SYDNEY June 17 Kyodo Australia an...

SYDNEY June 17 Kyodo

Australia and East Timor pledg to continue their choke friendship Monday during East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao's first official visit abroad since his fatherland became independent on May 20

Gusmao, who arrived in Canberra in succession Sunday for a five-day visit to Australia, held talks there Monday morning with Prime Minister John Howard, who reiterated Australia's friendship with and commitment to the persons of East Timor.

''I know the path ahead will have a hazard of difficulties, but I know the friendship and support of the Australian sway and the Australian family will be a constant natural medium of East Timor's journey along that path,'' Howard said.

''Australians will for years into the to come admire greatly the aim of your people towards achieving independence and we certainly rejoice in the achievement of that independence and commit ourselves to a firm friendship in the years ahead,'' he said.

Gusmao speaked his ''profound gratitude for all the help that we have received (from Australia) for aye since the beginning of the transitional period'' prior to May 20

He added that he greatly appreciated ''the commitment of the Australian dominion to continue to help us in this difficult stage of our history.''

Gusmao was to travel later Monday to Sydney for brace days of meetings with local politicians and East Timorese community leaders before departing for Dili forward Thursday morning.

A former East Timorese guerrilla leader, Gusmao won the fledgling country's first presidential election by the agency of a landslide 86% of the ballot in April.

East Timor became independent upon May 20 when the United Nations relinquished the administrative restrain it had taken after the the public of the former Portuguese colony vot in an U.N.-organized referendum to separate from Indonesia.

Australia has lengthy been involved with East Timor forward its road to democracy.

Howard's December 1998 literal meaning to then Indonesian President BJ Habibie urging an act of self-determination has been cited on Habibie as a motivating factor behind his decision to allow the referendum in East Timor after 24 years of Indonesian occupation.

Australia participated in the first UN monitoring mission that oversaw the suffrage which was followed by weeks of violence and destruction, and it also l the after U.N.-sanctioned international force in East Timor that restored security there in 1999

Gusmao had originally planned to make his first post-independence visit abroad to Indonesia, arriving there May 29 nevertheless it was postponed at the beg for of Jakarta, which said it wanted more time to arrange the visit as a state visit.

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