DATE=10/6/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR - BISHOP RETURNS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254702
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: East Timorese spiritual leader and Nobel
Laureate Bishop Carlos Belo has returned to East
Timor, a month after fleeing violence by anti-
independence militia groups. As Patricia Nunan
reports, the Bishop is the highest-profile East
Timorese leader to return since the militias virtually
took over East Timor.
TEXT: East Timorese spiritual leader Bishop Carlos
Belo says his priority is to be among the East
Timorese people. He appealed to the international
community to do more to bring peace to East Timor, so
that refugees who have fled into the jungle can return
home.
The Bishop arrived in the East Timorese capital Dili
from the northern Australian city of Darwin. There he
was greeted by several members of the clergy and the
United Nations spokesman for East Timor.
The Bishop's stop in the capital was brief. He was
taken to a nearby heliport and flew directly to East
Timor's second city Baucau, to meet with other church
leaders.
Bishop Belo is the highest profile figure to return to
East Timor since anti-independence militia groups
backed by the Indonesian military overran the
territory last month. The militias were reacting to an
announcement by the United Nations that most East
Timorese had voted for the territory to break free of
Indonesian rule, in a UN-supervised referendum held in
August. Estimates of the number of dead range from
the hundreds to the thousands. Roughly 300
thousand people fled their homes or were forced to
leave by the Indonesian military.
Bishop Belo is the co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace
Prize for his work to prevent the oppression of the
East Timorese people by the Indonesian military.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975. Besides his
international standing, the Bishop is one of the most
widely-respected individuals in the predominantly
Catholic East Timor.
The Bishop's home in the capital was one of the first
buildings to be targeted and destroyed by the
militias. Bishop Belo was evacuated from the capital
in a U-N helicopter to Baucau. From there he was
forced to flee to Australia.
Bishop Belo says he believes he could have been killed
in militia violence last month. But upon his return
the Bishop was defiant -- saying he is not afraid to
show to the world he is alive -- and he is back in
East Timor.
NEB/PN/FC/PLM
06-Oct-1999 00:31 AM EDT (06-Oct-1999 0431 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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