Indonesian leader says time for 'new era' with ETimor
Updated
Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, says it is time for a new era in relations with East Timor, including military co-operation.
Our Jakarta correspondent, Geoff Thompson, says East Timor's prime minister, Xanana Gusmao, has walked on Indonesian territory as a rebel leader, a prisoner, a president.
Now, as prime minister, he is visiting Jakarta for the first time since he assumed office last August.
He and the Indonesian president have welcomed the capture or surrender of men both in Indonesia and in East Timor who were involved in the February attacks on Mr Gusmao and East Timor's president, Jose Ramos Horta.
President Yudhoyono has reiterated his support for East Timor's democracy and says it is time for a "new era" in relations with the former Indonesian territory, including military cooperation.
He says this could take the form of visits, education and training exercises, focused on responding to natural disasters.
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was invaded in 1975 by Indonesia, which held the territory until 1999, when a vote for independence descended into brutal violence by Indonesia troops and pro-Jakarta militias.
Australia led a UN-backed intervention force to stop the bloodshed, and the territory was run by the United Nations until independence in 2002.
