Jakarta – East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao said Wednesday that a broad autonomy package offered by Indonesia to the troubled territory carried the message – integration or civil war.

"The message we get from Indonesia is: it's better to choose autonomy to avoid bloodshed," Gusmao said in a statement to a seminar on autonomy for the former Portuguese colony here Wednesday.

Gusmao, who is under house arrest here, accused the Indonesian armed forces of preparing pro-integration East Timorese to wage war against their pro-independence compatriots by giving them arms.

"The [Indonesian] military's argument that it can't let go of East Timor because many lives have been lost there is weak and misleading. It wasn't us who invited ABRI to invade East Timor inhumanly," Gusmao said.

He praised Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, who he said wanted a democratic consultation. But he said armed forces chief Wiranto "does not care at all about 23 years of bloodshed."