Jakarta - Indonesia can consider releasing the East Timorese rebel leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, but only as part of a comprehensive solution in the troubled territory, the Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, said yesterday.
Mr Alatas also said granting special autonomous region status to East Timor, a former Portuguese colony invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed a year later, was not possible. He was reacting to a suggestion by President Nelson Mandela of South Africa on Tuesday - after he had met Bishop Carlos Belo of East Timor - that East Timor be granted autonomy to end conflict.