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Japanese PM arrives in East Timor
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi arrived in the East Timor capital Dili on Monday for a brief visit to congratulate the territory on its impending independence.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi arrived in the East Timor capital Dili on Monday for a brief visit to congratulate the territory on its impending independence.
He is the first foreign head of state to call on president-elect Xanana Gusmao since the former rebel leader won a landslide victory in the presidential elections on April 14.
Japan is a major contributor to the reconstruction of East Timor and has 690 soldiers among the UN peacekeeping forces in the territory which came under United Nations' administration in October 1999 after an orgy of militia-led violence following its vote for independence from Indonesia.
The visit by Koizumi, who will also meet with Japanese peacekeepers, is the first by a Japanese prime minister to the former Portuguese colony and comes 60 years after Japanese troops invaded the half-island and occupied it for three years during World War II.
Hundreds of East Timorese are believed to have died during the occupation.
Gusmao, and UN chief administrator in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, greeted Koizumi on his arrival at Dili's tightly-guarded Comoro airport.
The prime minister arrived on board a chartered flight of the Indonesian Merpati Nusantara Airline from Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali where he stayed overnight on his way from Hanoi.
He was to meet both Gusmao and de Mello at the UNTAET headquarters later Monday and hold separate talks with Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri and Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, a UN spokesman said.
Some 500 junior high school pupils lined the main avenue from the airport in white and blue school uniforms, waving the Japanese flag.
The visit is the second leg of Koizumi's regional tour that began with a two-day visit to Vietnam and will take him on to Australia and New Zealand.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will declare East Timor independent in a midnight fireworks ceremony on the night of May 19.
The territory's nationhood comes after almost five centuries of foreign occupation, first by Portugal, briefly by Japan, and then by Indonesia.
East Timorese voted to breakaway from 24 years of often brutal Indonesian rule in August 1999, and has since been UN administration. Bureau Report
He is the first foreign head of state to call on president-elect Xanana Gusmao since the former rebel leader won a landslide victory in the presidential elections on April 14.
Japan is a major contributor to the reconstruction of East Timor and has 690 soldiers among the UN peacekeeping forces in the territory which came under United Nations' administration in October 1999 after an orgy of militia-led violence following its vote for independence from Indonesia.
The visit by Koizumi, who will also meet with Japanese peacekeepers, is the first by a Japanese prime minister to the former Portuguese colony and comes 60 years after Japanese troops invaded the half-island and occupied it for three years during World War II.
Hundreds of East Timorese are believed to have died during the occupation.
Gusmao, and UN chief administrator in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, greeted Koizumi on his arrival at Dili's tightly-guarded Comoro airport.
The prime minister arrived on board a chartered flight of the Indonesian Merpati Nusantara Airline from Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali where he stayed overnight on his way from Hanoi.
He was to meet both Gusmao and de Mello at the UNTAET headquarters later Monday and hold separate talks with Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri and Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, a UN spokesman said.
Some 500 junior high school pupils lined the main avenue from the airport in white and blue school uniforms, waving the Japanese flag.
The visit is the second leg of Koizumi's regional tour that began with a two-day visit to Vietnam and will take him on to Australia and New Zealand.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will declare East Timor independent in a midnight fireworks ceremony on the night of May 19.
The territory's nationhood comes after almost five centuries of foreign occupation, first by Portugal, briefly by Japan, and then by Indonesia.
East Timorese voted to breakaway from 24 years of often brutal Indonesian rule in August 1999, and has since been UN administration. Bureau Report