From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Timor: RESISTANCE LEADER OFFERS SUHARTO OLIVE BRANCH
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 00:47:02 GMT

/** reg.easttimor: 351.0 **/
** Topic: Xanana Gusmao statement to NAM **
** Written  4:50 pm  Sep  3, 1992 by gn:tapol in cdp:reg.easttimor **
Xanana statement to NAM
 
STOP PRESS
 
The following Press Release was issued in Lisbon today, 3
September 1992, by Jose Ramos-Horta, official spokesperson of
the East Timorese Resistance:
 
EAST TIMORESE RESISTANCE LEADER OFFERS SUHARTO OLIVE BRANCH
 
"We appeal to President Suharto to accept the olive branch we
are offering in a gesture of our good-will so that together we
try to repair the historical accidents that have affected the
people of Indonesia and the people of East Timor", wrote Mr
Xanana Gusmao, the Resistance Leader of East Timor, in a
message addressed to the 10th Non-Aligned Movement underway in
Jakarta.
 
This offer of peace by the legendary East Timorese leader, Mr
Xanana Gusmao, who is based in the rugged mountains of East
Timor, was confirmed today in Lisbon by Mr Jose Ramos Horta,
the overseas spokesperson of the Resistance.
 
"Mr Xanana Gusmao's peace offer is not new", Mr Ramos-Horta
said.  "He is simply reiterating our collective desire to work
towards peace for our people.  Our negotiating stand remains
the same, we are willing to enter into a process of dialogue
with the Indonesian side, without pre-conditions, under UN
auspices, to explore all possible ideas to end the conflict",
Mr Ramos-Horta said.
 
Referring to UN Secretary-General Boutros-Boutros Ghali's
invitation to the Indonesian and Portuguese Foreign Ministers
to meet informally in New York, Mr Xanana Gusmao said in his
letter: "We reaffirm our willingness to engage in dialogue on
the basis of the Portuguese proposal".  In January this year,
in the wake of the 12 November 1991 Dili massacre, the
Portuguese Foreign Minister, Mr Joao de Deus Pinheiro, flew to
New York and delivered to the UN Secretary General a proposal
to open negotiations with the Indonesian side, with the
involvement of East Timorese nationalist leaders "without
preconditions".  The Indonesian side has rejected any talks
with the inclusion of the East Timorese.
 
Speaking in Lisbon, Mr Ramos-Horta stated that "there cannot
be peace without the victims being consulted on their future. 
On the other hand, we are prepared to show flexibility and
statesmanship and work on a formula that is acceptable to the
Indonesian side.  There are at least two possibilities: we
could adopt the Afghanistan proximity-talks model or we could
invite the Catholic Church of East Timor and the Vatican to
take part as active observers.  The Catholic Church could very
well represent the people of East Timor at least in the first
stages."
 
Mr Xanana Gusmao has never left the country in the 17 years
since the annexation of East Timor by Indonesia. He wages a
war of resistance against the Indonesian army and commands
strong support throughout East Timor.  He is 46 years old, a
gifted writer, poet and journalist.  He is married to Emilia
Gusmao who now lives in Melbourne, Australia, with two
children.
 
"Mrs Gusmao herself suffered enormously in the hands of the
Indonesians.  She was raped, tortured, her captors playing
mock executions on her in front of her two children. This went
on for years to break her husband's will.  She survived it all
but still has visible psychological scars.  Thanks to the
International Committee of the Red Cross she managed to leave
for Australia two years ago",  Mr Ramos-Horta said.
 
In his message to the NAM Summit, Mr Xanana Gusmao urges his
fellow Third World leaders to "respect human rights" and said:
"Indonesia cannot speak about the arrogance of the North when
she defies with arrogance the UN resolutions on East Timor and
refuses dialogue with the East Timorese people."
 
"While the people of the Third World experience hunger and the
horrors of war and the regimes pursue policies of repression
with the weapons acquired from the North, President Suharto of
Indonesia cannot pretend to have credibility to define notions
of peace, justice and cooperation", Mr Xanana Gusmao said in
his message.
 
 
END
 
NOTE TO EDITORS: Mr Jose Ramos Horta can be reached by phone
in Lisbon at (351.1) 932-7770 throughout the day on 3 and 4
September for additional information and comments.
** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **

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