University of Hawai'i University Relations Media & Publications Honolulu, HI 96822	(808) 956-8856 Telephone (808) 956-3441 Facsimile ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
For Immediate Release:	May 10, 1999
Contact: Matsunaga Institute for Peace, 956-7427 Donnë Florence, PIO, 956-7522, donne@hawaii.edu

Nobel Peace Prize laureate José Ramos-Horta will speak at UH José Ramos-Horta, co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, vice president of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) and chief negotiator at the United Nations on behalf of the East Timorese people, will speak in Honolulu Monday, May 24, at 4 p.m. in the Keoni Room of Imin Center, Jefferson Hall, UH Manoa. At the invitation of the University of Hawai'i Matsunaga Institute for Peace, Ramos-Horta will discuss "The Struggle for Peace and Justice in East Timor: Its Impact Throughout the Pacific Region." The May 24 talk will be the second time in the past year that Ramos-Horta has been the guest of the Matsunaga Institute for Peace. On this occasion, he comes under a fellowship of the UH Colleges of Arts and Sciences Nobel Laureate Lecture Series. Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese territory of East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the following year in a move never recognized by the United Nations. Ramos-Horta has spent the last 23 years denouncing the invasion and annexation of his homeland and defending the rights of the East Timorese people to self-determination. A long-time critic of U.S. government policy toward Indonesia and East Timor, Ramos-Horta has applauded recent steps of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who met with imprisoned East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao on March 5 and who called for a reduction of Indonesian troops before a referendum on self-determination is held. A "long, sordid chapter" has closed in U.S.-East Timor relations, says Ramos-Horta. "Credit goes to our many friends in the U.S. Congress and in the solidarity movement who have been the conscience of the American society when everything else was rotten." Ramos-Horta wants the United Nations to play a prominent role in resolving East Timor's crisis. "The U.N.," he says, "should take over the administration of the territory for a period of up to five years. With Indonesia relinquishing its sovereignty claims, the door is wide open for the U.N. to prepare the territory for statehood. We will hold a referendum on self-determination at the end of the agreed transition period."

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