Timor militia leader wants to return

Joao Tavares (L) is negotiating a homecoming

The former leader of a pro-Jakarta militia group which terrorised East Timor during its 1999 vote for independence wants to return from exile with thousands of supporters.

Joao da Silva Tavares, who headed the Integration Fighters' Force, said he would return from West Timor - the Indonesian-held side of the island with several thousand followers.

An Indonesian military commander said a reconciliation meeting between representatives of the two sides would he held on Tuesday.

Mr Tavares' request came as the UN announced that about 19,000 East Timorese refugees have returned home in the first five months of this year - more than the total number of returns for all of last year.

Coming home

The UN estimates that of more than 250,000 people who fled or were forced by pro-Jakarta militias into West Timor, about 30,000 remain in camps near the border.

Gusmao has urged refugees to come home

Any East Timorese who choose to remain in West Timor beyond the end of the year will still be allowed back, but will not be afforded refugee status.

Many of those still there are members of militia groups who opposed East Timor becoming independent, or are intimidated by those militias into staying put.

But East Timor's President, Xanana Gusmao, has repeatedly urged the refugees to return home.

The East Timorese parliament is currently considering legislation that would grant amnesties for former militiamen who committed minor crimes during the poll violence. in 1999.