Nobel winners call for Timor peace talks

Two East Timor human-rights campaigners received their 1996 Nobel Peace Prize yesterday and immediately called on Indonesia to open talks on a peace settlement in the small Indonesian- ruled territory.

Carlos Belo, a Catholic bishop, and and Jose Ramos Horta, a self-exiled activist, were handed their gold medals and diplomas in a solemn ceremony in City Hall, Oslo, before several hundred dignitaries, including King Harald of Norway. The Nobel Committee chairman, Francis Sejersted, who presented the laureates with the pounds 800,000 prize, said they were awarded "for their long-lasting efforts to achieve a just and peaceful solution to the 20-year-old conflict in East Timor".

Reuter - Oslo