TIMOR-LESTE: The new president of Timor-Leste talks to Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
"Ireland was always with us in our struggle," the President of the newly independent state of Timor-Leste, the former Indonesian province of East Timor, said in Dublin at the weekend.
Just before an interview with The Irish Times on Saturday, Dr Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao met the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and thanked him for the solidarity of the Irish Government and people with his country.
During a three-day official visit, finishing yesterday, he also had meetings with the Tánaiste, Ms Harney and the Minister of State with responsibility for development aid, Mr Tom Kitt.
"The Taoiseach expressed the commitment, from himself and from the Government, that Ireland will continue to be with us in these other difficult and challenging times," Dr Gusmao said.
The then-Portuguese colony of Timor declared its independence in November 1975, but was invaded and occupied soon afterwards by Indonesian forces. It was incorporated into Indonesia the following year and a "campaign of pacification", i.e. killings and massacres, followed over the next two decades.
On August 30th, 1999, the people of East Timor voted for independence in a referendum supervised by the United Nations but, over the following two years, pro-Indonesian militias waged a campaign of indiscriminate violence. Finally, on May 20th last year, the independence of Timor-Leste was internationally recognised and it became the world's newest democracy.
Quiet-spoken and dignified, Dr Gusmao is sometimes described by admirers as the Asian Mandela. He made a strong impression on his listeners at a public lecture in the Kimmage Manor Development Studies Centre on Friday, where he spoke of "The Challenges for Development in a New Nation".
Before his arrival in Ireland, Dr Gusmao visited Italy, where he met Pope John Paul (Timor-Leste is more than 90 per cent Roman Catholic). In London, he was presented with an honour by the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth. and he went to Belfast to give the annual Amnesty International lecture.
Xanana Gusmao was held in prison for seven years by the Indonesian authorities. Released in 1999, he was elected last year as the first President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, for a five-year term.
The son of a primary school teacher and the second of nine children, he was born in 1946 in Panatuto, East Timor, and educated in a Jesuit seminary and Dili High School. He joined Fretelin - the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor - in 1974 and became an active revolutionary in 1975, after Portugal ended its 450-year rule and East Timor was invaded and annexed by Indonesia.
"During 24 years of [Indonesian\] rule and war, more than 200,000 East Timorese were killed or died, in bombings, with bullets, in massacres or from famine, disease or starvation," he told me.
A people's right to self-determination was being crushed by an invading power and he considered it legitimate to engage in armed struggle in those circumstances. In 1979-80, he became the primary rebel leader, directing a guerrilla campaign.
He was captured by the Indonesian forces on November 20th, 1992, and sentenced to life imprisonment, which was later commuted to 20 years.
Ireland has had an active involvement in Timor-Leste since 1999. Our Army personnel served there under UN auspices from October 1999 to October 2002. Ireland contributed observers to the UN observer team at the 1999 independence referendum and subsequent elections.
There is a Development Co- operation Ireland office in the capital, Dili, and DCI (formerly Ireland Aid, the development arm of the Department of Foreign Affairs) has made substantial contributions to Timor-Leste, which is one of DCI's seven "programme" countries for priority aid.
"We are the poorest \ in south-east Asia and one of the 10 poorest of the world. Our people have less than 50 US cents of income [per day\] on average," Dr Gusmao said. The population of Timor-Leste is at least 800,000 and most of the people live by subsistence agriculture, confining themselves to one meal a day. There was a drought last year, leading to famine.
On a more positive note, the country is trying to develop its tourist industry. The new government is inviting foreign investors to build hotels. Fishing, agriculture and coffee production are other areas where the government is promoting development and trying to attract investment.
Dr Gusmao praises the work of Tom Hyland, the Dublin bus-worker who put East Timor on the political map in this country. "He is the image of the solidarity of Irish people."
What he calls a "new phase" of solidarity is now beginning, based on "people-to-people" assistance. The President is also promoting post-conflict reconciliation and has visited Indonesia to tell it: "The past is the past."