Wiranto Hopes to Meet Gusmao Over 1999 Atrocities

JAKARTA, May 26 (AFP): Indonesian presidential candidate Wiranto, who has been charged with condoning atrocities in East Timor in 1999, hopes to meet East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao this weekend to discuss the abuses, a Wiranto aide said Wednesday.

"We are trying to set the meeting for the 29th in Bali and so far both sides have agreed," said Muladi, a member of Wiranto's campaign team.

However he said Gusmao had not yet officially confirmed the meeting which would be "informal and held in a family-like
atmosphere."

In Dili, Gusmao's chief of staff Agio Pereira declined comment on whether the president would attend such a meeting.

"The president receives a lot of requests for meetings but his schedule is also very tight," Pereira said.

Muladi told AFP that any meeting "will discuss the future and try to leave our problems in the past." He said the two men would discuss rights violations before and after East Timorese voted in August 1999 to break away from Indonesia.

UN-funded prosecutors in Dili have charged Wiranto, a former armed forces chief, with crimes against humanity.

A judge on May 10 issued an arrest warrant for Wiranto. But East Timor's top prosecutor Longuinhos Monteiro said Tuesday it would not be in his country's interests to forward the warrant to Interpol.

His comments followed a meeting with Gusmao, who says good relations with Indonesia should take priority over the United Nations-backed efforts to seek justice.

Wiranto is the candidate for Indonesia's largest party Golkar in the July 5 presidential election. He says he did his best to prevent the violence.