By Joanna Jolly

The first major reconciliation meeting between East Timor's pro- and anti-independence leaders began Thursday, and an agreement could be reached to free tens of thousands of Timorese refugees. Top East Timorese politicians said hopes were high that the talks would persuade anti-independence militias which have attacked U.N. peacekeepers and villages in East Timor from their hide-outs in West Timor to end their armed struggle.

Anti-independence leader Filomeno de Jesus Hornay said that if the reconciliation meeting is successful, about 50,000 refugees still in Indonesia's West Timor may return home before a historic pre-independence election for a new governing assembly in East Timor on Aug. 30. ''As long as we continue the dialogue, it could be possible for refugees to return before the election,'' Hornay said.

More than 250,000 East Timorese were forced to flee their homes when the anti-independence militias, backed up by Indonesia's army, went on a rampage after East Timor voted to break away from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored referendum in August 1999. Most of the refugees have since returned home. But many of those remaining in the West Timor camps voted for East Timor to remain part of Indonesia in the ballot and are afraid of reprisals if they return.

Security was tight for the meeting Thursday between the pro- and anti-independence militias. Much of Baucau, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of the East Timor capital, Dili, was blocked off. Peacekeepers patrolled on foot and in armored vehicles. Squads of riot police were on standby. East Timor's U.N. administrators prevented militia leaders from taking part in the talks for security reasons. The anti-independence leaders attending the meeting sided with the militias in the 1999 ballot, but used diplomacy, rather than violence, in their struggle to remain part of Indonesia.

East Timorese Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta who is expected to become the territory's foreign minister after independence is granted next year said the talks were an important step toward a lasting peace. ''Expectations are high that this will lead to long lasting reconciliation,'' he said. Independence leader Jose Alexandre ''Xanana'' Gusmao, who is widely tipped to become the territory's first president, also attended the talks.

Even though the two sides have held small-scale meetings before, Thursday's talks were the first time nearly all the leaders from both sides got together. Thirty anti-independence leaders flew on a U.N.-chartered plane from the West Timor capital Kupang Baucau Thursday morning. The talks were to last for three days.