PORTUGAL: NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE JOSE RAMOS-HORTA ARRIVES IN LISBON TO AN EMOTIONAL WELCOME FROM HUNDREDS OF CHEERING TIMORESE

Record ID: 350285

  • Title: PORTUGAL: NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE JOSE RAMOS-HORTA ARRIVES IN LISBON TO AN EMOTIONAL WELCOME FROM HUNDREDS OF CHEERING TIMORESE
  • Date: 27th October 1996
  • Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (OCTOBER 27, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/PAN/MV: CROWDS WAITING OUTSIDE LISBON AIRPORT/ BANNER (2 SHOTS) 0.09 2. MV: NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER JOSE RAMOS-HORTA INSIDE AIRPORT BUILDING/ RAMOS HORTA MEETING JOURNALISTS 0.14 3. MCU: RAMOS HORTA REPLYING TO QUESTION AS TO WHETHER THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR
  • Embargoed: 11th November 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LISBON, PORTUGAL
  • City:
  • Country: Portugal
  • Reuters ID: LVA20CQSUFYLUEXS7F2N5AH3IOQB
  • Story Text: INTRO: Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta has arrived in Lisbon to an emotional welcome from hundreds of cheering Timorese who hoisted their ambassador-in-exile on to their shoulders and paraded him around the airport.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------- Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta thanked Portugal, the former colonial rulers in East Timor, for its efforts to keep the troubled territory in the international arena, on Sunday (October 27).

    "Portugal is our best ally. No other country has done as much for the agenda of developing countries," he said.

    Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the following year. The United Nations does not recognise Indonesian sovereignty and considers Portugal the administering power.

    Asked if German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's current visit to Jakarta would help the Timorese cause, the Nobel laureate said: "Yes, if Chancellor Kohl raises the issue of human rights in East Timor and impresses upon the government of Indonesia to withdraw all its troops, to release all prisoners to stop some of the tragic executions in East Timor." Commenting on the recent fatal shooting of an Indonesian militia commander in East Timor, he said: "Maybe the resistance is implicated. I don't know, but in any case Indonesia is in occupation of the territory and an army captain is an army captain and not a civilian." Ramos-Horta, who won the 1996 Nobel peace prize together with Timorese Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, is to meet Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres on Monday.


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