From: okidz@ccs.northeastern.edu (Oki D Zakaria)
Subject: Re: Majulah Timor-Timur (additional info on Xanana Gusmao)
Organization: Northeastern University, CCS Dept.
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 16:31:04 GMT

EAST TIMORESE FRETILIN GUERILLA LEADER CAPTURED BY 
INDONESIAN TROOPS 
 
JAKARTA, INDONESIA (NOV. 21) UPI - East Timorese Fretilin 
guerrilla movement leader Xanana Gusmao has been captured in a 
military raid and was undergoing interrogation about rebel 
activities in the troubled province, officials said Saturday. 
 
Gusmao, 46, was arrested by Indonesian troops with the assistance 
of local people in the provincial capital of Dili early they said. 
 
Indonesian authorities have been trying to corner the leader of the 
armed movement seeking independence for the former Portuguese 
colony of East Timor for the past 16 years. 
 
Indonesia has accused Gusmao of masterminding a Nov. 12, 1991 
anti- government demonstration in Dili which led to Indonesian 
forces firing on demonstrators. 
 
The government has admitted 50 people were killed in the shooting 
and another 66 remained unaccounted for. Witnesses have put the 
death toll at close to 200. The incident has resulted in widescale 
international condemnation of Indonesia. 
 
East Timor, 1,250 miles east of Jakarta, was a Portuguese colony 
for more than 400 years before Lisbon ended its colonial rule in 
1975. Shortly afterward the province was annexed by Indonesia in a 
bloody confrontation which pro-independence groups claim cost the 
lives of up to one-third of the population. 
 
Gusmao was being interrogated and would be handled according to 
the prevailing regulations and laws, a military statement said. He 
gave no other details. 
 
Gusmao was caught in the early morning hours while sleeping in a 
private house, sources from Dili told Antara, the Indonesian news 
agency. 
 
The capture of the Fretilin leader was welcomed by authorities in 
East Timor, who said they hoped the arrest would quell disturbances 
in the troubled province and lead to the arrest of the remaining 
guerrillas. 
 
"It is indeed big news," said former East Timor Governor Mario 
Viegas Carrascalao. Officials said they expected rebel strength 
would be weakened now that Gusmao had been captured. 
 
President Suharto, who was in Dakar, Senegal at the developing 
countries' Group of 15 (G-15) third summit, expressed relief at 
Gusmao's arrest, state secretary Murdiono said. 
 
Armed forces commander Gen. Try Sutrisno immediately flew to Dili 
after hearing news of Gusmao's arrest, Antara said. 
 
The Fretilin guerrilla movement, which launched an armed rebellion 
against the government in 1976, is still active in East Timor, 
although now with greatly reduced numbers. Goverment authorities 
say there are about 200 rebels, with about 120 weapons, in the area. 
 
Gusmao is a self-educated writer and journalist who joined Fretilin 
in 1974. His wife, Emilia Gusmao, lives in Australia with their two 
children. 
 
Early in January, Hose Da Costa, 35, the alleged second-in-command 
of Falintil, the armed wing of Fretilin, was arrested. He is said to 
have been one of the masterminds behind the Nov. 12 Dili 
demonstration. 
 
An East Timor lawmaker, Salvador Ximenes Soares, said the arrest 
of Gusmao Friday was a major blow to anti-integration East 
Timorese as well as to Fretilin supporters abroad. 
 
 
 
Transmitted:  92-11-21 10:17:00 EST



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