US promises East Timor support

Horta (right) said he felt reassured by Powell (centre)

The United States has promised that it will assist East Timor in every way possible once the territory achieves statehood.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell made the pledge during a meeting on Wednesday in Washington with Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta, the leaders of East Timor's independence movement, officials said.

Indonesia militia killed many during the independence vote

"We came out of the meeting really very reassured," Mr Horta, a Nobel laureate, told reporters afterwards.

The two leaders had asked for the US support in developing the territory's legal system and economy.

The territory has been governed by the United Nations since a 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia, and is due to hold parliamentary elections later this year before proclaiming its formal independence.

About 70% of the country's infrastructure was destroyed during violence after the referendum and thousands of people still lack proper housing and essential amenities.

Jakarta slammed

Mr Horta attacked the Indonesian justice system for its failure to account for the atrocities in East Timor during discussions.

Pro-Jakarta militiamen, with backing from elements in the Indonesian military, waged a campaign of terror in East Timor after the independence vote.

Militiamen were blamed for many of the massacres

More than 1,000 people were murdered and almost every town was burned to the ground in the violence, leaving an estimated $3bn worth of damage.

"We have raised our profound frustration and unhappiness at the way the Indonesian legal system is handling this situation," Ramos Horta told reporters.

In particular, he voiced his disappointment at the lenient sentences of 10 to 20 months passed to six East Timorese men for the murders of three members of the United Nations refugee agency in West Timor.

"We are outraged. It is an affront to all of us. It discredits completely the Indonesian legal system," he said.