Subject: AFP: Jakarta, Gusmao, reach agreement over
rebel leader's call
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 10:24:37 -0400
From: "John M. Miller" <fbp@igc.apc.orgReceived from Joyo:
Jakarta, Xanana Gusmao, reach agreement over rebel leader's call
JAKARTA, April 19 (AFP) - Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi and jailed East Timorese
rebel leader Xanana Gusmao on Monday agreed there had been no call for war in the troubled
territory against Jakarta.
"It appears that there was a misunderstanding" of Gusmao's statement on April
5, which had been widely reported by the Indonesian press as a call for war against
Indonesians in East Timor, Muladi said.
Speaking after a 35 minute meeting with Gusmao, who had been summoned from his hoome
where he is under house arrest to the justice ministry, Muladi said Gusmao had explained
that his statement was not a call to war, and that the rebel leader remained committed to
the peace process.
Muladi last week threatened to return Gusmao to a high security prison if he failed to
retract his reported statement, made through his lawyers last Monday, if in fact he had
declared war on the Indonesian authorities.
Gusmao, who was moved from jail to defacto house arrest in February, said that his
statement had been misrepresented by the media.
"We have explained it all, we pledged our commitment to settle (the East Timorese
question) through peaceful means, through reconciliation," Gusmao told a press
conference after the meeting, with Muladi on his side.
"I explained that my statement was not an incitement to war against Indonesia but
just for self defence, and this has been misinterpreted," he added.
Muladi said: "Self defence anywhere cannot be stopped. It is a human right."
Gusmao reiterated his preparedness to hold dialogue with others, including the
pro-Indonesian faction in East Timor.
"I am calling on my friends who are pro-integration, to return to the path of
dialogue to reach a peaceful settlement in East Timor," he said.
Gusmao's lawyer, Hendardi, had said last week there was nothing to retract in the
statement, saying part of it had been taken out of context.
Indonesian officials, including the military, have blamed Gusmao's statement for the
recent spate of renewed violence in the troubled territory.
The Falintil, the armed wing of the pro-independence East Timorese movement, which
Gusmao still heads, has stepped up attacks on pro-Indonesian target in East Timor, while
armed pro-Jakarta militia have launched mass attacks on pro-independence supporters, which
have left scores of dead.
Tension has risen between the two camps in East Timor following Jakarta's surprise
offer in Janmuary to let go East Timor should the population reject autonomy under
Indonesia in a vote this summer.
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