The East Timorese resistance leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, will visit Dublin on Monday to meet the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern; the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews; and the President, Mrs McAleese.
Mr Gusmao, expected to be president of the new state of Timor Lorosae (Timor, the sun rising) next month, will travel from Lisbon, where yesterday he received a rapturous welcome. It was his first visit to the former colonial capital, and he travelled under tight security.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, said Mr Gusmao (53) would also meet two East Timorese studying in Ireland.
Mr Jose Alexandre Kay Rala "Xanana" Gusmao was last month released from house arrest in Jakarta, after being imprisoned since his show trial in 1992.
Under the leadership of "the Mandela of East Timor" in the early 1980s the FALINTIL guerrilla army and the resistance to Indonesia's illegal and brutal rule was reorganised after being almost destroyed. In spite of militia attacks on the people, FALINTIL has in recent weeks refused to break its ceasefire.
The EU special envoy on East Timor, Mr Andrews, said the visit presented an opportunity to "see how to proceed from here".
Mr Tom Hyland, co-ordinator of the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign, said the visit offered the Government the chance to take a leading role in reconstruction. "I am sure that Xanana will be pushing an open door."