EAST TIMOR: GUSMAO RETURNS TO REMEXIO (4)

(24 Oct 1999) Indonesian/Nat

Independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao has made a highly charged and emotional visit to his Falintil rebel fighters, his first since returning to East Timor.

The charismatic 53-year-old leader was airlifted into Remexio aboard a U-S helicopter, with soldiers from the multi-national peacekeeping force keeping close watch over him.

Gusmao, widely expected to the first president of an independent East Timor, was at times unable to contain his emotions as villagers and rebels welcomed him home with celebrations and tears of their own.

Two days after he returned to his ravaged homeland, Jose Alexandre Gusmao finally made it to the mountain town of Remexio, where his Falintil fighters now have their headquarters.

Cheering villagers in their best clothes lined the path to the football field where he was to address the rebel army.

Young Timorese girls in traditional dress sprinkled flowers in his path and presented him with ceremonial scarves.

Gusmao at times appeared almost intoxicated by his return to Remexio, set in steep wooded mountains about 18 miles (28.8 kms) southeast of the capital, Dili.

As he made his way through the crowds, villagers shouted "Viva Xanana!", using the 53-year-old leader's nickname.

Elderly men, dressed in tribal clothes, welcomed Gusmao to the town by performing a warriors' dance.

Along with his soldiers, Gusmao was wearing combat fatigues.

He became the commander of Falintil in 1981, but was captured by Indonesian authorities in 1992.

Gusmao continued to serve as the rebel force's chief strategist while in jail and then under house arrest in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

He was freed days after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly on August 30 to become independent.

After a generation of hardship and bloodshed, these are heady days for Gusmao and his rebels.

The anti-independence militias who once wrought terror are now kept at bay by multinational peacekeepers and only a handful of Indonesian troops remain in the territory.

More importantly, Falintil's cherished goal, independence for East Timor, is all but assured, with Indonesia having relinquished its claim to the half-island territory and a U-N transition team preparing to take control.

For all of that, the guerrilla force still has plenty to worry about: pressure to lay down its arms, a potential flare-up of internal rivalries and a lingering threat from the militias.

But perhaps most difficult will be the task of transformation from a ragtag rebel movement to a leading role in an emerging nation.

For not only the rebels but for East Timor as a whole, much will depend Gusmao.

He is widely expected to become the new country's first president, even though he professes little political ambition.

Highlight of Gusmao's long-awaited pilgrimage to Remexio was a moving speech of thanks.

The years of struggle, incarceration and the terror his homeland endured clearly showed as the Falintil leader praised his troops.

SOUNDBITE: (Tetun)
"I knew that we could make it. Even though we are small, we are poor. We showed we could do it and we did it. We showed that the people of East Timor are brave, the people of East Timor are wise. I with my words are small, very small."
SUPER CAPTION: Jose Alexandre Gusmao, East Timorese leader

Most of the battle-hardened rebel soldiers spent their guerrilla years in rough forest camps, with no permanent homes, fighting for independence for their homeland.

SOUNDBITE: (Tetun)
SUPER CAPTION: Jose Alexandre Gusmao, East Timorese leader





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