Jakarta – Jailed East Timor resistance leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao promised on Wednesday to offer amnesty to his political opponents if East Timorese voted for independence on the August 30 ballot.

"This act of generosity transcends our emotions, heals wounds and elevates the soul of our people. I wholeheartedly appeal for an immediate end to violence," he said in a press conference at his detention house in Central Jakarta.

The press conference was conducted in three languages in succession: Portuguese, English and Indonesian. More than 50 local and foreign journalists attended.

In his first comprehensive program proposal for an independent East Timor to be renamed Timor Lorosae, Xanana said he would immediately hold negotiations with the Indonesian government to define the status of East Timorese civil servants, maintain the rupiah currency and protect the rights of Indonesians who decided to live and work in East Timor.

Xanana said if the vote favored proindependence, a transitional government would set up a five-year development plan starting from the year 2000.

Xanana shied away from the issue of disarmament despite the continuing violence that rocked the former Portuguese colony.

Five days before the ballot only a few symbolic gestures of arms surrender have been carried out by the prointegration militia. The proindependence militia, Falintil, has said it would not give up its arms to the Indonesian Military.

In his eight-page statement covering at least 15 points, Xanana called for the East Timorese to reconcile their differences and uphold national unity. He declared a fight against illiteracy and promised empowerment of the society as well as a self-sufficient economy based on a market economy with selective intervention from the state. He declared that solidarity with the Portuguese people is unbreakable.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported from Vatican City that Pope John Paul on Wednesday called for reconciliation in East Timor and for an end to recent violence in Ambon, Maluku.

Speaking at his weekly general audience, the pontiff said he hoped the people of East Timor would be moved by "a sincere desire to work for reconciliation and contribute to healing the painful wounds of the past".