Pro-independence guerillas have freed a captured Indonesian army officer, clearing the way for Jakarta to withdraw its last remaining troops from East Timor. The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (Untaet) said Captain I. G. Hartawan had been released to UN staff by the Falantil guerillas on Tuesday after being held since September 7. East Timor was formally placed under Untaet control on Tuesday to prepare the territory for full independence. The chief military liaison officer of the UN Assistance Mission in East Timor (Unamet), Brigadier-General Rezaqul Haider, oversaw the handover with Falintil chief Xanana Gusmao at the guerilla base at Remexio. 'The officer was then brought to Unamet headquarters in Dili and dressed in a TNI [Indonesian military] uniform. Captain Hartawan was officially handed over to authorities of the Indonesian task force,' Unamet said. About 1,000 Indonesian troops had remained in the East Timor capital Dili and officers had reportedly told Unamet they would not leave until Captain Hartawan was safely in their hands. Colonel Mark Kelly, of the international force Interfet, could not give a firm date for the departure of the last troops, but he said 'there are indications it will be soon'. In a separate move, the Indonesian authorities moved some of the last East Timorese political prisoners from a provincial jail to Jakarta pending their release. Johnson Panjaitan, a lawyer with an Indonesian human rights and legal aid association, said in Jakarta he had accompanied 18 East Timorese prisoners from Kedungpane jail in the central Javanese city of Semarang to Jakarta's high-security Cipinang prison on Tuesday. He said 21 East Timorese were awaiting a letter of amnesty from the administration. Two of the 18 transferred from Semarang were serving long sentences, one life and the other 15 years. Both were arrested after the notorious Santa Cruz massacre of 1991, when Indonesian soldiers opened fire on East Timorese protesters in a cemetery in Dili and killed up to 200, according to sources. President Abdurraham Wahid is expected to release virtually all Indonesia's remaining political prisoners in the next two weeks as a step towards national reconciliation. Gustaf Dupe, co-ordinator of Action Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, believes there are about 100. But that excludes an unknown number of people held during recent police and military crackdowns against pro-independence figures in the troubled province of Aceh. At least 34 people were believed to have been killed in the enclave of Oecussi, according to a list compiled by returning refugees. Asean way - Page 20