Precedence: bulk HUNDREDS PRAY FOR PEACE IN EAST TIMOR 08:07 a.m. May 12, 1999 Eastern DILI, East Timor, May 12 (Reuters) - Hundreds gathered on Wednesday to pray for peace in violence-racked East Timor after a spate of clashes between warring groups killed four people this week. Roman Catholic religious leaders were joined by Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist and Protestant leaders in prayers at Dili's main meeting hall. Some 500 people attended, witnesses said. After the ceremony, Bishop Carlos Belo urged an end to violence, including by pro-independence Falintil guerrillas. ``Everybody must put down their arms, including pro-integration forces and Falintil,'' said Belo, the territory's spiritual leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Most of East Timor's people are Roman Catholic. Falintil is the East Timorese guerrilla army that has been waging low-level resistance against the military since Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and annexed it the next year in a move never recognised by the United Nations. Indonesian forces have been accused of widespread atrocities during the occupation. Falintil's detained commander, Xanana Gusmao, has called for East Timorese to remain calm. ``Those who think that demonstrating is a show of courage are mistaken. Demonstrating now is provoking and inciting the militias to continue to kill the population,'' Gusmao said in a statement issued earlier this week. Clashes between pro-integration and pro-independence forces have intensified since Jakarta abruptly changed its policy towards East Timor in January. Jakarta now says it will grant East Timor independence if the population rejects an offer of wide-ranging autonomy within Indonesia. Indonesia has promised to clamp down on violence ahead of the U.N-brokered independence vote, scheduled for August 8. But the violence shows few signs of abating. ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html
