The East Timor independence leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, has urged the Government to continue to put pressure on the international community "to save more lives from the concentration camps" in which hundreds of thousands of refugees remain imprisoned in Indonesia.
Speaking in Dublin yesterday on his first trip to Europe since being released last month from house arrest, Mr Gusmao paid tribute to the Irish public and Government for the solidarity shown to the people of East Timor but stressed "we are still in need of your help".
He said there was "a problem of believing" pledges made by the Indonesian government to allow villagers return home after they were forcibly moved to West Timor and Java by the Indonesian military. He called on the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs to continue to lobby within the UN and EU for their return.
The East Timorese leader also suggested that Falintil guerrillas would be willing to disarm once security conditions on the ground improved. Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Gusmao said that once the Interfet is in control and the United Nations interim administration is in place, Falintil would be in a position not just to disarm but to be incorporated in a new, indigenous security force to be trained by the UN.
The leader of the UN peacekeeping mission, Gen Peter Cosgrove, however, has been calling on Falintil to disarm immediately. On Sunday, an Interfet platoon and a group of Falintil fighters were involved in a tense stand-off when the international troops attempted to make them surrender their weapons.
Emerging from talks at Government Buildings with Mr Gusmao, the Taoiseach said he could be assured "in these difficult times of our continuing support" in the form of diplomatic and humanitarian assistance.
Mr Ahern said the Government was in contact with US officials and yesterday he received a letter from President Clinton thanking him for his leadership during the East Timor crisis. Mr Clinton also wrote that he remained "committed to ensuring that the transition to independence for East Timor moves forward in accordance with the outcome of the August 30th referendum".
Last month the Government approved a grant of £1 million for humanitarian aid, of which £400,000 has already been allocated to the UN High Commission for Refugees, the UN Children's Fund and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The 40 Irish Army Rangers pledged to the Interfet mission will be deployed in mid-October while the first liaison personnel are due to depart next week.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the Government is seeking for the ban on Irish beef exports to Indonesia to be lifted. A delegation of Indonesian agricultural officials inspected sites in Ireland last June to see what changes had been introduced since the BSE crisis.
A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said it was not aware of any change in the Indonesian position, but the department would continue to lobby it "as we would with any market that continues to have a ban".
Last night Mr Gusmao met the President, Mrs McAleese, and today he will greet activists from the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign and representatives of Irish aid agencies before departing for London.
