http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20010404.html links to RealAudio of broadcast of April 4, 2001 edition of Democracy Now!

Story: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH EAST TIMORESE LEADER XANANA GUSMAO AND KIRSTY SWORD GUSMAO

In August 1999, the overwhelming majority of East Timorese voted to end more than a quarter century of Indonesian occupation. From the time of its invasion in 1975, the Indonesian military killed one third of the population, more than 200,000 Timorese. Throughout, the Indonesian army was armed, financed and trained by the United States. This, right though the independence vote.

As the Timorese went to the polls, the Indonesian military and its militias razed East Timor to the ground, thus turning the birth of the fledgling nation into a humanitarian disaster.

The man who led the resistance from the mountains and eluded the military for 17 years was Xanana Gusmao. In November 1992, he was captured and imprisoned in Jakarta. His contact to smuggle out information was Kirsty Sword, a young Australian woman working underground. Her nom de guerre was Ruby Blade. When Timorese students took over foreign embassies in Jakarta to call attention to the genocide occurring in their country, Sword was their contact to the outside world and the media.

When Gusmao got out of prison in 1999, she worked with him in Indonesia. They married last summer and recently had a baby. In March, Kirsty Sword Gusmao testified before the United Nations Human Rights Commission about violations against East Timorese women that continue to this day. Although the Indonesian occupation is officially over, 100,000 East Timorese are still in refugee camps in neighboring West Timor. Indonesian military and militia forced many of them out of East Timor after the vote. The most vulnerable are the women, many of whom have been raped and turned into sexual slaves of militia members.

Last week, independence leader Xanana Gusmao, widely predicted to become the nation's first president, quit the National Council. This move caused an up roar.

This is the only interview they have granted on this trip to the United States.

Guests:

Kirsty Sword Gusmao, longtime underground activist. She was Gusamao's contact while he was imprisoned in Indonesia and is currently campaigning for the release of Juliana Dos Santos and other Timorese women being held by Indonesian militiamen in East Timor.

Xanana Gusmao, independence leader, president of CNRT (National Council of Timorese Resistance) who just resigned as head of the National Council. E-mail: xanana@minihub.org.

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