize winner also said that the East Timorese
resistance movement should maintain an attitude of distrust and scepticism towards
decisions by the regime in Jakarta as long as East Timor remained under Indonesian
military occupation. Lusa/Fim
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