Dili – Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, East Timor's spiritual leader, has written to the UN administration and foreign health aid groups demanding a stop to the use of "artificial" family planning methods in the territory.

In a letter dated June 22, a copy of which was obtained by Lusa in Dili, the bishop, a Nobel Peace Price winner, said the propagation and provision of family planning methods, such as condoms and day-after pills, were "totally unacceptable" in the predominantly Roman Catholic territory. Timorese women's organizations and health aid groups, contacted by Lusa, criticized Belo's initiative.