East Timorese activist is ill

Reports from Indonesia say the jailed East Timorese activist, Xanana Gusmao, has been taken to a private clinic in Jakarta to be treated for kidney stones.

Prison officials said Mr Gusmao had suffered a recurrence of an old kidney problem several weeks ago, but he is said to have refused to allow Indonesian police doctors to attend to him.

Mr Gusmao was jailed for life in 1994 after being convicted of plotting against the state and possession of firearms.

President Suharto later commuted the sentence to a twenty-year jail term.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service