RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WIN PEACE PRIZE : NOBEL PANEL CONDEMNS BRUTALITY IN EAST TIMOR.Byline: Philip Shenon The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times A Roman Catholic bishop and an exiled independence campaigner were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. on Friday for their work to end years of oppression and violence in East Timor East Timor (tē`môr) or Timor-Leste (–lĕsht), Tetum Timor Lorosae, republic, officially Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (2002 est. pop. , a former Portuguese colony that was invaded and annexed by Indonesia in the 1970s. In honoring the Timorese laureates, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta, the Norwegian Nobel Committee The Norwegian Nobel Committee (Den norske Nobelkomité) awards the Nobel Peace Prize each year. Its five members are appointed by the Norwegian parliament. The Director of the Nobel Institute, Professor Geir Lundestad, serves as secretary to the committee. issued a blunt attack on the Indonesian government, accusing it of ``systematically oppressing the people'' of East Timor. In its award citation, the committee said ``it has been estimated that one-third of the population of East Timor lost their lives due to starvation, epidemics, war and terror'' during the Indonesian occupation. The Indonesian government expressed its ``regret'' at the awards today. While not directly criticizing Bishop Belo, the spiritual leader of most of the 750,000 people of East Timor, the government issued a statement that accused Ramos-Horta of being ``clearly involved in inciting and manipulating the people.'' Ramos-Horta, who fled East Timor only days before the Indonesian invasion in 1975 and now lives in exile in Australia, is the principal international spokesman for the Timorese independence movement. Belo continues to live in East Timor, even though many of his followers followers see dairy herd. believe that his life is in constant danger because of his blistering blis·ter·ing n. See vesiculation. public attacks on the Indonesian military, which he has accused of murder and torture. ``There is always fear,'' he said in an interview in 1993. ``We lack the freedom to speak, to walk where we want, to have different opinions. If people talk, they know they will be interrogated. They will be tortured.'' East Timor makes up one-half of the island of Timor in the remote, isolated southeastern corner of the vast Indonesian archipelago Archipelago (ärkĭpĕl`əgō) [Ital., from Gr.=chief sea], ancient name of the Aegean Sea, later applied to the numerous islands it contains. The word now designates any cluster of islands. . It is far closer to the northern Australian city of Darwin This article is about a local government area in the Northern Territory. For the capital and metropolitan area, see Darwin, Northern Territory. The City of Darwin is a Local Government Area of the Northern Territory. than to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, and religious differences between the East Timorese and most Indonesians have only compounded the conflict there. Nearly 95 percent of the population of East Timor is Roman Catholic, while Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation. Were it not for the efforts of Bishop Belo and Ramos-Horta to prick the conscience of the outside world about human rights abuses by the Indonesian military, East Timor might easily have been overlooked as simply one more tiny, troubled place among so many others. Francis Sejersted Francis Sejersted (born February 8 1939 in Oslo) is a Norwegian history professor and former Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Sejersted was educated in history as well as nordic language and literature at the University of Oslo and achieved a candidatus philologiæ , the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said today that the panel chose the two Timorese over other, better-known nominees for the prize out of fear that the problems of East Timor were in danger of being ignored. ``This was about to become a forgotten conflict, and we wanted to contribute to maintaining the momentum,'' he told reporters Friday in Oslo. ``It can be argued that this is an hour of destiny.'' Asked what he meant by ``hour of destiny,'' Sejersted said the committee hoped that the prize might encourage a peaceful settlement of the conflicts in East Timor, where a small band of rebels continues to demand independence from Indonesia, and where the Indonesian military cracks down violently at any hint of dissent. The United Nations and foreign governments have repeatedly tried - and failed - to forge a peace settlement in East Timor. Portugal has demanded self-determination for the East Timorese. Diplomats from Portugal and Indonesia and United Nations representatives are expected to meet in December to try to resolve the conflict. The Nobel citation honored Bishop Belo and Ramos-Horta for their ``sustained and self-sacrificing contributions for a small but oppressed op·press tr.v. op·pressed, op·press·ing, op·press·es 1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority: a people who were oppressed by tyranny. 2. people - the Nobel committee hopes this award will spur efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict in East Timor based on the people's right to self-determination.'' The United Nations has never recognized Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor, and the prize awarded Friday will lend new legitimacy to those who argue that the people of East Timor should be granted some degree of autonomy, if not full independence from Indonesia. Human rights groups welcomed the news that the prize had been awarded to Bishop Belo and Ramos-Horta, but they warned that it could lead to a new crackdown by the Indonesian government on independence activists in East Timor. ``We're concerned about what happens next,'' said Rory Mungoven, a spokesman for Amnesty International Amnesty International (AI,) human-rights organization founded in 1961 by Englishman Peter Benenson; it campaigns internationally against the detention of prisoners of conscience, for the fair trial of political prisoners, to abolish the death penalty and torture of . ``There will be an outpouring, a celebrating, on the ground. Our worry is that it will be met with repression.'' The State Department congratulated the two Nobel laureates Winners of the Nobel Prize are scientists, writers and peacemakers who have been awarded in their field of endeavour, and who are known collectively as either Nobel laureates or Nobel Prize winners. Friday. ``We hope that the action of conferring the award on them will lead to a resolution of the problems of East Timor, in which the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. does have an interest,'' said Nicholas Burns Nicholas Burns may refer to:
Belo was saying Mass in a school in Dili, the East Timorese capital, when the award was announced in Norway. In a statement issued in his name later in the day, he said, ``This prize is not being awarded just to me, but rather to the whole people of East Timor - it honors all of those who work for peace, for reconciliation, for openness and for the defense of human rights.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--color) Bishop Carlos Belo Life remains at ris k (2--color) Jose Ramos-Horta Fled East Timor in 1975 |
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