(6 Oct 1999) Natural Sound
East Timor's Nobel Peace laureate and spiritual leader Bishop Carlos Belo has returned to his devastated homeland.
Nearly one month after he was forced to flee the violence by anti-independence militiamen, the bishop arrived at Dili airport to a tumultuous welcome.
Bishop Carlos Belo fled East Timor after pro-Jakarta militias, backed by the Indonesian military, went on a bloody rampage following the overwhelming vote for independence.
His Dili home was burned to the ground and some refugees sheltering there were shot to death.
Others were rounded up by troops.
The bishop used his self-imposed exile to raise awareness of the Timorese crisis and appeal for humanitarian aid.
Touring Europe, he met political leaders, Pope John Paul the Second and addressed an emergency session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
The Roman Catholic leader spent nearly a month abroad.
But on Wednesday, he finally made the long-awaited journey home.
Crowds of well-wishers were at Dili airport to welcome home the Nobel laureate.
And as he stepped off the private plane from Darwin, Australia, Belo was received with a tumultuous ovation and warm greetings.
The bishop smiled broadly as he was embraced by nuns, priests and other supporters.
Belo expressed joy at being home and went on to thank the international media and world leaders for their support of the struggle for independence.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I am happy to be here again and I greet you all the media for the good work you made and you are making in order to bring to the world the situation of our homeland and I hope that through you the international community can work hardly to establish the lasting peace in this land. And I thank in a special way the United Nations, the Australian government, the Portuguese government, everybody who has taken in consideration our sufferings for people and tried to help us."
(Question: What is your priority?)
"My priority now is to be here among the people, to say Mass, to pray with them, to visit them. This is the only priority I can have."
SUPER CAPTION: Bishop Carlos Belo
The bishop is the first major independence figure to return to the territory since the vote to break away from Indonesia.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"On this morning, my feeling is joy because the Bishop came back again and we can start, begin the reconstruction of the church also."
SUPER CAPTION: Reverend Jose Martinez
Belo is to travel to the city of Baucau - to meet the territory's other bishop, Basilio do
Nascimento - before returning to Dili later in the day.
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