JAKARTA, Dec 28, 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Former pro-Indonesia militia commanders in West Timor have denied involvement in the recent riots in Timor-Leste, while the Timor government is offering to repatriate refugees from Indonesia, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Former commander of the Integration Fighters militia Alfonso Hendrike Pinto and fellow militia leader Joanico Cesario Bello made the denial while meeting with visiting Timor Foreign Minister Jose Luiz Gutteres in the Timor-Leste Consulate in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province Wednesday.
During the meeting, Gutteres offered to repatriate 104,000 people who are still holding refugee status so they could participate in the nation-building process, reported the English daily The Jakarta Post.
"The door to Timor-Leste is always open. Please return home. You'll be treated fairly there," Gutteres said.
Bello said Timor-Leste's law did not specify the criteria to be used in resolving the citizenship status of pro-integration refugees who had opted to live in Indonesia.
"We, who they believe were involved in serious crimes in the UN- sponsored referendum in 1999, are still registered as Timor Leste citizens taking refuge in Indonesia. They always blame us whenever a disturbance occurs in Dili," Joanico said.
Gutteres said he would discuss the issue with President Xanana Gusmao and the parliament.