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East Timor News Digest 8 – August 1-31, 2007
Agence France Presse - August 30, 2007
Dili – Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer arrived in
East Timor on Thursday for a one-day visit on the anniversary of
the tiny neighbouring nation's 1999 independence vote.
Australia's perceived support for the East Timorese referendum,
which saw the majority of people vote to break away from ruling
Indonesia, damaged Canberra's relations with Jakarta, a rift that
took years to repair.
Downer is the first Australian minister to visit East Timor since
the new government of Xanana Gusmao was sworn in earlier this
month, and it follows a visit by Prime Minister John Howard in
July.
Downer will meet President Jose Ramos-Horta, Prime Minister
Gusmao, and other officials, as well as members of the
Australian-led International Security Force.
Australian peacekeepers were despatched here in May last year
after ongoing street violence in the capital Dili involving rival
factions of the security forces as well as youth gangs left at
least 37 people dead.
On arrival, Downer inked two deals with his East Timorese
counterpart Zacarias Albano, one covering land exchanges for
embassies and another on a rural water supply and sanitation
project worth 20 million dollars.
"We are profiting from the visit of minister Downer here to once
again show the close collaboration and cooperation between
Australia and Timor Leste, which also needs to be further
strengthened in the coming years," Albano said.
The anniversary of the 1999 referendum is a public holiday in
East Timor. Violence surrounding the vote, blamed on militias
backed by Indonesia's military, saw some 1,400 people killed.
After the vote, East Timor was put under UN administration before
it finally achieved independence in May 2002.
Australian Associated Press - August 24, 2007
Defence has rejected claims from East Timor renegade Alfredo
Reinado that Australian soldiers broke the necks of two wounded
men and shot dead civilians during the raid on his hideout five
months ago.
Defence spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said Australian
soldiers did shoot five armed supporters of Reinado in the raid
on the village of Same, 110 kilometres south of Dili, on March 4.
"Defence has conducted a post-operation investigation regarding
the Same operation in accordance with its normal processes. That
investigation found that Australian personnel acted in self
defence when shot at by members of Reinado's group," he said.
Reinado's claims emerged in a report in the online edition of
Time magazine.
In it, Reinado accused the Australian soldiers of shooting dead
one of his armed supporters while he was asking for a truce,
killing two unarmed civilians and breaking the necks of two
wounded men.
"The way they do operation is like we are animals or enemy," he
said in the article. "They come to teach us about the Geneva
Convention. They are the ones that don't respect it."
Reinado, a former East Timorese army officer, led the rebellion
against the Fretilin government last year which sparked
widespread violence and prompted the return of Australian troops.
Brigadier Nikolic said Reinado remained a fugitive from the
Timorese criminal justice system who had threatened Australian
troops. He said his allegations did not accurately reflect the
events of March 4.
Brigadier Nikolic said the Australian soldiers were operating
under the lawful direction of the Timor-Leste government in
attempting to apprehend Reinado and his armed associates.
"In the early hours of 4 March 2007 during a confrontation with
armed supporters of Alfredo Reinado, Australian soldiers acted in
self defence and returned fire resulting in the deaths of five of
Reinado's men," he said.
"In a second incident on 4 March 2007, Defence can confirm that a
Timorese man, detained on suspicion of association with the
Reinado group, escaped. Neither this man, nor any detainee,
Timorese national, unidentified civilian or ADF person was
injured or killed as a result of this incident.
Brigadier Nikolic said East Timorese authorities, including the
Public Prosecutions Service, had reviewed the incidents and
decided not to conduct further investigations.
Autopsies of the five dead men confirmed none had a broken neck.
In a separate more recent incident, a junior officer is facing
possible disciplinary action over the souveniring of three
Fretilin flags by Australian troops.
That came close to sparking a major diplomatic incident,
prompting apologies from those involved and public expression of
regret from Brigadier John Hutcheson, commander of the
Australian-led International Stabilisation Force.
Brigadier Nikolic said a patrol of Australian troops took the
three flags as they passed through the village of Bercoli on the
way from Viqueque to Baucau on August 18. All were recovered and
returned with apologies.
"The actions of the small number of International Stabilisation
Force soldiers involved in taking the flags were inappropriate
and culturally insensitive," Brigadier Nikolic said.
He rejected claims that the flags had been desecrated, saying
they had been returned in the condition in which they were taken.
"Australian soldiers strongly value their relationship with the
people of Timor-Leste and will continue to work diligently to
maintain that relationship into the future," he said.
Government/politics
Truth & friendship commission
Social/political unrest
Book/film reviews
Opinion & analysis
East Timor media monitoring
News & issues
Downer in East Timor to mark holiday
Defence rejects Timor murder allegations
Lobato escapes after Dili standoff
The Australian - August 10, 2007
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Dili – Disgraced former East Timorese interior minister Rogerio Lobato has fled the country aboard a chartered Lear jet after a more than 24-hour standoff on the runway at Dili airport.
Lobato, who was last year sentenced to seven years' jail for his part in an arms smuggling scandal, has been trying to escape since at least May this year on the pretext of needing urgent medical attention. The Australian is aware of at least one medical doctor who refused three months ago to sign a medical certificate vouching for the severity of Lobato's apparent heart condition "unless I also can examine the patient".
Lobato finally procured a sympathetic doctor's certificate late on Wednesday. He did not return to jail after the medical examination to which he had finally submitted, but proceeded straight to Nicolau Lobato international airport.
His aircraft, however, was denied permission to take off as a power struggle between senior East Timorese officials played out, leaving the Lobato family, including two young children, trapped on the plane.
Prison guards and immigration officials stood by throughout the drama, as the possibility of Lobato's imminent arrest and transfer back to prison loomed.
Justice Minister Lucia Lobato – a younger cousin of Lobato – caved in late yesterday to the former MP's demand that he be allowed to travel to Kuala Lumpur.
Ms Lobato was sworn in to her new job on Wednesday as part of the inauguration ceremony for Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's administration. The position was one of a series of deals negotiated to secure the ruling coalition that has now sidelined the once-powerful Fretilin party.
She ran against Jose Ramos Horta in the country's recent presidential elections, but then advised her supporters to vote for Mr Horta during the runoff of that poll, rather than for her cousin's former Fretilin boss, Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres.
Until conceding defeat late in the afternoon, an angry Ms Lobato had tried to insist that while Rogerio Lobato's wife and other family members might accompany him to Malaysia, the couple's two young children should be denied permission to depart "as a guarantee that he will come back".
The family spent Wednesday night and all of yesterday aboard the eight-seater chartered Lear 45, much of it in sweltering heat, as lawyers, immigration officials, the two Singapore-based pilots and others argued about the flight's legality.
However, Lobato's lawyer, Paolo dos Remedios, eventually prevailed on Prosecutor-General Longuinhos Monteiro to intervene, saying: "I have given my personal guarantee that as far as I know, Mr Lobato intends to return."
In a text message that finally triggered the luxury jet's departure, Mr Monteiro assured air traffic controllers, who had been withholding take-off, that they were "only responsible to the air traffic control system, not to the liberty of the passengers".
According to Mr Remedios – who also works as a foreign investment adviser in the President's office – Lobato will undergo heart surgery in a Kuala Lumpur hospital as well as having kidney stones and varicose veins removed.
Riots that closed the airport early this week had by yesterday completely dissipated, although violence related to the announcement of Mr Gusmao's new administration continued in the country's east, particularly in the town of Viqueque.
Rogerio Lobato is the only survivor of 11 siblings, and has previously served time in an Angolan jail for diamond smuggling.
He is a prominent loyalist of former Fretilin prime minister Mari Alkatiri, who escaped prosecution over the same arms charges for which Lobato is supposed to now be incarcerated in the capital's Becora jail.
Reuters - August 8, 2007
Ed Davies, Dili – It has pristine beaches, lush highlands and an exotic cultural mix – and lies just a few hours flight east of the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
But currently almost the only overseas visitors to East Timor are foreign troops, journalists and aid workers after Asia's youngest nation descended into turmoil last year.
The former Portuguese colony, covering an area slightly smaller than Hawaii, has just staged presidential and parliamentary elections which it is hoped will help restore stability in the country five years after independence.
"Now there are not so many tourists because of security," said Tito Labato, who had helped manage a privately run tourist information centre on the beach front, before it closed in March.
The centre, below an Australian-run bar, had been arranging trips for about eight people a month – mainly westerners, Singaporeans and Thais – to the mountains or for diving. "But I think we will open again," he added cheerfully.
Early attempts to build up tourism were rocked last year after the sacking of 600 rebellious soldiers triggered violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes. Foreign troops had to be brought in to restore order.
About 30,000 displaced people remain in makeshift camps dotted around Dili, many in tents right next to the airport or in squares in the town centre, forced to hang their clothes out to dry on fencing next to the elegant colonial-style Timor Hotel.
Security has improved since last year but sporadic violence, vandalism and arson persist, with an estimated 50 percent unemployment rate helping fan gang culture among bored youths.
Ann Turner, vice president of the Tourism Association of East Timor, said developing the sector was key for the young nation, since it could employ many people swiftly and provide careers.
"It (tourism) also tends to look to younger people for staff, exactly the people who need to be taken off the streets and given some meaning in life," added Turner, a former journalist who launched a dive centre with her husband in 2001.
Village-like feel
East Timor, one of the world's poorest nations with only around $400 income per capita, has more than $1 billion from rich energy resources in the Timor sea in a New York bank account. But the oil and gas sector will require specialized workers and will only be able to make a small dent in unemployment.
Despite still bearing scars from last year's violence and more bloodshed and destruction after a 1999 vote to break away from Indonesia, the sleepy capital Dili is not without charm.
It has a village-like feel with goats and pigs wandering the streets and some attractive Portuguese buildings in the city, which sprawls along stretch of coast backed by scrubby hills. There is little traffic, apart from the white land cruisers, part of the United Nations' expansive operations in the country.
Nonetheless, Western nations warn about non essential travel. "If you decide to travel to East Timor, you should avoid all unnecessary movement at night and exercise extreme caution," the Australian government says on a travel advice Web site.
Currently, Dili's tiny international airport only has a handful of flights a day from Darwin in Australia and Bali.
Pygmy seahorses and dugongs
East Timor offers spectacular diving with rare creatures ranging from pygmy seahorses to dugongs frequenting its waters. Turner said that her dive centre, FreeFlow, had moved from catering for mainly NGO and UN workers to regular tourists, once word of the quality of the diving got around.
"Then 2006. All tourists cancelled, apart from one or two intrepid types," she said, adding that they were now starting to get bookings again and were investing in more equipment. She said tourist numbers were unclear given a lack of data, but guessed overall East Timor arrivals were in the hundreds, or at most the low thousands, annually before the recent troubles. Turner also said via email that "high end, low volume" tourism was also being developed in coffee plantation and upland areas, as well as eco- resorts on nearby Atauro island.
During recent election campaigning a new party set up by resistance hero, Xanana Gusmao, referred to the importance of tourism, while Turner said the state budget for the Directorate of Tourism had been increased sharply this year.
In another encouraging move, the first national park has just been set up on the eastern tip of East Timor, covering 123,600 hectares (305,400 acres) of rich coral reefs and one of the largest intact lowland rainforests in the region.
Few hotels
But East Timor certainly faces challenges from a lack of tourist infrastructure.
"There are only a handful of hotels outside Dili, the transport facilities can be hard work and it you're intending to get off the beaten track you must be prepared to rough it...," a forward in the Lonely Planet guide to East Timor says.
The guide book includes a poetically written section by the charismatic former president Gusmao, who spent years in East Timor's hills leading an ill-equipped band of guerrillas fighting Indonesian rule.
Portugal ruled the country for centuries before withdrawing in 1975. Later that year, Indonesian troops invaded and annexed East Timor. After suffering an often harsh occupation, East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence in 1999, becoming fully independent in 2002.
For tourism to thrive East Timor clearly needs stability now.
President Jose Ramos-Horta, who won a Nobel Peace prize for overseeing the campaign against Indonesian rule from overseas, told Reuters in a recent interview that East Timor needed to focus on fighting poverty and improving security.
The former journalist also said he expected East Timor to get less media coverage from now. "I believe that Timor will disappear from the news because media channels, the TV clips, rarely ever talk about positive developments."
Koydo News - August 5, 2007
Tokyo – After five years as an independent nation, East Timor has declared its first national park.
The government formally approved the declaration of Nino Konis Santana National Park on July 27, according to a statement from the East Timorese acting prime minister's office seen here Sunday.
The 123,600-hectare park incorporates the entire northeastern tip of East Timor, comprising 68,000 hectares of land and 55,600 hectares of sea, the statement said.
"It conserves an extensive range of land and seascapes and will protect nationally and globally significant flora and fauna species and habitats on both land and sea, including extensive coral reefs and one of the largest remaining intact examples of tropical lowland and monsoon rainforest in the region," it said.
According to BirdLife International, which has carried out numerous biological surveys in East Timor, the park lies within the Coral Triangle, an area with the greatest biodiversity of coral and reef fish in the world.
It is habitat for rare and threatened species including green sea turtles, dugongs and saltwater crocodiles.
Particularly rich in bird life, it includes relatively large numbers of three globally threatened species of pigeon, plus the critically endangered Yellow-Crested Cockatoo, one of the world's rarest birds whose populations have been devastated by trapping for trade as household pets.
The area is also rich in archaeological heritage with many sites from the colonial Portuguese and World War II Japanese occupation periods.
The park was named in honor of Nino Konis Santana, a national hero and former rebel commander in the struggle for independence, who was born in a village within the national park's boundaries. The area was a stronghold of the resistance movement during the struggle that culminated in East Timor's separation from Indonesia in 1999 and its formal independence in 2002.
BirdLife International, a global alliance of conservation organizations, helped the East Timor government set up the national park with assistance from the New South Wales government in Australia and funding from the Australian and British governments as well as Japan's Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund.
| Government/politics |
Adnkronos International - August 24, 2007
Dili – As a veneer of calm descends on East Timor after Thursday's clashes, the political tension remains high.
In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) Jose Texeira, an MP with the largest party, Fretilin, said that his party will not accept prime minister Xanana Gusmao's invitation to join his government.
"Fretilin will not join the government. That is for sure," he said. "We still consider the current government unconstitutional and we will have no part in it."
The daily Timor Post quoted Gusmao as saying "there will be Fretilin people sitting in the government cabinet."
The paper also cited deputy prime minister Jose Luis Guterres as saying "I know that the prime minister has sent several letters to a Fretilin leader to ask whether several party members can come into this government."
Guterres is a former Fretilin member, who led a group of defectors into Gusmao's camp prior to the election.
The alleged overture is widely seen as a gesture to appease Fretilin, who won the largest share of the vote in the June polls but was left out of government after president Jose Ramos-Horta decided to appoint Fretilin rival Gusmao as premier.
Gusmao leads a coalition of four minority parties that controls 37 of the 65 seats in parliament. Gusmao's appointment has been labelled as unconstitutional by Fretilin, which had also said to be willing to lead a government of national unity
Fretilin secretary general, Mari Alkatiri, has stated that Ramos-Horta should have allowed Fretilin to form a minority government and then let parliament decide whether to accept its programme.
Ramos-Horta refused on the ground that it would have led to more instability.
If a government's programme is voted down twice by MPs, the president is left with little option but to dissolve the parliament and call for a new vote.
Gusmao's appointment has also led to sporadic clashes between supporters of the two fronts. Clashes were reported in several parts of the country on Thursday and two people have been confirmed dead.
Sources in Dili however reported the situation was calmer on Friday at least in the capital, where international peacekeepers and UN police are patrolling the territory.
The UN enhanced its peacekeeping and policing roles in the country last year after clashes broadly between ethnic groups from the east and west of the country killed at least 37 people and forced 150,000 others to flee their homes.
Fretilin lately gained the lion share of its vote in the three eastern districts, where it is now seen as the defender of easterners' rights.
Agence France Presse - August 23, 2007
Dili – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has offered the disgruntled former ruling party Fretilin several seats in his cabinet, in an apparently conciliatory gesture, a report said Thursday.
Fretilin has been disputing the legality of the government formed in the wake of inconclusive June elections that saw it win the most votes but not the absolute majority required to govern.
A coalition headed by Gusmao and holding 37 of the 65 parliamentary seats was instead installed by the president earlier this month, triggering sporadic violence and escalating tensions in the impoverished nation.
"There will be Fretilin people sitting in the government cabinet," Gusmao said according to the Timor Post newspaper, without elaborating on which posts were to be filled.
Deputy prime minister Jose Luis Guterres said that Gusmao was lobbying an unnamed Fretilin leader in a bid to get party members into the cabinet.
"I know that Prime Minister Xanana Gumsao has sent several letters to a Fretilin leader to ask whether several (party members) can come into this government," Guterres told the daily.
Fretilin deputy chairman Arsenio Bano told AFP he had no information about any offers and that it was unlikely the party would accept them.
"Fretilin's position is that this government is illegal and unconstitutional. Fretilin will not cooperate and Fretilin has no one to work with in this government," Bano said.
Fretilin lawmakers initially boycotted parliament in a protest over the formation of the government but have since begun turning up for work.
Thousands of international peacekeepers and UN police remain on patrol in restive East Timor. The forces arrived in the wake of violence between local security force factions on Dili's streets in April and May last year that left at least 37 people dead.
Agence France Presse - August 16, 2007
East Timor's former ruling party has abandoned plans for a court challenge to the legality of the Government sworn in last week, an official said.
But the party, Fretilin, still should be part of a unity government, its deputy president Arsenio Bano said amid continuing uncertainty following an inconclusive parliamentary election in June.
"We just need a political solution. We still need a 'grand inclusion' government involving all parties with a seat in parliament," he said. "We will not use a court trial. A trial through the courts is not on our minds."
President Jose Ramos-Horta used his constitutional authority to install a coalition government led by Xanana Gusmao, the former president and one-time guerrilla fighter.
Fretilin won 21 seats in the polls, the highest number among all the parties, but Mr Gusmao's party, which won 18, cobbled together a coalition with control of 37 seats.
The former ruling party had threatened to challenge the legality of Mr Gusmao's government. Fretilin supporters have protested violently against the administration, including during this week.
Dr Ramos-Horta had pushed for a unity government, but the major parties failed to reach an agreement on how to govern jointly.
Mr Gusmao has condemned Fretilin leaders for failing to halt the violence while in a separate statement released late on Tuesday, Mr Bano was critical of Mr Gusmao, saying many viewed him as "partly responsible for last year's crisis".
Unrest rocked the streets of Dili in April and May last year when security factions and youth gangs waged battle, leaving at least 37 dead. International peacekeepers were deployed to restore calm and have been bolstered by some 1,600 UN police.
Agence France Presse - August 13, 2007
East Timor's former ruling party chief will sit in parliament with the opposition despite insisting the country's new government is illegitimate and has no right to rule.
Former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, who heads the Fretilin party, urged supporters to remain peaceful following days of sporadic unrest since a new government was announced last week.
Fretilin won the highest number of votes in the June election but was unable to cobble together a coalition to govern. A coalition of parties headed by former president Xanana Gusmao has now formed a government.
"Fretilin continues to say that this government does not have the legitimacy to govern, but it does not want to use violence in facing anyone," Mr Alkatiri said.
"We have gone down to explain to our active members that the opposition in parliament is important," he said, adding that a parliament without an opposition would proceed "lamely".
Fretilin has withdrawn an earlier threat to boycott parliament if it not asked to form a government, but its MPs have still not turned up in parliament. "We are not boycotting the parliament, we have just been absent," Alkatiri said, adding that lawmakers would return soon.
He also said that Fretilin members may not be to blame for the unrest – which has involved arson, assaults, and rock-throwing. "We suspect that it was not Fretilin who did this but people using the name of Fretilin to conduct violence and sully the party's name, as our members have a high level of discipline," Mr Alkatiri said.
Mr Alkatiri stepped down last year after unrest on Dili's streets between security force factions took the lives of at least 37 people and forced international peacekeepers to be deployed to restore order.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 9, 2007
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – East Timor is heading into a "people power" uprising, one of the country's most powerful politicians said yesterday, as the independence hero Xanana Gusmao took control of a new coalition government.
Mari Alkatiri, head of the biggest political party, Fretilin, told the Herald that he and other party officials would travel the country over the next few days urging their supporters to protest against the government, including by civil disobedience.
"We hope it will not lead to a people power [uprising] but we cannot stop the people protesting for their rights," Dr Alkatiri said. "Civil disobedience is legal. It is a way to do this thing -- we will promote it."
Analysts in Dili say Fretilin's opposition to Mr Gusmao's government is fuelling violence that has spread from Dili to several eastern towns, including the Fretilin stronghold of Baucau, where four UN police officers were hurt. But Dr Alkatiri, a long-time political enemy of Mr Gusmao, dismissed the claim, saying his party officials had stopped a lot of violence.
Dr Alkatiri and key ministers in his government who ruled East Timor since independence in 2002 stayed away from yesterday's ceremony where Mr Gusmao and his cabinet were sworn into office by the newly elected president, Jose Ramos-Horta, at a palace in the foothills over Dili.
"I wasn't invited but even if I was I would not attend because I regard that government as unconstitutional," Dr Alkatiri said. He denied reports his party, which won the most seats at elections in June but not enough to rule alone, was considering a legal challenge.
Mr Gusmao, accompanied by his Australian wife, Kirsty Sword, said his government would implement radical change to lift the country's 1 million people out of poverty.
He nominated the former foreign minister and UN ambassador Jose Guterres as his deputy, an apparent move to placate a breakaway Fretilin faction, which he leads.
Associated Press - August 5, 2007
Dili – East Timor's president was scheduled to announce the formation of the next government on Wednesday as former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri declared he was in the running for his old job.
There are fears the decision on the next prime minister and other top government posts could spark fresh violence in the country just over a year after Alkatiri was ousted following bloodshed that brought the nation close to civil war.
President Jose Ramos-Horta is set to use his constitutional right to choose the next government because June parliamentary elections failed to produce a clear winner and the parties have been unable to agree among themselves on who should govern.
Alkatiri – who has many bitter enemies in East Timor's ruling elite – had said he would not be running for premier, but announced Wednesday he had agreed to be candidate of the Fretilin party, a move likely to increase political tension.
"Fretilin leaders at a meeting yesterday decided to appoint me as the candidate for the prime minister post and I am ready to be back," he told reporters. Fretilin insists it has the right to form a government because it won the most seats in June, even though it fell far short of a majority.
A coalition of parties headed by Xanana Gusmao, who led East Timor's struggle against Indonesian rule, commands more seats than Fretilin and says it should form a government. The alliance has said Gusmao is its candidate for prime minister.
Both blocks have rejected calls by Ramos-Horta to form a unity government. Ramos-Horta's office said he would announce his decision later Wednesday.
East Timor, a tiny nation of less than a million people, is facing major security, humanitarian and economic challenges just five years after it officially became Asia's newest state.
Unemployment hovers at around 50 percent, and aid agencies have warned that a fifth of the population is threatened by food shortages after crop failures. Gang battles frequently break out and some 100,000 people forced from their homes during last year's violence still live in tented camps.
Agence France Presse - August 3, 2007
Dili – East Timor's Fretilin party said Thursday its lawmakers would boycott parliament until it is asked to form a government by the president following national elections in June.
The move is the latest twist in wrangling between parties since the polls, which were supposed to open a new chapter in the young nation's democracy after a year of tensions and uncertainty.
The former ruling party Fretilin won 21 seats in the 65-seat parliament, well short of the majority needed to govern. But its ex-prime minister Mari Alkatiri said it should be asked to rule, and would invite others to lead with it.
"We have the constitutional right to chose the premier and form the government, but the election results were such that we must open the door to all political parties which sit at the national parliament," he told reporters at his residence.
A new party set up this year by former president and national hero Xanana Gusmao has formed a coalition with smaller parties however that give it 37 seats, and it too wishes to govern.
The constitution is unclear on how to proceed, but gives final authority to decide to the president, Jose Ramos-Horta, who has been pushing publicly for the parties to form a unity government.
Alkatiri said Ramos-Horta planned to ask Gusmao's coalition to rule. "We have no option than to use the single instrument that we still have – to refuse participation at the parliament until an agreement is made," he said, adding that the party saw a unity government as being the most stable option.
He said Fretilin lawmakers had refused to turn up to work on Wednesday and Thursday, and "we will have to keep doing this until an agreement is struck."
Alkatiri, who was forced to step down last year after deadly unrest on Dili's streets, said Fretilin proposed a unity government with an independent prime minister and two deputies, one each from Fretilin and the coalition.
The head of one of the parties in Gusmao's coalition, known as the Alliance of the Parliament Majority (AMP), meanwhile insisted it had the right to choose the premier.
"The AMP cannot accept a formation of government which does not come from the AMP itself," Mario Carrascalao told reporters, adding that the coalition wanted to nominate Gusmao as prime minister.
AMP spokesman Mariano Sabino said that a boycott by Fretilin would not affect the functioning of parliament. "The election was for a national parliament, so if Fretilin no longer wants to sit in parliament, they will have to account to the people who voted for them," he said.
Ramos-Horta had been expected to announce his decision on how to proceed on Wednesday but parliamentary speaker Fernando de Araujo said after meeting with him that it would now probably take place Monday.
"Our country is still in a crisis that has not yet ended, so to all political leaders: let us settle everything through mutual dialogue, through the law and the constitution," he said.
The June 30 polls followed more than a year of sporadic violence and political tension in East Timor following unrest on Dili's streets that left at least 37 people dead in April and May last year.
East Timor is rich in oil and gas deposits but currently has one of the world's poorest economies. It also faces massive security and social problems, with some 10 percent of its million-strong population still living in camps after last year's bloodshed.
| Truth & friendship commission |
Straits Times - August 13, 2007
John Mcbeth, Senior Writer – Even the commissioners themselves privately acknowledge that there is one thing missing from the hearings conducted by the Timor Leste-Indonesia Truth and Friendship Commission into the bloodshed surrounding Timor Leste's 1999 vote for independence. And that is the truth.
When the commission finally releases its report in January, it is not going to be some sort of panacea. Not by a long chalk. After all, the 10-person body has no legal basis and was devised by politicians as a coldly pragmatic way for both countries to try to get the past behind them.
It will certainly never satisfy the families of the 1,400 people who died when military-backed gangs laid waste to the province before and after the UN-sponsored referendum that ended 25 years of brutal Indonesian rule.
It will not satisfy the United Nations either. When refusing to allow his officials to testify at the hearings, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki Moon said that the organisation "cannot endorse or condone amnesties for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or gross violations of human rights, nor should it do anything that might foster them".
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda criticised the UN's decision to boycott the hearings, but really it is like two ships passing in the night – with their radars functioning perfectly and their positions picked out with spotlights.
Under these circumstances, no one is going to tell the truth, even if they wanted to. Certainly not some of the leading figures, who have no guarantee that their "confessions" will not turn up in the case files of a future UN human rights tribunal – as unlikely as that appears to be now.
Some critics feel the UN raised the bar too high from the outset. But for Indonesian military officers, what constitutes the truth will forever be coloured by their conviction that what they did was right. They do not want to be forgiven.
Rather than acting as an attorney, the commission will be basing most of its conclusions on what one member describes as "scientific research". He says that the five public hearings it has held so far in Bali and Jakarta are only being used for transparency and public relations purposes. As he noted: "In terms of substance, we don't get much out of it. We can't expect those involved are going to give evidence according to our wishes."
The commission has yet to decide whether it will recommend amnesty or not for those accused of gross human rights violations. If it does, the give-and-take mentality required of the commissioners means they are likely to adopt a holistic approach rather than focusing on individual cases.
"Recommending amnesty is not mandatory, but it is one of the instruments that could be used by the commission to carry out its mission," says one insider familiar with its deliberations. "It may be a non-judicial body, but it still has the freedom to use amnesty in the implementation of its mandate."
The commission is working with four sets of documents – the Indonesian Human Rights Commission report on Timor Leste, the transcripts from Indonesia's ad hoc tribunals, Timor Leste's Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CAVR) report as well as testimony given to the UN Serious Crimes Unit.
The Indonesians are anxious for the events of 1999 to be seen from a 2007 perspective, but it does not help that the military is now back to promoting some of the officers accused of human rights abuses in Timor Leste and Indonesia.
Take, as an example, Jayapura district commander Colonel Burhanuddin Siagian, who was indicted by the UN Serious Crimes Unit in 2003 for murder and torture when he served as commander of Bobonaro district on the East-West Timor border.
Col Siagian allegedly oversaw the creation of the best-developed anti-independence militia system in Timor Leste. Human rights activists have seized on this as evidence that he is now doing the same in Papua.
His threats have not helped. "Anyone who uses the state's facilities but who still betrays the nation, I honestly will destroy him," he was quoted as saying on May 12 after students called for a review of the long-criticised 1969 Act of Free Choice, which placed Papua under Indonesian rule.
Why send the colonel to Papua of all places when he could just as easily been given a comfortable sinecure out of harm's way in Java? It almost seems the army is doing this for no other reason than to demonstrate its defiance. It is not a nice look for an infant democracy trying to put a culture of impunity behind it.
| Social/political unrest |
Radio Singapore International - August 24, 2007
Gangs armed with steel darts and machetes clashed in the town of Metinaro in Timor Leste on Thursday. The Metinaro market where the brawl happened was almost completely destroyed while 26 houses were burned down according to local police.
This is the latest spate of violence, which began earlier this month when President Ramos-Horta appointed a coalition led by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to govern. 3 people have been arrested after international and local forces secured the area.
How is this latest round of violence linked to the current political tensions? Loretta Foo put this question to Dr Damien Kingsbury, Associate Professor of International and Political Studies from Deakin University in Australia.
DK: It's hard to say from a distance who the perpetrators are and even close up, it's very difficult to identify them but it does appear that the people involved in the violence represent or are supporters of the Fretilin party on one hand and the CNRT (National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor) and the Democratic Party on the other. The reasons for the conflict at this stage aren't clear but it's likely it's the settling of scores from recent violence where some people decided that they wanted to get retribution for the burning of houses from a couple of weeks ago.
I understand there is a large group of international peace- keepers there, in addition to the security forces of Timor Leste. Are they finding it difficult to control these bouts of violence?
DK: The problem for the international security force is that the violence flares up and then they respond to it so they're usually not there when it starts and by the time they arrive, most of the destruction and violence has been completed. Once they get there, they don't have much difficulty in controlling it. The problem is the timing, how long it takes to get there. In the case of Metinaro, they had to come from Dili so it's about 45 minutes distance in traveling time and by that stage, most of the destruction had already been caused.
As you've mentioned, the sporadic bouts of violence that have been occurring in the capital Dili and its surrounding areas have been linked to the unhappy supporters of the former ruling party, Fretilin. If this is so, why is the party allowing the violence by their supporters to continue?
DK: Senior members of the party claim that they're unable to control it. They say that their supporters are very disappointed, that this is a spontaneous outburst and that they have tried to control it but are not able to do so. Having said that, the leader of the party, Mari Alkatiri has in fact been going around the countryside telling the people to protest against the appointment of the new government so that doesn't seem to be action that's designed to quell the situation, rather it seems to be designed to exacerbate the problem.
Would you say then that this violence will continue sporadically but unabated given that Alkatiri is encouraging it?
DK: Certainly, as long as Mari Alkatiri encourages it, it's likely to continue. Having said that the purpose of the violence seems to be very limited; there's not much point in engaging in conflict when there is no possible outcome to it. It doesn't have a purpose in its own right. And unless there can be some purpose to it, one would have to expect that at some point, it will eventually stop. And I suspect that as the international security force cracks down and starts to arrest people, that would limit the capacity. But that could take some time and I mean really, this is a case of I think the leader of Fretilin, Mari Alkatiri really having to exercise not only some leadership but some responsibility for what is going on and at this stage, he doesn't appear to have adequately done that.
Earlier this year, there was much hope that the elections would ensure the smooth development of the world's youngest democracy. How have the latest rounds of violence affected Timor Leste's growth?
DK: In the political sense, it's just part of the growing pains. To be honest, it could be much worse as it has been in some other countries but given that all parties said that they would abide by the outcome of the elections and play by the rules, this violence really is very disappointing. I think Mari Alkatiri continuing to claim that the current government is both unconstitutional and illegal is unhelpful. I think if anybody reads the constitution they will see that it is not only constitutionally legitimate and commands a majority in the parliament, it's also quite a legal government so I think Mari Alkatiri really needs to limit his rhetoric on this point and start to act a bit more responsibly in the good of the whole nation and not just on the part of his party.
Associated Press - August 23, 2007
Dili – Hundreds of rampaging youths torched dozens of houses and clashed across East Timor on Thursday, leaving at least two people dead, the UN said, in violence sparked by the appointment of independence hero Xanana Gusmao as prime minister.
Authorities fired tear gas and made at least 14 arrests as political rivals clashed in several parts of the country, including the capital, Dili. Some wielded machetes, steel darts and bows, while others set fires to buildings, police and witnesses said.
In one town near Dili, international peacekeepers "managed to control the situation, but the market was almost completely destroyed in the fighting," the UN said. Two people were killed in violence in the central district of Ermera, the UN said, without providing further details.
Dozens of houses were set ablaze in the town of Metinaro, 15 miles east of the capital, police said.
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, broke free from decades of Indonesian rule in 1999 and formally declared statehood three years later. It descended into chaos last April when communal violence left 37 people dead and sent 155,000 people fleeing their homes. It is struggling to restore political stability amid extreme poverty and severe food shortages.
Unrest flared again on Aug. 6, after three rounds of elections, when Gusmao was named the head of a new government. The move angered supporters of the former ruling party, Fretilin, which won most votes in a parliamentary poll in June.
Agence France Presse - August 23, 2007
Dili – Hundreds of machete-wielding youths clashed in an East Timorese town Thursday in the latest outbreak of violence following the appointment of a new government early this month, the UN and police said.
Up to 300 people armed with machetes as well as steel darts and bows brawled in the Metinaro market, leaving it almost totally destroyed, the UN mission here said in a statement.
International and local security forces brought the situation under control in the town about 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Dili, it said, but later about 10 houses and a motorcycle were torched. Three people were arrested.
The police commander for the area, Mateus Fernandes, told AFP that 26 houses had been burned down.
In the capital, where sporadic violence has occurred since President Jose Ramos-Horta announced that the government would be headed by former president Xanana Gusmao, large groups also engaged in fighting, according to the UN.
"Police have been in attendance and have fired tear gas to control the crowds. Six people have been arrested so far," the UN said.
The protests have apparently been stoked by sympathisers of the former ruling party Fretilin. The party won the most votes in inconclusive June elections but not the absolute majority required to rule.
A coalition headed by Gusmao controlling a majority of parliamentary seats was instead asked to form a government, but Fretilin insists that it should have been approached.
Thousands of international peacekeepers and UN police are on patrol in restive East Timor, alongside local police.
The forces arrived in the wake of violence between local security force factions on Dili's streets in April and May last year that left at least 37 people dead.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 21, 2007
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Australian troops in East Timor stole flags of the deposed Fretilin party, tore them up and wiped their backsides with them, Fretilin claimed yesterday.
The incident has inflamed an already volatile situation in the country and it demonstrated the partisan nature of the Howard Government's intervention there, said Fretilin's vice-president, Arsenio Bano, and the nation's former prime minister, Mari Alkatiri.
A Defence spokeswoman in Canberra confirmed that a group of Australian soldiers took three Fretilin flags without permission on August 18. But the spokeswoman would not comment on the claim that the flags were torn up and soldiers wiped their backsides with one as they drove off.
Mr Bano said soldiers grabbed the flags in two eastern villages where people were protesting against the formation of a government led by the former president, Xanana Gusmao.
More than 1000 Australian troops serving in East Timor's International Stabilisation Force and 1600 international police have been struggling to control violent protests by supporters of Fretilin, which had ruled the country since independence in 2002. Fretilin claims that Mr Gusmao's government is illegal.
"At Walili two Australian military vehicles full of soldiers tore up a Fretilin flag which had been raised at the roadside, wiped their backsides with it and drove off with the flag," Mr Bano said. "In Alala village Australian troops tried to sever a Fretilin flag from its rope and then drove over it," he said.
Mr Bano said the incidents insulted all East Timorese because tens of thousands of Timorese martyrs died fighting under the flag during their 30-year struggle for independence. He said the "cultural insensitivity and arrogance typifies Australian military operations in the Pacific region".
Mr Bano said the incidents could not be excused as the actions of misguided individual soldiers. "The soldiers take their cue from their officers who understand the true objectives of the Howard Government intervention in Timor Leste [East Timor], which has had one overriding aim – the removal of the democratically elected Fretilin government and its replacement with the illegitimate government of Jose Alexandre Gusmao," Mr Bano said.
The Defence spokeswoman said the actions of a small number of ISF soldiers involved in the taking of the flags were "highly inappropriate".
"The removal of any flag without permission is wrong and culturally insensitive," she said. "The actions of the soldiers concerned have also let down their colleagues who are working extremely hard, day and night, to help the people of Timor Leste."
The spokeswoman said one of the flags was given back to villagers the day it was taken, with an apology. Two other flags were being returned yesterday "with a sincere apology". The ISF regretted the incident and was conducting an official investigation, she said.
Mr Alkatiri told the Agence France-Presse news agency the incidents were so serious that all of Australia's troops deployed in the country should go home. "It would be better for Australian troops to just return home if they cannot be neutral," said Mr Alkatiri, Fretilin's powerful secretary-general.
Mr Alkatiri said that while the Australians supposedly came to East Timor to help solve problems "they came to give their backing to one side to fight against the other".
Mr Alkatiri said the seizure of the flags was a provocation and accused the Australian forces of having intimidated Fretilin for some time.
Agence France Presse - August 14, 2007
Dili – East Timor's newly-appointed Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao on Tuesday accused the former ruling party of Fretilin of failing to halt ongoing outbreaks of violence in the tiny nation.
Fretilin won the largest number of votes at June 30 polls but not the majority needed to govern, while Gusmao's party secured a coalition afterwards that holds 37 of the parliament's 65 seats.
The announcement that it would sit in government last week triggered protests from Fretilin, which claims it is an illegal administration, and sporadic violence erupted in Dili and several eastern districts where the party is strongest.
"The politicians do not want to transmit their views to the bottom so as to curb the violence that arose because of their own defeat," Gusmao told a gathering of district heads. He said that he was aware several Fretilin leaders had travelled to their bases, but said they were not there to appease people.
Former Fretilin prime minister Mari Alkatiri, who is spearheading the party's complaints, said on Monday that its leaders intended to tell their supporters to be calm.
"Their politics is that the people should suffer, that they mutually kill each other, that they mutually burn their houses, and mutually damage their possessions," Gusmao said.
The premier said that he planned to summon the Fretilin central committee to ask them whether they wanted to see people in the impoverished nation, which obtained independence in 2002, continue to suffer.
"I will tell them that you (Fretilin members) are the ones that have brought damage to Fretilin, and it is you that have allowed the name of the Fretilin to be sullied," Gusmao said.
Alkatiri said on Monday that others may have been masquerading as Fretilin supporters in an effort to damage the party's reputation.
Many of the apparent instigators of the violence – which has included arson, at least one rape, and rock-throwing – have been shouting pro-Fretilin slogans and waving Fretilin flags, according to witnesses.
East Timor's new government has a massive task healing the nation after unrest on Dili's streets last year left at least 37 dead and forced some 155,000 people from their homes, most of whom are still sheltering in camps.
The Australian - August 14, 2007
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Dili – A furious United Nations chief in East Timor has rejected as "lies" a claim by the former ruling Fretilin party that his staff was responsible for triggering recent violence, including an armed attack on a UN police convoy on Friday.
In a closed briefing in Dili yesterday, Indian diplomat Atul Khare told international security co-ordinators and embassy representatives that an offer by Fretilin to open a joint investigation into the past week of chaos was worthless.
Mr Khare is understood to have separately told Fretilin secretary-general Mari Alkatiri that he viewed the ambush on Friday as being "well-timed and organised" and that if the rebel party had any information on the matter, this should be quickly made available.
"No one other than the police and the prosecutor general has the authority to investigate, therefore I would suggest any information be shared with the police," Mr Khare is understood to have told the former prime minister, rejecting his offer to conduct a joint investigation.
However, Fretilin is dismissing as propaganda photographs showing its supporters, with Fretilin flags, at the scene of the attack. "Anyone can use a party flag or symbol to commit an act of violence," spokesman Arsenio Bano said yesterday.
Mr Bano claimed the incident was the result of an "extremely provocative and illegal action by UN police" in "destroying banners and flags of peaceful Fretilin supporters" who then retaliated.
Fretilin is refusing to acknowledge the coalition Government of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, insisting that as the single party with the most votes in recent national elections it should hold power. Fretilin gained 21 seats in the 65-seat assembly, well short of the absolute majority required to govern. Mr Gusmao's Parliamentary Majority Alliance has 37 seats.
Fretilin says it has tried to discourage its followers from violent protest but insists on its right "to demonstrate politically and peacefully against this illegitimate government".
Fearing further violence, Mr Khare has stepped up security conditions for his staff across the country but has resisted formally escalating the security alert under the UN's operating rules from level two to level three.
He is understood to be trying to avoid the negative message such a move would send both within East Timor and internationally, but has in fact already engaged all of the key upgraded security conditions of the higher alert level. Staff movements have been severely restricted where not related to essential duties, non- essential staff has been relocated from Baucau, where last Friday's attack occurred, and across the country UN vehicles are not permitted on the road after 8pm without good reason.
UN vehicles are prohibited from using the road between Baucau and Viqueque in the country's far east, forcing agencies to fly aid supplies by helicopter from warehouses in the capital, Dili, to eastern centres.
The prohibition also means investigators have yet to visit the scene where the Toyota destroyed in the attack still sits. They believe, however, that the ambush was "a deliberate plan to snare a UN target", one security source told The Australian.
Associated Press - August 11, 2007
Dili – Unidentified assailants opened fire on a UN convoy in East Timor amid ongoing violence following the appointment of resistance fighter Xanana Gusmao as prime minister, the United Nations and police said Saturday.
None of the 10 people traveling in the three-car convoy was injured in the attack Friday, but one of the cars caught fire, the United Nations said in a statement.
Local police commander Pedro Belo said UN police officers traveling with the convoy returned fire and blood on the ground close to the ambush site indicated that one of the attackers had been hit.
At least 12 people have been injured and 120 houses set alight in unrest since Gusmao was appointed prime minister on Monday, following June elections that ended with no party winning an overall majority.
The violence has mostly involved young men torching unoccupied buildings, throwing stones at UN vehicles and setting up roadblocks in areas loyal to the sidelined former ruling party, Fretilin.
Reuters - August 11, 2007
Tito Belo, Dili – Armed gangs assaulted women students in a Catholic convent in East Timor, including a 12-year-old, a priest said on Saturday, in a wave of ethnic and political violence triggered by the appointment of a new government.
The crowd vandalized buildings and smashed properties at the Salesian Don Bosco convent in the eastern district of Baucau late on Friday, said head of the convent, Basilio Maria Ximenes.
The mob also sexually assaulted several female students, including a 12-year-old, he said. The convent offers elementary and secondary education for poor children.
"Those young people who consider priests, nuns and the Catholic Church as their enemies, not only raped my students but also damaged and destroyed Salesian's elementary school," he said.
Baucau police chief Pedro Belo said he had deployed personnel to investigate the incident and arrest the perpetrators.
Separately, a child died in the district of Viqueque because of the violence, government spokesman Hermenegildo Pereira told reporters, the first known fatality since the attacks began out last week. He did not give more details.
Violence has erupted across Timor since President Jose Ramos- Horta appointed a coalition last week led by independence hero Xanana Gusmao to govern after no single party won a majority in parliamentary election more than a month ago.
Ramos-Horta's decision sparked violent protests by supporters of the former ruling party, Fretilin, which claims the right to govern after winning most votes in the June 30 polls.
It has branded the president's move as unconstitutional and pledged to boycott the new government, which was installed on Wednesday with Gusmao appointed as prime minister.
Factional bloodshed broke out in the impoverished country of about 1 million people last year, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes. The mayhem, during which 37 people were killed, was triggered by the previous government's decision to sack 600 soldiers. About 3,000 international police and troops are currently in East Timor to restore order.
Convent head Ximenes said he believed the attackers at his convent were supporters of the former ruling Fretilin party. "Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is very disappointed with this situation in which a child was killed because of this conflict and with what happened last night at the Salesian convent," government spokesman Hermenegildo Pereira said.
"This is shameful for us as a sovereign country that professes Christianity."
The United Mission in East Timor said police had arrested 13 people in connection with an attack on a UN convoy on Friday. UN mission chief Atul Khare said the attacks were carried out by people carrying Fretilin flags.
The Australian - August 8, 2007
Rory Callinan, Time correspondent in Dili – East Timor's former ruling Fretilin party warned last night it had lost control of its supporters, who in a second day of rioting in the capital burned down government buildings, wounded an Australian policemen and ambushed a patrol of Diggers.
Fretilin vice-president Arsenio Bano delivered the warning yesterday as rumours spread that rioters – enraged at the elevation of former president Xanana Gusmao to the prime ministership – had threatened to attack Australian businesses in Dili.
"We can appeal but we are not in control," Mr Bano said last night of the supporters, who mostly come from the country's east and yesterday spread the violence outside the capital to the towns of Bacau and Viqueque.
"We have been telling the supporters to avoid violence, but I think in that situation they will not trust us any longer, because some of them are saying that we vote for you and we win the election, and you don't take up the position."
Staff at Tiger Fuel, a petrol station in Dili's eastern suburbs, reported a man dropping off a letter containing a threat – written in the local Tetum – to burn any businesses that were owned by Australians.
The threat was delivered as international police were last night expecting an upswing of violence as Fretilin supporters escalated their protests to mark Mr Gusmao's inauguration as prime minister today.
The former ruling Marxist-based party won 21 seats in the 65-seat National Assembly in the June elections, leaving it unable to compete with a 37-member coalition put together by Mr Gusmao's National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction.
Mr Bano said Fretilin would not recognise the Government, and the party's assembly members walked out of parliament in protest yesterday. The assembly went on to decide the makeup of key government committees with the parliament's largest party.
Mr Gusmao will be sworn in before lunch, having been appointed to the job on Monday by President Jose Ramos Horta, despite pleas from former Fretilin prime minister Mari Alkatiri to include his organisation in the new government.
The three men were meeting last night to draft a statement to be broadcast appealing for calm across the political divide.
The rioting began just minutes after the announcement by Mr Ramos Horta on Monday, and continued yesterday around strongholds of the easterners in refugee camps around the city and in two districts.
In one of the worst attacks, Australian soldiers from the International Stabilisation Force driving a 4WD were ambushed by youths manning burning tyre barricades on the main entrance road to Dili airport.
The youths bombarded the car with rocks. The driver was forced to swerve on to the side of the road, puncturing the vehicle's front tyres, in order to escape. An ISF spokesman said the patrol got through unscathed.
In a similar attack, an Australian UN policeman suffered a fractured arm after his vehicle was hit in the side window as it was driven down a Dili street.
Despite the regular howl of police sirens across the city and heavily-armed Australian and New Zealand soldiers patrolling the streets, UN officials said they were able to contain the violence.
A spokeswoman said the UN had received reports of a government building being burnt in Bacau. Fretilin supporters were reported to have destroyed another three non-residential buildings in the town 50km east of Dili, as well as three private buildings in Viqueque, 150km to the southeast. On Monday night, the Customs House was torched in Dili's central business dictrict.
Police have arrested 16 men since the violence started and UN authorities yesterday lifted a ban on the use of rubber-bullet- firing shotguns in a bid to minimise civilians being affected by tear gas.
UN police Dili district commander Murray Lewis said the shotguns would allow his officers to specifically target rioters.
"They get about 30 to 40 metres away and throw stones. The only way we have been able to deal with them is to fire tear gas. But the gas is indiscriminate. It can affect babies and mothers," he said.
Sydney Morning Herald - August 8, 2007
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Gangs attacked Australian and United Nations personnel in the East Timorese capital, Dili, yesterday as the former ruling party Fretilin planned sweeping protests against being excluded from a new coalition government led by the independence hero Xanana Gusmao.
The Fretilin-appointed prime minister, Estanislau da Silva, told the Herald that the party would "use every legal means at our disposal" to protest against the appointment of Mr Gusmao, who will be sworn into office at the presidential palace this morning.
Youths angry at Mr Gusmao's appointment hurled rocks and chanted "down with John Howard" as Australian troops and other security forces tried to quell a second day of sporadic violence in Dili, where most shops and government buildings remained closed.
Banners accusing the President, Jose Ramos-Horta, of being a "puppet" of the Australian and US governments have suddenly appeared in several of Dili's refugee camps.
As scores of youths rioted near one of the camps next to Dili airport yesterday, police fired live bullets over the heads of a mob chasing a vehicle containing four terrified Australian soldiers who had been attacked at an illegal roadblock. The vehicle's windows were smashed and tyres punctured.
"The woman driver put her foot down and gunned it away from the protesters ... it was a great effort," one of the soldiers inside the vehicle said later. The soldiers were unhurt.
There were reports of violence in several other districts. In Baucau, the second largest city, four buildings were torched, including one being used by an international aid agency.
Security forces have fought running battles with protesters since Mr Ramos-Horta's decision became public on Monday night, ending weeks of political uncertainty in a country struggling to recover from violent upheaval last year that left 37 people dead and forced more than 100,000 to flee their homes.
Fretilin's powerful secretary-general, Mari Alkatiri, last night called on party supporters not to react with violence. "I am not a policeman," Mr Alkatiri said. "I am a political leader. I will try to persuade ... this is the only way we can do it."
He said: "People are really frustrated. They voted for Fretilin, expecting Fretilin to govern the country and suddenly with some kind of interpretation of the constitution, the second party was invited [to form government]."
Mr Alkatiri, who was deposed as prime minister during last year's violence, said he would not attend today's swearing in ceremony because he did not receive an invitation.
Agence France Presse - August 8, 2007
Dili – The top UN official in East Timor condemned on Wednesday violence in the tiny nation that has injured at least eight and led to more than 70 arrests since Xanana Gusmao was named prime minister.
The unrest hit in Dili and the eastern towns of Baucau and Viqueque after President Jose Ramos-Horta announced a coalition headed by Gusmao's party would form government following inconclusive June elections.
At least seven buildings were torched in Baucau, including three government facilities, three aid organisations and a court, while seven houses were burned in Viqueque town, the UN mission here said in a statement.
More than 220 tear gas shells along with rubber bullets have been fired by UN police, international forces and East Timorese police to contain the mayhem and disperse rampaging groups, the mission said.
"I strongly condemn this violence that is regrettably being committed by people who claim an allegiance to Fretilin," the UN's top official here, Atul Khare, said in the statement.
"It is essential that the message of non-violence be communicated strongly and repeatedly until it is respected by all," he said, referring to a pledge by ex-Fretilin prime minister Mari Alkatiri to rein in supporters running amok.
The UN said that elsewhere in the country the situation remained "volatile but under control, with isolated and sporadic incidents of violence being reported."
Former ruling party Fretilin has branded the new government illegal and has said it will appeal its formation through East Timor's courts.
Fretilin won 21 seats in the 65-seat parliament, an insufficient number to form a government alone. Gusmao's party won just 18 but pieced together a coalition holding 37 positions in parliament.
Baucau's police commander Pedro Belo told AFP by telephone that more than 50 people have been arrested in Baucau in connection with the violence, triggered by Gusmao's appointment.
"The situation is now under the control of security forces but there are still minor incidents taking place in the subdistricts of Quelikai and Venilale," Belo said.
The UN said separately that 29 people had been arrested in Dili in the past day, while 25 UN vehicles were damaged. Four UN police have been injured, with one to be airlifted to Australia's Darwin for treatment on Wednesday evening, it said. A worker at Dili's main hospital said four civilians had been treated there for injuries.
East Timor has a high proportion of young people in its population of one million and an unemployment rate running at around 50 percent, making it potentially volatile.
| Book/film reviews |
Green Left Weekly - August 22, 2007
[East Timor: Beyond Independence. Edited by Damien Kingsbury and Michael Leach Monash University Press, 2007. 302 pages, $36.95. Reviewed by Jon Lamb.]
East Timor has gone through tumultuous changes in the last decade. Finally breaking free from the stranglehold of the oppressive Indonesian military occupation in 1999, the East Timorese people inherited a war-ravaged and devastated nation. In the wake of the August 1999 referendum on independence, around two-thirds of the population was uprooted as a consequence of the Indonesian military and pro-integration militia gang rampage, which also resulted in over 90% of the nation's infrastructure being completely destroyed or rendered useless.
Under United Nations transitional rule and in the period since formal independence came into effect in 2002, elements of the national infrastructure have gradually been re-built. East Timor today remains one of the poorest nations in the world. The UN Development Program report released in 2006 revealed social indicators that highlight the dire poverty that most East Timorese people experience – a per capita GDP of US$370 (as low as $150 in some of the districts); an official unemployment rate of 43% (higher for young people); an illiteracy rate of 50%; and around 60% of the population lacking adequate access to sanitation.
The early years of independence have been a major test for the East Timorese elite and political leadership. They have had to contend with the complications and distortions created by the period of UN transitional rule, as well as indifference, obstruction or manipulation from powerful states, such as Australia's coveting of oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea. This elite has also played a part in exacerbating the social and economic problems experienced by most East Timorese people and has been accused of being inept, self-serving and detached.
From the time of the UN transitional rule, key political figures such as Xanana Gusmao, Jose Ramos Horta and Mari Alkatiri discouraged the active participation and political mobilisation of the East Timorese masses. They have also backed away from supporting an international war crimes tribunal for those responsible for gross human rights abuses. The independence movement and its networks have been demobilised and depoliticised, contributing towards a breakdown in social solidarity.
Where is East Timor heading and how is it developing as a "post- conflict state"? What were the causes for the 2006 crisis? How is justice being provided to account for the war crimes of the Indonesian military and militia gangs? What is the significance of language and education? East Timor: Beyond Independence is a collection of essays that discusses these and other key issues confronting East Timor today.
Compiled and edited by Damien Kingsbury and Michael Leach (researchers based at Monash University and Deakin University respectively), the book is divided into six sections, covering development, borders and security, politics and justice, resource and land management, education and language policy. The introductory chapter by Kingsbury and Leach provides an overview of the 2006 crisis, which is further elaborated upon in the first chapter by Kingsbury. He in part ascribes the role of the Fretilin leadership around Alkatiri and its "lack of tolerance and respect for the legitimacy of dissenting or alternative views" as a significant factor behind the events of April-May 2006.
Sara Niner provides an important background to the history and evolution of the East Timorese leadership from the end of Portuguese rule through to the present. Her chapter is in some respects an updated summary of her previous excellent work, To Resist is to Win: The Autobiography of Xanana Gusmao. Jennifer Drysdale describes the process that lead to the creation of the Petroleum Fund and the concerns from non-government organisations and others over East Timor's heavy reliance upon oil and gas revenues to fund development. Andrew McWilliams's chapter looks at issues of traditional land ownership in an eastern part of East Timor and the creation of East Timor's largest and most significant national park and conservation reserve, Nino Konis Santana National Park.
While at times a dry and academic read, East Timor: Beyond Independence is an important compilation and contribution to understanding the at times turbulent social and political events unfolding in East Timor.
Green Left Weekly - August 22, 2007
[Shakedown: Australia's grab for Timor oil. By Paul Cleary. Allen & Unwin, 2007. 336 pages, $29.95. Reviewed by Vannessa Hearman.]
This is a story about how Australia bullied East Timor out of its rightful share of oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea. Paul Cleary, a journalist for the Australian newspaper, was a media adviser with the Timor Sea Office during the bilateral negotiations. The negotiations are set in the context of East Timor's political history and its difficulties in the post- independence period. This allows the reader to gain a fuller picture of why the negotiations were crucial and how this country has been denied its resources and its freedom over and over again. Cleary has combined political history and some development theory with eyewitness accounts of the negotiations and some lessons in maritime law.
The close connections between the state and business are amply demonstrated in this book. Australian imperialism worked hard at helping secure the interests of businesses like Woodside Petroleum to access the Timor Sea resources, by collaborating to secure a deal to exploit the Greater Sunrise field and to reject Timorese requests that the pipeline be built to East Timor, rather than to Darwin. Bullying and dirty tactics, in the name of the "national interest", are all legitimate. These included accessing the communications of those who were working in the Timor Sea Office, as well as the more despicable act of withdrawing from the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in 2002, to avoid international adjudication of the dispute.
Cleary gives us an account of the personalities involved. In contrast to the voluminous coverage given elsewhere to people like Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta, information about other political leaders in East Timor can be scant and Cleary has provided a picture of several of East Timor's political leaders who are not as well-known and perhaps not as loved by Western media commentators. These include Fretilin secretary general and then-prime minister Mari Alkatiri; lead negotiator and former Brisbane lawyer Jose Teixeira, and son of independence fighter Nicolau Lobato, Jose Lobato Goncalves who was wrested from his mother's arms just before she was executed in 1975.
The stories of many Timorese are remarkable indeed, a story of struggle, sometimes of diasporic dispersement and of survival in such recent times. Many on the other side of the negotiating table, diplomats and oil men would probably not be able to boast of such tales however. The book contrasts the Australian officials' words and actions to those of Australian civil society, particularly philanthropist businessperson Ian Melrose and the Timor Sea Justice Campaign in Melbourne.
Spending large parts of his time in East Timor, Cleary struggles somewhat in portraying the events and the excitement of the campaign for oil justice in Australia, and does not capture adequately the underlying dynamics driving the campaign. People demonstrated outside government buildings in many cities and came to wintry halls in far-flung parts of Melbourne to hear about and participate in the campaign. The Timorese civil society also ran a determined campaign against Australian officialdom, which resulted in some of these organisations losing Australian government funding for criticising Australian government policy on the Timor Sea.
Cleary has tried to reflect on the social and political realities of post-independence East Timor and how fighting the Australian government for four years impacted on the government's ability to run the country. He outlines the intention of safeguarding the income from the Timor Sea through the Petroleum Fund, but he also criticises the government for not spending enough in the economy, thus driving the economy into the ground. He documents the corruption, collusion and nepotism plaguing the early years of the Fretilin-led government.
The outcome of the 2005 negotiations, an agreement on 50% revenue from the Greater Sunrise oil field was, as Cleary has demonstrated, a vast improvement on what the Australian government was offering in 2001. In return, no maritime boundary discussions were to be held for 50 years.
When contemplating this, one is left with a distinct bitter taste in the mouth, reflecting on Australia's dirty tactics to force East Timor to accept a large compromise like this and then to brand the country as "not very well-governed", as Australian troops landed in Dili in 2006 to "restore order" following unrest.
For a well-written and informative account of yet another act of bastardry by Canberra, read this book, because the struggle continues.
| Opinion & analysis |
Green Left Weekly - August 29, 2007
Tony Iltis – Former East Timorese prime minister Mari Alkatiri has called for the withdrawal of Australian troops from his country. Speaking to Agence France-Presse on august 20, he said: "It would be better for Australian troops to just return home if they cannot be neutral. They came here to help us solve our problems, but they came to give their backing to one side and fight against the other."
Alkatiri's comments came after parliamentary and presidential elections in which the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) was accused of harassing the campaign of Alkatiri's party Fretilin and the Australian government made no secret of its preference for anti-Fretilin candidates Jose Ramos Horta and Xanana Gusmao.
Ramos Horta won the presidential elections in May. Fretilin came out of the June 30 parliamentary elections with the largest vote, but with their vote reduced to 29% from 57% in the 2001 elections. On august 6 Ramos Horta invited Gusmao to form a coalition government between his National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT), which won 24% of the vote, and two smaller parties, the Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party- Timorese Social Democratic association. Fretilin disputed the constitutional legitimacy of this and called for protests. There has been widespread civil unrest since Gusmao's appointment, which has been met with a heavy-handed response from the ISF. Two people have died in the disorder.
The immediate catalyst for Alkatiri calling for the Australians' withdrawal was two incidents on august 18 in which Australian soldiers stole and desecrated Fretilin flags. In an august 20 media release, Fretilin MP and party vice-president Arsenio Bano said, "The trashing of Fretilin flags is yet another demonstration of the partisan nature of the Howard government's military intervention in Timor Leste. at Walili two Australian military vehicles full of soldiers tore up a Fretilin flag which had been raised at the roadside, wiped their backsides with it and drove off with the flag. The stolen flag was returned by an Australian army captain later that day. In Alala village Australian troops tried to sever a Fretilin flag from its rope and then drove over it."
He added: "We condemn these extremely provocative actions which have inflamed an already volatile situation. The Fretilin flag has enormous symbolic and emotional value to the people of Timor-Leste which extends beyond Fretilin's members and supporters. Tens of thousands of people died fighting under this flag during the struggle for independence, including family members of the people who witnessed its trashing on Saturday."
The Australian Defence Force has not denied the incident. The august 21 Sydney Morning Herald reported an ADF spokesperson in Canberra offered an apology for what she described as "culturally insensitive" actions. However, she echoed the claims of Australian commander in Dili, Brigadier John Hutcheson, that this was an isolated incident. "I'm disappointed in the actions of these few soldiers. However I'm confident that the larger part of the force, particularly the remaining soldiers and so forth, are actually doing a very good job", Hutcheson told the ABC on august 20.
Bano disputed this, saying that "The Australian soldiers have insulted our martyrs and the entire East Timorese people. Their cultural insensitivity and arrogance typifies Australian military operations in the Pacific region. The soldiers take their cue from their officers who understand the true objectives of the Howard government's partisan intervention in Timor-Leste, which has had one overriding aim – the removal of the democratically elected Fretilin government and its replacement with the illegitimate government of Jose Alexandre [Xanana] Gusmao."
When Australian troops were deployed to East Timor, as part of an international force, in 1999 they received widespread support. This was because they had to replace the Indonesian forces that had occupied the country since 1975 (and killed more than 200,000 people – a third of the population), and oversaw the implementation of the outcome of a referendum in which the Timorese people had voted overwhelmingly for independence. East Timor officially became independent in 2002 and the international force, now under UN command, was progressively decreased and scheduled to be withdrawn by mid-2006.
However, in May 2006, civil conflict broke out following a military mutiny led by officers opposed to Alkatiri's government. This was a pretext for a new Australian intervention in the guise of the ISF, which is predominantly Australian but also includes New Zealand and Malaysian contingents. The mandate for the UN police was also extended to 2008. Initially Alkatiri joined with then-president Gusmao and then-foreign minister Ramos Horta in requesting the Australian-led ISF. However, subsequent events suggest that both the intervention, and the mutiny and civil unrest that were its pretext, were part of an orchestrated manoeuvre by Ramos Horta, Gusmao and the Australian government to remove him.
Australian media, in particular the ABC and the Murdoch press, pumped out misinformation linking Alkatiri with the military and police mutinies. The officers actually responsible for the mutinies, Alfredo Reinado and Vicente Rai Los da Conceicao, often featured in this media coverage not as coup leaders but, along with Ramos Horta and Gusmao, as credible sources making allegations against Alkatiri. Australian PM John Howard called for Alkatiri's removal and the ISF forces prevented peaceful pro-government demonstrations while turning a blind eye to arson and violence directed against communities where Fretilin had strong support. This created 150,000 "internally displaced persons" (IDPs) most of whom remain in squalid camps. On June 26, 2006, Alkatiri resigned and was replaced by Ramos Horta.
One of Canberra's motives for overthrowing the Alkatiri government was the same motive that saw successive Australian governments support the Indonesian genocidal occupation: the vast oil and gas reserves of the Timor Sea. The Timor Gap treaty, which Australia signed with Indonesia in 1991, gave Australia a disproportionate share of this resource. The Alkatiri government pushed for a more equitable division of royalties and for onshore LPG refining facilities to be built in East Timor rather than Darwin. Furthermore, the Fretilin government was willing to diversify foreign investment in the energy sector, seeking investment from Portugal, Italy, India and China.
Other Fretilin policies that met with Australian disapproval were the expansion of domestic rice production, which Canberra views as a threat to Australian export-oriented agribusiness, and obtaining Cuban assistance in building its health and education infrastructure. While the Australian media and political establishment makes much of Canberra's "generosity" towards East Timor, which was supposedly shown by the deployment of troops, the number of scholarships for East Timorese students in Australia has never exceeded 20 – pitiful in comparison to the 700 East Timorese given scholarships to study medicine in Cuba.
Since the deployment of the ISF, the Australians have been increasingly seen as occupiers. On February 23, two IDPs were killed and several more injured when Australian troops attempted to enforce a decision by the Gusmao-Ramos Horta government to close down the IDP camp at Dili's international airport. In a statement that appeared on the website of the US East Timor action Network on February 28, camp residents demanded the withdrawal of all Australian troops and the bringing of those responsible for killing and injuring Timorese before an international tribunal.
Canberra Times - August 24, 2007
This mountain town in Timor's eastern highlands has known its share of horrors and in recent weeks bad times returned with a wave of violent demonstrations and the alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl which some assert was a political crime.
In the 1970s, hordes of starving civilians streamed down the slopes of towering Matebian mountain to surrender to the Indonesian army here, and in the 1980s residents backing guerrilla resisters were often arrested and tortured. Wall paintings depicting legendary commanders recall this proud heritage today.
This month, a small faction of pro-Fretilin party extremists held the town hostage for a week after President Jose Ramos Horta nominated the CNRT (National Resistance Council of East Timor) party of Xanana Gusmao to lead a coalition government. Although most-voted, Fretilin had failed to win a parliamentary majority in the June elections.
As the protests by about 40 machete-wielding, rock-throwing demonstrators intensified between August 6-10, so did the terror gripping townsfolk, many themselves Fretilin voters. Local police considered sympathetic to the rioters looked on.
CNRT official Antonio Ramos was among the first to flee, following an aborted arson attack on his headquarters in which a guard was injured. "Police did nothing, although the demonstrators were clearly committing crimes," he said.
UN security forces at the time were focusing on another outburst of fanaticism at Viqueque, further south, where 323 houses were torched and 4000 villagers fled to the mountains, according to UN deputy chief Eric Tan.
The term "fanatic" had even become a badge of pride for rural followers of Fretilin leader Mari Alkatiri. A bus bought by the Baguia faithful to ferry delegates to last year's party congress was emblazoned with the name "Fanatik". During the congress, UN head Atul Khare repeatedly but vainly asked Mr Alkatiri for a strong statement denouncing violence.
By night, rocks were thrown on the roofs of targeted buildings, the usual warning of an impending attack in East Timor. These included the Catholic orphanage, housing some 45 children from the age of six to their early teens. It is run by the Salesian order and supported by Australian priest Father Chris Riley's Youth Off the Streets project. Fretilin has been at odds with the Catholic church since its 2004 demonstrations against the Alkatiri government, denounced as a "dictatorship". Orphanage director Jojo San Juan is not resident full-time because he serves other mountain towns, involving long, hard travel, so the children are cared for by young workers, apart from an adult couple who live in an adjoining house.
By the night of August 9, the children were extremely fearful, as rioters' aggression grew. The streets were ablaze with burning tyres and threats escalated. The orphanage had even been pelted with rocks by day, an incident involving a 16 year old who had been in the demonstration from the beginning and led it that day, carrying the Fretilin flag. Son of poor parents, he lived in the orphanage for three months in 2004, until they were asked to remove him for disruptive behaviour.
By early evening, the danger of an attack or arson attempt was such that Carlotta, one of the two live-in assistants, took eight girls to sleep at her nearby home. The danger had heightened the previous day, after a church official requested demonstration leaders to suspend activities on August 10 so the town market could be held. They responded with menaces. "I think the church was under threat from then on." the church official said.
Seven girls aged six to 13 remained in the female dormitory. To quell fears they slept together in twos or threes. Like most Timorese villages, Baguia only has electricity for a few hours before midnight. Assistant Juliana Pereira, 23, has her own bedroom within the dormitory, with louvre windows facing the street.
By 10pm the girls were in bed with lights out when someone tried to force the doors. The intruder failed, but remained on the veranda. Two girls peeped out and recognised the 16-year-old boy who left after a while.
Around midnight someone banged on Juliana's windows, and then poked a hand through the louvres, retreating after she yelled. She then slept and heard nothing of the following events.
One of two traumatised 13 year olds who were present said that at 2am the doors were kicked in by a machete-wielding youth shouting "I'll kill you all!" striking the weapon repeatedly on the bedposts. He moved to the bed nearest the door and attacked an 11-year-old girl.
Another girl who witnessed the attack said the youth had demanded to know whether his victim was "Fretilin or CNRT" and when she replied "Fretilin" he tore her clothes off and raped her.
Two girls who saw the face of the attacker illuminated by torchlight identified him as the 16-year-old. When Juliana recalls the attack, her eyes brim with tears. "Nobody came to help us, nobody" she repeats incredulously. At dawn, they walked to the police station to report the crime. The 16-year-old was later identified walking in the street and arrested.
Because there are no local facilities to detain minors, he was released. UN police spokesperson Monica Rodrigues said on 22 August that investigations were continuing, with the suspect bound to "weekly presentations to Baguia police until trial occurs". She added that Pradet, a non- government organisation (NGO) supporting trauma survivors, would provide psychological support to the victim.
First press reports quoted lurid exaggerations by priests with second-hand information, tending to discredit the story. Scores of Fretilin supporters had invaded the orphanage, they claimed, and nine girls had been raped.
Fretilin leaders denounced claims of the party's involvement as a "bare-faced press campaign to discredit Fretilin". It condemned "an act of abuse" in Baguia as "a hideous act of an exclusively criminal nature perpetrated by a 16-year-old youth who had previously lived in the orphanage. It had no relationship with Fretilin actions in Baguia". None of the priests who made statements had been on the scene. Called by Juliana, Father Jojo raced to the orphanage and pieced together a first-hand account, presented in writing to Baucau bishop Basilio Nascimento.
Baguia continues without permanent UN police protection as citizens report ongoing threats, although extremists quietened nationwide after a decision last week by Mr Alkatiri that Fretilin would end a parliamentary boycott.
Australian Kirsty Sword's Alola Foundation expressed early support for the distressed children, donating a generator for 24-hour lighting, and last week ADF soldiers provided a two-day friendly security presence, much of it spent in street games with local kids.
The child whose story is doubted is a typical Timorese stick- figure of a little girl. More than 60 Dili NGOs including UNICEF have called on politicians to stop involving children in violence. The girl's quest for justice will be watched closely, as a symbol of East Timor's most vulnerable: a child, female, and not a politician or soldier.
Green Left Weekly - August 22, 2007
Tony Iltis – On August 6, East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta appointed his predecessor, Xanana Gusmao, prime minister and asked him to form a government without Fretilin, the largest party in the parliament elected on June 30. Despite the constitutional legitimacy of this being unclear, Gusmao's government was sworn in on August 8. Since Ramos Horta's decision there have been outbreaks of rioting and arson, as well as protests that were tear-gassed by UN police and the Australian- led International Stabilisation Force (ISF).
Fretilin won 29% of the vote – a drop of 28% from 2001 – giving them 21 seats in the 65-seat parliament while Gusmao's National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) won 24% of the vote and 18 seats. The CNRT has formed a coalition with two other parties, giving Gusmao's new government a comfortable majority in parliament. However, Fretilin has argued that under the constitution the party that won the largest number of seats should have been asked to attempt to form a government first. Given that a Fretilin government would have been unable to win a parliamentary confidence vote, the final outcome would have been the same.
The Western media, in particular that of Australia, has portrayed the disorder as the organised work of "Fretilin mobs". However, Fretilin leaders have been touring the country urging calm. The unrest cannot be explained by the constitutional wrangling: it can only be understood in the context of the internal divisions, and growing suspicion towards Australia, created by the ousting of Fretilin prime minister Mari Alkatiri in June 2006 and his replacement with then-foreign minister Ramos Horta. This coup left 37 dead, 150,000 internally displaced people and was the pretext for the deployment of the ISF. The past fortnight's disturbances have created another 4000 internally displaced people. Alkatiri has accused Australia of being behind his overthrow. At the time, Australian politicians and media played a significant role in pushing since-discredited allegations blaming Alkatiri for the violence unleashed by a mutiny in the security forces led by officers Alfredo Renaido and Vicente Rai Los da Conceicao. Australian Prime Minister John Howard called for Alkatiri's resignation.
"There's a very strong sense amongst lot of people, not just Fretilin supporters, that Australia has been intervening in [East Timor's] political process", Tim Anderson, senior lecturer in political economy at Sydney University, told Green Left Weekly. This sentiment was evident on July 26, when Howard, on a one-day visit to East Timor to spend his birthday with the Australian troops, provoked demonstrations demanding the troops' withdrawal by commenting that he expected Gusmao to be the next prime minister.
According to Anderson, the ISF troops were involved in petty harassment of Fretilin's election campaign, "stopping people on the way to rallies and confiscating banners", while the Australian media made "constant attacks aimed at de-legitimising Fretilin". Similar allegations were made during the presidential election campaign in May, when Ramos Horta defeated Fretilin's Francisco Guterres Lu'Olo.
The events of 2006 created both polarisation on partisan lines and disillusionment with the entire political establishment. "The popularity of Fretilin was damaged but that of Xanana Gusmao more so", Anderson argued, pointing out that Gusmao had won 80% of the vote in the 2001 presidential elections.
"He is seen as having used violence to undermine the first democratic government – trust in that man has been seriously undermined." Particularly damaging were his links with Reinado, even after the latter had "killed army officers."
Anderson pointed to an "asymmetry and partisan nature" on the part of the ISF, which devoted its energy to "preventing Fretilin rallies while ignoring violence in Dili" mainly directed against communities in which Fretilin had a high level of support. This extended to the way in which those involved in the coup were dealt with. While former justice minister Rogario Lobato was imprisoned for distributing arms to civilians, "he didn't kill people, while Rai Los, who did, was on the staff of Ramos Horta's presidential election campaign".
Rai Los remains unpunished. During the parliamentary elections he was working for Gusmao's campaign. The Australian-trained Reinado was arrested after the 2006 events but escaped from custody shortly after while the ISF were apparently looking the other way. "Australia made half-hearted attempts at catching him but the Xanana/Ramos Horta camp encouraged them to back off", said Anderson. The July 20 Sydney Morning Herald reported that the hunt for Reinado had been officially called off.
The Catholic Church has also been accused of playing a partisan role in the elections. "The church was very strongly identified with the 2006 coup ... The church hierarchy is anti-Fretilin", Anderson said, explaining that this began in 2005 when the Fretilin government tried to make religious education voluntary in schools. The church organised a demonstration against the proposal with logistical support from the US embassy.
Anderson argued that the hostility towards Fretilin from Australia and other Western powers reflected that, while its progressiveness should not be overstated, "the first post- independence government had some important achievements".
He said that one of these was winning a fairer share of the Timor Sea oil and gas reserves than Australia would have liked. Australia has been pushing for the Timor Sea gas-fields' LPG refinery to be built in Darwin, but the Fretilin government insisted that it should be in East Timor. "This will be a test for the new government", Anderson argued.
"[The Fretilin government] also followed an independent agricultural policy: expanding rice production, in opposition to the demand of the World Bank and Australia. They've increased production from one third to two thirds of domestic needs." He added that both major Australian parties were opposed on principal to poor countries becoming self-sufficient in food crops because it undermined the export potential of Australian agribusiness.
Other achievements include abolishing school fees and introducing free meals for primary students. Anderson said the government's most significant achievement was having "the fastest growing health program in the region. With Cuban help, they have increased the number of doctors in the country from 45 to 250 doctors. There are currently 300 Cuban health workers in East Timor and 700 East Timorese medical students studying in Cuba. The Cubans have also been running a literacy program, because they believe you can't have health without education."
He added that the new government was reviewing this program because of the hostility it aroused from the US, the Catholic Church and Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer. The number of East Timorese medical scholarships in Cuba could be increased to 1000. In a glaring contrast, there have never been more than 20 East Timorese students on scholarships in Australia. This number has since been reduced to 8 "because of the oil and gas dispute", Anderson said.
Interpress Service - August 13, 2007
Lisbon, Portugal – United Nations peacekeepers maintained a tense calm Monday in East Timor, which has been rattled by riots, rapes and arson since Aug. 8, when Jose Alexandre Gusmao was sworn in as prime minister. Gusmao, a former president and resistance hero commonly known as "Xanana," was once East Timor's most popular and respected leader. However, the supporters of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin) do not appear ready to accept President Jose Ramos-Horta's decision to name Gusmao, his predecessor, as head of government.
In the wave of violence following Gusmao's appointment, young girls were raped at a convent by unidentified men, 142 homes were set on fire and United Nations vehicles became the targets of stone-throwing.
The uneasy peace that prevailed Monday in the capital, Dili, and in Baucau, the country's second-largest city, was guarded over by roughly 3,000 soldiers and police officers – mainly from Australia, Malaysia and Portugal – who make up the UN peacekeeping force.
Alkatiri's party, Fretilin, has argued that Ramos-Horta's appointment of Gusmao as prime minister was unconstitutional. The party, which has been dominant since the country became an independent nation in 2002, won the largest number of votes in the June elections (nearly 30 percent) but failed to garner the majority needed to form a government.
The National Council of Timorese Resistance took only 23.4 percent of the vote, a blow for its head, Gusmao, who led the resistance against the brutal Indonesian occupation of the former Portuguese colony. Indonesia invaded after East Timor declared itself independent from Portugal in December 1975.
Gusmao became an almost mythical icon of revolutionary struggles around the world, waging war against 22,000 Indonesian occupation troops with a band of less than 200 guerrilla fighters for two decades in the dense jungles of this Pacific island.
But what weighed more heavily on Ramos-Horta's decision was the strong "anti-Alkatiri" sentiment in the country. As a result, he based his decision on the combined total of votes taken by a coalition of parties that support Gusmao, who thus can count on the backing of 37 of the single-chamber parliament's 65 members.
When asked by IPS about his decision, Ramos-Horta said "the majorities and minorities are in parliament, not on the streets, because the people delegated power to the lawmakers to represent them."
The president, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 along with Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, justified his decision by saying the coalition "at this moment represents the political views of the majority of the population."
With respect to the continuing violence and unrest, he said "the wounds are deep and fresh, and have been reopened in this latest conflict and by past conflicts."
The Indonesian occupation cost the lives of one-third of the population of East Timor, which shares the island with Indonesian West Timor.
Violence also erupted last year, when Alkatiri was forced to step down as prime minister after clashes between factions of the security forces claimed the lives of several dozen people, prompting the deployment of the Australian-led peacekeeping forces.
The most serious incidents of the last few days were described to the Portuguese press in East Timor by Reverend Basilio Maria Ximenes, the head of the convent where the girls were raped. He told reporters that dozens of attackers raided and vandalized the institution before sexually abusing the students, one of whom was 12 years old.
Although he did not refer to the fact that Alkatiri, the leader of Fretilin, is a practicing Muslim, the priest said "these people, who were mainly young men, see nuns and the Catholic Church as enemies and not only raped my students but also destroyed the school."
The Catholic bishop of Dili, Alberto Ricardo da Silva, who was an outspoken critic of Alkatiri when the Fretilin leader was prime minister, told the Union of Catholic Asian News agency that he welcomed Gusmao's invitation to the Catholic Church to help the new government work for peace and development.
There are no precise figures on how many people have been displaced from their homes by the latest wave of violence or on the number of public buildings that have been damaged. But Portuguese correspondents on the island and UNICEF reported that several schools were vandalized, leading to 50 arrests and several injuries. International observers predict that things could gradually begin to return to normal.
Alkatiri said Sunday that he believed Fretilin supporters were not taking part in the violence and urged his followers to remain calm.
"We suspect that it was not Fretilin who did this but people using the name of Fretilin to conduct violence and sully the party's name, as our members have a high level of discipline," said the former prime minister, who also offered to cooperate with the United Nations in investigating the events of the last few days.
The profound political division that has arisen from the struggle for power is frequently mentioned to explain the lack of stability in East Timor since its period as a UN protectorate came to an end in 2002.
Nevertheless, the frustrating economic conditions and especially the lack of prospects for young people are also a plausible source of the violence.
With a per capita income of just $389, this tiny island nation of 15,000 square kilometers – located in Southeast Asia on the southernmost edge of the Indonesian archipelago, northwest of Australia – is one of the world's poorest countries, according to the United Nations Development Program.
In a March 2006 report, the development program said, "Four years after gaining independence, impoverished Timor-Leste remains one of the world's least developed nations."
The UN agency reported that half of the population of less than 1 million has no access to safe drinking water; 60 of 1,000 infants born alive die before their first birthday; and life expectancy, estimated at only 55.5 years of age in 2004, is not improving.
The National Human Development Report of 2006, titled "The Path Out of Poverty: Integrated Rural Development," added that job opportunities are few, and that although "politically the country is free, its people remain chained by poverty."
That explanation, however, does not convince analyst Leonidio Paulo Ferreira from the Lisbon newspaper Diario de Noticias. Ferreira wrote a column Monday titled "He wanted to be a pumpkin farmer, but today he is prime minister."
Ferreira described Gusmao as "the national hero who became the country's first president in 2002 while spending all of his time saying that he was not seduced by power."
"Surrounded by his Australian wife Kristy Sword and their three children, he claimed that he dreamt of having time to dedicate to photography, that he was anxious to finish his term in 2007, and he even admitted that he would like to become a pumpkin farmer," Ferreira wrote.
But seven months later, "Xanana is prime minister, the leader of a hastily created party, which did not even win the greatest number of votes in the legislative elections." In the streets, "there are some who are now calling their 'big brother' a 'traitor' and are torching houses in protest."
The most bitter pill to swallow, according to the columnist, is that "Xanana traded the more than 80 percent of the vote that one day [in 2001] elected him president for the [National Council of Timorese Resistance's] 24 percent of the vote. Photographer or pumpkin farmer, he could have been a Timorese Nelson Mandela, a reference point for the entire population, which is still seeking a direction, but he chose instead to be just your usual politician."
Canberra Times - August 10, 2007
Michael Leach – President Jose Ramos Horta's appointment of Xanana Gusmao as Prime Minister has once again set off conflict in East Timor's streets.
While the former governing party, Fretilin, emerged from recent elections as the single largest party with 21 seats in the 65- seat parliament, it failed to gain a working parliamentary majority. Gusmao's party, CNRT, though only securing 18 seats, has since gained the support of minor parties and formed an alliance with a majority of 37 seats.
While Fretilin is now claiming the new Government is "illegal", the conflict has deeper roots in destructive personal conflicts within East Timor's small political elite, with more at stake than simple questions of parliamentary majorities.
The ostensible conflict is over the interpretation of the constitutional section which entitles the "most voted party or the alliance of political parties with a parliamentary majority" to designate the prime minister, and thereby effectively determine the composition of the government and its ministers.
Fretilin is claiming that right as the "most voted party" and says it will make a range of "lawful challenges" to the President's decision to grant that right to the Gusmao-led majority alliance.
In itself, a constitutional challenge is an acceptable position for Fretilin to adopt, not least because East Timor still lacks its own history of conventions and precedent for this situation. By contrast, recent statements by Fretilin's leaders suggesting they may boycott Parliament are irresponsible, and represent a grave threat to political stability.
A legal challenge would allow East Timor's Supreme Court to deliver an authoritative constitutional ruling on the disputed section. There seems little doubt that the Supreme Court will favour President Ramos Horta's interpretation, because proportional representation systems normally require parliamentary alliances to guarantee majorities, and political stability.
However, behind these standard democratic prescriptions lies a far more complex problem for the young nation. The parliamentary vote was highly regionalised, with majority support for Fretilin in East Timor's three easternmost districts, for CNRT in the central districts around Dili, and, in the main, for smaller parties in the west.
In a more mature democracy, a simple governing majority would be sufficient to settle all disputes. Many hope the same principle will yet prevail in East Timor; not least because oppositions play a critical role in ensuring democratic accountability.
But there is no escaping the fact that strongly regionalised party affiliations raise much thornier questions of national unity, especially in the wake of the 2006 "east-west" crisis.
East Timor could yet descend into civil conflict on a scale not witnessed in 2006 if the new Government and Opposition mishandle these tensions.
Aware of these larger problems, Ramos Horta initially pushed for a government of national unity involving all major parties. Though initially opposed by both Fretilin and CNRT, Fretilin ultimately backed this idea when it became clear it would not secure the necessary support of minor parties to put CNRT in opposition. Attempts to forge a government of grand inclusion appear to have foundered in part on the bitter personal feuds that wrack East Timor's tiny political elite and, specifically, on the choice of prime minister.
Fretilin could not countenance the choice of Gusmao, suggesting an independent as a compromise. Even minor party leaders supporting Gusmao's alliance believe the former president to be unhelpfully motivated by a desire to end former prime minister Mari Alkatiri's political career.
Behind the scenes, the wider interests of national political stability risk falling victim to the increasingly bitter Alkatiri-Gusmao conflict. In Timor, ideological differences are still insignificant in comparison to personal and factional disputes within the former independence movement.
Many would now argue that the rifts within East Timor's political elite and particularly its older generation are so profound that its capacity to serve the national interest has been compromised.
For all the significance of the halving of Fretilin's vote, another telling statistic is that close to half of the voting population supported neither Fretilin nor CNRT. It may be left to a younger generation of Timorese politicians to heal these rifts.
The more recent link between intra-elite feuds and regional loyalties is an especially dangerous one. Gusmao's inauguration speech, reaching out to the Fretilin majority districts, was a good start.
But the new Government will need to show its bona fides by ensuring that key actors in the 2006 crisis, like Major Alfredo Reinado and alleged "hit squad" leader Rai Los, who campaigned for CNRT, face justice, as former interior minister Rogerio Lobato has with his sentence of 7 years' jail for abuse of power and the distribution of weapons to civilian militias.
There are clear risks for Australia in these disputes. There is a perception among a significant proportion of the Timorese population that Australia has "interests" in oil and gas which Alkatiri challenged in negotiations. Many view Australian Government actions through that prism. When our Prime Minister arrived in the sensitive post-election period and declared Gusmao the likely winner, such perceptions were reinforced. John Howard's observation, though accurate, was an inappropriate intervention, which carries risk for our security forces and civilian NGO workers on the ground.
In the short term, as it did after the presidential results, Fretilin must rein in its supporters, urge them to await and accept the result of any constitutional challenge, and return to Parliament. It is incumbent upon Fretilin to explain the situation accurately to its support base. Fretilin's reputation and future as an alternative government is clearly at stake.
In the long term, however, there are greater problems than the latest outburst of street riots.
Greater attention must be paid to healing regional divisions and, ultimately, to resolving the destructive personal disputes within the Timorese elite. It is to be hoped that the new Government and opposition find a way to cooperate in this critical task.
If not, sooner or later, younger members of all political parties may need to look long and hard at retiring certain leaders in the interests of their nation as a whole.
[Michael Leach is a research fellow at Deakin University, and was an international observer at the parliamentary elections.]
Time Magazine - August 10, 2007
Rory Callinan, Dili – Pedro Belo hasn't slept in two days. Commander of the Police District of Baucau, about 100km east of Dili, Belo is still wearing his body armor, yawning as sirens wail around his station. He sits at his desk reading reports of local outbreaks of violence that his men cannot respond to. "Every time we leave here they know, and they will attack this place," he says. "We've asked for help and we had the Australian soldiers come here, but they went around and then they left. They patrol in helicopters, but you can't catch anyone from a helicopter. You have to get out."
Down the road from the barbed-wire-fenced police compound, the town's main thoroughfares are blackened with the remains of burnt tires and littered with broken glass and rocks the size of tennis balls. In the jail at the back of the station are more than 50 young men arrested for violent attacks or protests. "We have to let them out in 72 hours," says Belo. "I think there will be more trouble."
Within minutes of Ramos-Horta's announcement Fretilin activists, most of them from Timor's eastern provinces, poured into the streets from their refugee camps dotted around the capital, Dili. They set up barricades of tires, stones and bushes wherever roads bordered the camps, and from behind them launched rock attacks on passing cars. In the grounds of Dili hospital, Fretilin supporters living in tents pitched in the grassy courtyards between the wards emerged to taunt westerners living nearby.
As the shouting turned into fighting, UN police, New Zealand soldiers and Portuguese Republican National Guard with riot gear and bullet-proof vests raced to the scene. They fired tear gas to disperse rock-throwing youths, who swiftly melted into the maze of alleys between the district's tiny shacks and stalls. Expat Australian Jim Clifford, owner of a pizza shop, was making deliveries on a motorbike. "I drove right through the middle of it. They were fighting at every intersection," he says. "The locals were angry. They've had enough. When the police came they were telling them to just shoot them [the easterners]."
On the main road heading west out of the city, dozens of vehicles were bombarded with rocks. Christopher Samson, head of LABEH, an anti-corruption NGO, was driving home when his car was hit. "I saw them and heard them call out: 'That's him, that's him, throw!' They were after me. Bam! Bam! They got the driver's side window. It was terrifying."
UN spokeswoman Alison Cooper says the authorities are maintaining control in Dili. "The situation is volatile, but the incidents of violence are sporadic and isolated and able to be contained," she says, despite just having a rock smash through the windscreen of her UN car.
The UN registered 31 incidents including arson, rock-throwing and roadblocks over a 10-hour period on Monday night, but had no reports of casualties. The worst attack torched the Customs office; a second Customs building was set on fire early Tuesday. On Wednesday Gusmco was sworn in and promised to "dedicate all my energy to the defense and consolidation of independence and national unity."
In the country's east, the new Prime Minister's talk of national unity fell on deaf ears. At Metanaro, hundreds of refugees erected huge Fretilin banners across the main highway, then blockaded it with rocks and logs. The road quickly became a no-go zone for the UN, with a policeman posted to stop UN vehicles from approaching after several were badly damaged by rocks.
In Baucau seven buildings were torched and in Viqueque seven more were destroyed. At Quelecai, south-east of Baucau, fighting was continuing between pro-Fretilin youths and supporters of other political parties when TIME visited on Wednesday. Fretilin supporters blocked the road and refused access to the area to view the damage. One village leader said six people had been injured with darts and rocks.
As the violence began to ease in Dili, Alkatiri announced he would encourage a campaign of civil disobedience across the country. His statements – and his party's refusal to recognize the new government – have damaged Fretilin's already tarnished reputation. Former interior minister Rogerio Lobato is serving a seven-and-a-half-year jail term for arming a hit squad in the lead-up to last year's unrest. And just before the June election, the Fretilin-controled parliament voted to grant amnesties or reduce sentences for serious crimes relating to the violence of 2006, although the resolution was never signed into law by Ramos-Horta.
Fretilin's political opponents accuse the party of fomenting violence to achieve their political ends, but Fretilin denies the claims, conceding only that it struggles to control some of its angry supporters. NGO head Samson is unconvinced. "They are worried about what the new government will do," he says. "They are worried that there will be an audit going back five years." It is a sad measure of East Timor's misery that a nation founded on so much promise should so soon be uneasy about its past.
The Australian - August 9, 2007
Mark Dodd – As East Timor's capital Dili lay a smoking ruin and starving dogs picked at rotting corpses, victims of retreating pro-Jakarta militia in September 1999, a US diplomat turned from the bleak apocalyptic vista to Australian ambassador James Batley and said: "East Timor is going to be Australia's Haiti."
Following this week's wave of arson and mob violence stemming from Xanana Gusmao being sworn in as Prime Minister yesterday, many who have followed the painful birth of this young nation are asking: Is East Timor heading down the road of a failed state? Will a new government led by Gusmao, a charismatic former president, guerrilla commander and resistance hero, be able to restore confidence, hope and a measure of prosperity for the troubled half-island state and its long-suffering people?
Yesterday Gusmao pledged to unite strife-racked East Timor when he was sworn in as the country's second Prime Minister at a ceremony boycotted by the former ruling party Fretilin.
Gusmao's new Government promised to lead a nation that has suffered more than a year of political tensions and uncertainty and this week more unrest in the violence-battered capital.
"I swear to God, to the people, and on my honour, that I will fulfil with loyalty the functions that have been invested in me," Gusmao said in Portuguese, as President Jose Ramos Horta administered his oath.
It is a very big ask for Gusmao's coalition led by the National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor, or CNRT, and the track record of East Timor's leaders is not encouraging.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said East Timorese, particularly young Fretilin supporters whose seat allocation in the 65-seat legislature was slashed to 21 following the June elections, should air their grievances in parliament, not on the streets.
To help control the violence, Australia has agreed to retain a sizeable military presence in East Timor for the foreseeable future, sweetened by aid running at $72.8 million ayear.
"The streets – rock throwing, shooting rifles and pistols – is not a way to deal with political disagreements and we would urge the East Timorese to respect the constitutional processes of the country and its institutions," Downer said.
Tracking the origins of state failure in East Timor is not hard. Humiliated by a resounding 78.5 per cent vote for independence in the UN-backed August 30 1999 referendum, vengeful Indonesians and militia proxies sacked the country, laying waste to the main towns, burning what could not be carted off, executing hundreds of youths and displacing three-quarters of the country's 900,000 population in the process.
The 21.5 per cent who voted for autonomy came mostly from the central and western part of the country.
No foreign army was willing to intervene and halt the rampage and the worst was over by the time a reluctant Australian-led international military coalition arrived to restore order.
Enter the UN global governors. Under Sergio Vieira De Mello, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor proved to be anything but and East Timor reverted to a non-self-governing territory.
Under the wing of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UNTAET's De Mello did not benefit from the experiences of former UN Assistance Mission in East Timor staff, resulting in a significant loss of corporate knowledge and continuity in mission planning.
The pro-independence CNRT represented East Timorese sovereignty but had little role in decision making, apart from token consultation. Despite public appearances of solidarity, Gusmao and to a lesser extent Ramos Horta became disillusioned.
Emergency funds poured in from a swag of sympathetic global donors but UNTAET's response to reconstruction needs, employment generation and food distribution was slow and tardy.
UNTAET's centralist tendencies were evident. It opposed a World Bank-backed Community Empowerment Project that cost its outspoken advocate Jarat Chopra his job as head of district administration. Power would reside at the top.
Chopra later wrote: "UNTAET's inability to deliver basic services or tangible reconstruction and its failure to reduce unemployment (exceeding 80 per cent) cost it the confidence of the people, perhaps the critical ingredient in any transitional administration."
Like the UNTAC-run Cambodia of 1993, a parallel economy emerged due to the wide wage differences of UN international staff and East Timorese lucky enough to find work. A hamburger at a Western takeaway in Dili cost $US5 ($5.80), the average daily take-home pay for East Timorese.
East Timorese anger grew over concerns about a lack of promised UN transitional training to run the new country.
"The unavoidable conclusion may be that the UN, despite its ability to monopolise the image of legitimacy, is ill-suited to administering territories in transition," Chopra says. "Just as it became evident in the 1990s that the UN could not command and control high-intensity military enforcement operations, so the same may be true of civilian governance."
The fireworks display at Taci Tolu marking East Timor's emergence as the world's newest country in May 2002 was spectacular but the government led by Mari Alkatiri quickly realised fighting a 28- year guerilla war was easier than running a country.
The Marxist-trained Alkatiri's autocratic tendencies emerged. After gaining control of government (it had won 57 per cent of the vote in the 2001 elections) Fretilin politicised the civil service, appointing loyalists to 64 of the 65 subdistrict administrative posts across the country.
Like the UNTAET predecessor Alkatiri ran a highly centralised top-down decision-making apparatus with power vested in the Council of Ministers at the expense of the parliament.
Between 2002-2005, only two of 100 pieces of legislation passed by the Alkatiri administration were initiated by parliament. The level of debate and parliamentary oversight was laughable.
The unfulfilled promise of a bonanza in cash from fraught Timor Sea oil and gas negotiations with Australia further fuelled civil unease.
There was increasing concern about issues of transparency. As first reported in The Australian in July 2005, a $145,000 arms contract was awarded to Caval Bravo, a company run by Alkatiri's younger brother Bader. A family-owned construction company was also very successful in securing lucrative road and building contracts.
In a country where unemployment and poverty was chronic, public dissatisfaction with the government took root.
Earlier this year, Ramos Horta told me he could not recall a single time when Alkatiri met with the Opposition party leaders. It was during this period the leaders of three Opposition parties left parliament: Democrat Party's Fernando La Sama in 2002; Mario Carrascalao, head of the Social Democrat Party, in 2004; and Francisco Xavier do Amaral, a founding member of Fretilin, in 2005. (All three are members of the new Gusmao-led coalition.)
Public anger with the government boiled over in 2005 when the Catholic Church threw its considerable support behind anti- government protests over its plans to outlaw compulsory religious instruction in schools in a country that is 98 per cent conservative Catholic.
Trouble was also brewing in the security sector. Alkatiri's ambitious interior minister Rogerio Lobato had begun to build a formidable police apparatus to counter what he saw as a potential threat from the East Timor Defence Force, a successor organisation to the Falintil guerilla force that lay outside government control and influence and whose senior commanders were loyal to then president Gusmao, no friend of Alkatiri.
When about 600 so called "petitioners" deserted the army in 2006, claiming unfair pay and conditions and ethnic discrimination by senior ranking eastern-born commanders, Alkatiri sacked the soldiers, mostly ethnic western-born Loromonu people.
Dili exploded into violence again in May 2006. An Australian-led peacekeeping force was sent to restore law and order after clashes between military, police factions and youth gangs in April. At least 37 people were killed and some 150,000 others forced from their homes. In May last year Alkatiri was forced to resign.
An estimated 100,000 people, or about 10 per cent of the population, are still sheltering in refugee camps, too afraid to return or with no homes to go back to.
Former Australian UN military commander in Dili, Mike Smith, now chief executive officer of the respected aid agency AustCare, warns East Timor is not a failed state, but it could become one.
"I think more than anything else, what's been happening there over the past 12 months or so has been a struggle for democracy. I still remain optimistic for East Timor because most East Timorese people I speak to genuinely do want peace."
He believes the new Gusmao-led Government and viable Opposition will be good for East Timor. But apart from political success, little has been achieved in reducing rampant poverty.
"My focus and AustCare's focus is to do what we can to capacity build and to try and help these people lift themselves out of poverty. The population is about a million people, of which more than 50 per cent are 18 years or younger. You have a huge and growing young population and the unemployment issue is real," Smith says.
This is Gusmao's challenge. Unlike Alkatiri, whose government failed to spend money, executing only 35 per cent of its annual $160 million budget, Gusmao needs to pump the economy with oil revenue to help ease poverty.
Gusmao also needs to engage three Fretilin bastions of support in the east, Baucau, Los Palos and Viqueque where trouble erupted and two people were shot dead on his most recent election visit.
In Opposition, Alkatiri still leads Fretilin and could cause trouble for Gusmao. While Lobato was sentenced to jail for his role in arming pro-Alkatiri militia, an amnesty has been declared for army rebel Alfredo Reinado, a Gusmao supporter.
"Alkatiri will still be politically active and he has a very, very, very long memory," says one Western intelligence analyst. Remember, these guys have been arguing among themselves and doing all this stuff since (Richard) Nixon was president – think about that."
[Mark Dodd is The Australian's defence and foreign affairs writer.]
Sydney Morning Herald - August 9, 2007
Tim Costello – East Timor again appears engulfed in flames and violence, this time in the wake of a relatively free and fair election and the ascension of the revolutionary hero Xanana Gusmao as its new prime minister.
All too often it appears that in our region it is one step forward, two steps back. Yet these violent images can be deceiving. The reality in the Asia-Pacific region is that there are signs of real progress, as these young countries attempt to achieve in decades what took us centuries.
New World Vision research shows that there is real progress being made in the living standards in the Pacific region. Child immunisation has almost doubled since 1980. The number of children younger than five years who are dying from preventable causes has dropped markedly in the past 25 years.
While there are serious challenges in the region – highlighted by riots and unrest – these events do not represent regional collapse. Nor do they prove Australian aid to these countries has failed.
Despite the progress, I remain a critic of Australia's approach to the region. Put simply, I believe we have dropped the ball by focusing predominantly on "fighting fires" rather than tackling the root causes behind the violence and anarchy. We must take a more holistic response that addresses the interests of our neighbours first and not our own political ends.
No one has to explain to me the importance of Australia's military interventions in countries like East Timor, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea when such chaos erupts. I have witnessed the value of these missions in an intimate way.
When East Timor descended into violence a year ago, terrified World Vision staff hid in a small, darkened, airless room for more than eight hours while a gun battle raged on the street outside. At one point in the siege, a staffer received a text message telling them an Australian warship had been spotted off the coast – relief was on the way.
I was in East Timor a day later and heard first-hand accounts of murders, house burnings and violence. On several occasions I was forced to flee mobs of lawless gangs.
I welcome the Opposition's call for a rethink on Australia's response to the economic and social problems of the region. Alone, Labor's commitment to increase overseas aid funding to 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2015 will double the amount of aid we give. While short of the 0.7 per cent of gross national income that our Government promised to the world's poor in 2000, it is the minimum amount required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
In the Pacific and in Asia it has the potential to have a profound effect. If delivered, the extra aid could allow Australia to do all the following: reduce child deaths by 140,000 each year, cut maternal deaths by 4200 and have at least 29,000 fewer deaths from AIDS and 31,000 fewer deaths from tuberculosis each year. It could also provide access to safe drinking water to almost 37 million people and ensure education for 200,000 children.
However, like the Government's, Labor's plan falls short in one key area. An immediate and tangible statement of Australia's commitment to the region would be to approve a guest worker scheme with Pacific nations that would ease their unemployment while helping employers here.
Boosting overseas aid to the Pacific could allow us to help communities tackle some of the underlying causes of such strife: issues such as the lack of a job or other economic opportunities, the lack of basic services and effective governance and the increasingly degraded environment.
And, while it is the right thing for Australia to do, it's also in our interest. If we fail to assist in resolving these underlying issues our troops will be back in very quick time. At the very least this is bad economics.
For example, between 1999 to 2007 Australia spent $3.3 billion on military operations in East Timor – in the same period aid to the fledgling country totalled only one-fifth of this amount at $594 million. Aid allows us to spend a penny to save a pound.
[Tim Costello is the chief executive of World Vision Australia.]
Crikey.com - August 8, 2007
Damien Kingsbury – The troubles currently gripping East Timor following the appointment of Xanana Gusmao as prime minister reflect many of the reasons the country was plunged into political crisis early last year.
In short, former prime minister Mari Alkatiri does not accept the basic principles of parliamentary democracy. It was this authoritarian tendency that directly led to last year's troubles and him being forced to resign as prime minister.
In the period since East Timor's otherwise successful parliamentary elections, Alkatiri has continued to insist that his party, Fretilin, should lead the new government. This is despite Fretilin being overwhelmingly rejected by more than 70 per cent of the population, seeing its vote cut by around half.
Alkatiri has variously insisted that Fretilin be allowed to form a minority government, that it lead a unity government and that it accept a 'neutral' prime minister. The basis of these assertions was that, as the 'most voted party', Fretilin had the right to determine the shape of the new government. This was in turn claimed to rest on section of section 106:1 of East Timor's constitution.
Section 106:1 of the constitution says that the government will be formed either by what is being translated from Portuguese as the "most voted party" OR "an alliance of parties that form a majority in parliament". There is some dispute about the translation of the first part of this section from the Portuguese, which seems to allow a minority government. But in any case, Alkatiri has consistently neglected the second part of this section.
Despite the clear constitutionality and workability – of a majority coalition government, Alkatiri has claimed it is "illegal", that he will not recognise it and that Fretilin will withdraw from parliament.
Similarly, former Fretilin minister Arsenio Bano has said that Fretilin's supporters believe the party "won" the elections. Even if explicit instructions were not given to Fretilin supporters to go on the rampage, Alkatiri's language alone would incite such rampage.
Fretilin did not "win" the elections and was unable to form a coalition. The alternative CNRT-led coalition is, constitutionally and according to parliamentary precedent, a legitimate government reflecting overwhelming majority support.
The international community has, conventionally, congratulated Xanana Gusmao on his appointment as prime minister. It should now condemn Mari Alkatiri for refusing to play by the rules of the democratic game and, in the process, again pushing his country to the brink.
AsiaMedia - August 7, 2007
David Robie, Dili – Jornal Nacional Diaro is the smallest and youngest of Timor-Leste's three daily newspapers, but it's one of the brightest and gutsiest.
It sells around 600 copies a day, has barely more than a dozen young reporters and operates out of a derelict former Indonesian police station in the port city of Dili. Getting to a reporting job depends on a tired fleet of five small motorbikes parked in the paper's front yard.
The newspaper used to have eight machines, but three were stolen in raids at the height of the country's factional bloodshed in May last year. The violence led to at least 37 deaths and thousands of people fleeing to internal refugee camps.
Young editor-in-chief Josi Gabriel fiercely defends the independence of the paper, which boasts new president and Nobel peace laureate Dr. Josi Ramos Horta on its contributors' masthead.
The largest paper in Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor), Suara Timor Lorosae, has been a survivor since the country's rocky road to independence in 2002. As the country's former oldest paper, Suara Timor Timur, it was established in 1993 and was forced to obey conditions set by the Indonesian occupation. In the violence that wracked the country leading to the independence vote in 1999, Indonesian-backed militia destroyed the newspaper building and wrecked printing facilities.
Throughout Suara's existence, journalists were intimidated and terrorised by the Indonesian military and its supporters. But publisher Salvador Soares is equally hostile toward the post- independence administration led by the political party Fretilin, which spearheaded the struggle against Indonesian rule and oppression for more than a quarter century and then won a landslide victory in the first free parliament elections.
While Fretilin remained the largest political group in the June 30, 2007, election, it has this week been ousted from power by a coalition government after weeks of bickering. This fuelled further rioting.
Suara Timor Lorosae, now printed at a modern plant on the outskirts of Dili, sells about 2,000 copies a day. The third daily, Timor Post, regarded as the most independent, was founded in 2000 by a collective of senior journalists. It has a print run of 1500 copies and also struggles for resources.
Although the country has a population of almost one million people, the literacy rate is just 51 per cent and the country has four main languages. The press mainly uses the indigenous Tetum language. Newspapers cost 50 cents a copy – about a quarter of the US$2 average daily wage. Only a handful of hawkers sell newspapers in the streets of downtown Dili – stringing the papers in lively fan-style displays on long poles.
In spite of the problems of the fledgling press, the newspapers and their courageous journalists were praised for their contribution to free and fair elections by a recent New Zealand- funded independent media monitoring mission. The New Zealand bouquets were even more favourable for the state-owned broadcasters, Radio Timor Leste (RTL) and Television Timor Leste (TVTL). The broadcasters are providing an increasingly important media leadership in the country, concluded the mission.
While the mission was impressed by the effort and commitment of the state-owned public broadcasters, many journalists remain worried about the ambiguous status of the state broadcasters. RTL director Rosario Martins says the first national elections run by the Timorese institutions – the previous election was run by the United Nations – and the media covering them faced tough challenges. His team provided comprehensive coverage, broadcast election news and current affairs programmes for 2.5 hours a day on a campaign budget of US$21,500.
Many journalists proudly regard their country as having the most genuinely free press in the world because no regulations at present govern the media. Press freedom is guaranteed under section 41 of the constitution.
But there is a cloud on the horizon. Many politicians point to the lack of media training and are keen to impose tighter controls. Draft media laws contain provisions that could criminalise defamation, insist on the licensing of journalists and regulate strict right of reply requirements.
Section 40 of the constitution declares that everyone has the right to freedom of expression and the right to inform and be informed impartially. But about half the population has no hope of exercising this constitutional right because the combined newspaper circulation is barely 4000 copies a day – serving the elite – and radio and television have a limited reach.
Improved communications infrastructure is vitally needed, such as telecommunications, electrical supply and roading. Local media people would also like to see subsidised distribution of newspapers to the remote rural districts and state-funded distribution of community radios in rural areas.
For a 40-year-old vegetable seller and radio listener in a Dili market, the definition of good news is simple enough: "Good news for us is some change that can make our lives better."
[Pacific Media Centre director David Robie was a member of the New Zealand Media Monitoring Mission that visited Timor-Leste for the recent presidential and parliamentary elections.]
Time Magazine - August 6, 2007
Rory Callinan, Dili – Herminio de Oliveira was enjoying a beer at his tiny drinks and cigarette stall near Dili airport when he heard the yelling from the nearby refugee camp. "Fretilin will govern! Fretilin will govern!" came the chant, as scores of youths, supporters of the former ruling party, poured out of the gates and onto the road in the East Timorese capital's western suburbs. "I was frightened," says de Oliveira. "Then a car came, and the youths hit it with many stones."
At the wheel was Joco Carrascalco, whose brother Mario leads the Social Democratic Party (PSD). "They broke his glasses and they injured his wife," says de Oliveira. "I was worried they would start attacking anybody who is not Fretilin, worried they might attack me. My shop is all I have. If they destroy that, I will lose everything."
De Oliveira is one of thousands of East Timorese who have spent the past few weeks anxiously awaiting the announcement of the country's new prime minister. While Dili residents are enthusiastic about a new government, many are concerned about politically driven violence on the scale seen in April and May last year, when 37 people were killed and more than 150,000 fled their homes. "I hope they can control it," says de Oliveira.
On Monday, President Jose Ramos-Horta announced the appointment as prime minister of former resistance fighter Xanana Gusmco, who leads a coalition made up of his own party, the National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor (CNRT), the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT), Carrascalco's PSD and the Democratic Party (PD). The coalition holds 37 seats, giving it a substantial majority over Fretilin, which won 21 seats in the June 30 elections.
Fretilin's leaders argue that with more seats than any other party, they should govern.
Ramos-Horta has postponed his decision twice and urged the coalition to include Fretilin representatives for the sake of national stability. But they refuse to do so, and the delay has only increased tensions in the capital.
As it appears less likely that Fretilin will have any role in the new government, it is feared that the party's supporters may try to use violence to destabilize the country. Immediately after Ramos-Horta's announcement, violence broke out in the capital of Dili; later that evening angry pro-Fretilin protesters set fire to Dili's customs house as Australian peacekeeping troops moved to restore order.
Says Dr. Christopher Samson, who heads a Dili-based anti- corruption NGO: "There will be those people who are uneducated who will try to take the law into their own hands. They want to threaten the nation and its stability. But I believe it will not be large, because the majority of the people will not support it." Samson regularly receives death threats for his work fighting corruption. "If there are some civilians with weapons, then that will lead to loss of life," he says.
One source of tension comes from the large numbers of Fretilin- supporting easterners who have taken up residence in refugee camps in the capital. On Sunday, young men from one inner-city refugee camp blocked the road outside Dili's new Hotel Timor, where party leaders regularly hold meetings. Chanting "Fretilin! Fretilin!" they climbed trees and hoisted a red-and-white banner across the road. The banner featured a snake and a cross, with the slogan, in the local Tetum language: "Timor needs a prime minister who is intelligent, not someone who is like big brother." Many of the youths appeared to be drunk, and were urged on by agitators in the crowd.
Fretilin spokesman and former minister Jose Texeira believes the announcement could spark minor trouble but says, "There is no way there is any campaign for any organized violence. We are actively involved in ensuring that people accept the decision."
But last week the party's secretary-general, former prime minister Mari Alkatiri, made a clear link between the stability of the country and Fretilin's having a role in the ruling coalition. "Fretilin firmly believes that a government of grand inclusion, which includes members of all political parties which have seats in the national parliament, will bring stability to the country," he told journalists. "If there is no stability, then no government will be able to function effectively."
Alkatiri's party, elected to government in 2002, has a dubious reputation. Former interior minister Rogerio Lobato is serving a seven-and-a-half-year jail term for arming a hit squad in the lead-up to last year's violence. Former resistance fighter Colonel Vincente de Conceicco Railos, the man who blew the whistle on Lobato's plot, this week told Time that he knows of at least 28 weapons still in the hands of a militant pro-Fretilin group that has threatened to conduct assassinations if Fretilin is excluded from government. "They want to cause instability.
They go look for political leaders to assassinate. They have the experience from the resistance," says Railos, surrounded by bodyguards as he sits on the porch of his home. "I have told the President [Ramos-Horta] this information, but they still have not done anything about it. The weapons are still there."
Railos points to other worrying developments, including a build- up of weapons in Balibo and rumors that a large quantity of drugs has been brought from West Timor, a province of Indonesia, allegedly to embolden and energize refugee-camp youths. But the colonel's claims have been dismissed by the Indian head of the UN Mission in East Timor, Atul Khare, who believes Ramos- Horta's eventual decision will provoke only minor incidents. "What I do believe is that with our presence, isolated and sporadic incidents can be prevented from turning into a major conflagration of violence of the type which occurred last year," he says. "Police cannot prevent each and every incident. Police cannot stop people from throwing stones."
Khare, who controls a force of around 1,600 international police, sees no evidence that any of the political parties have been inciting violence. "It has had no connection so far," he says. "Violence is an accompaniment of the unexpressed frustration of desires of several people who find themselves disenfranchised and disempowered, and feel that they have not yet received the dividend that should have gone to them from the process of restoration of national independence. What I can believe is that the political leaders have been assisting and will continue to assist in keeping their supporters in control."
Dili residents who have to drive by the refugee camp at the airport might disagree. Minutes after the new Parliament elected Coalition member and PD head Fernando Lasama de Araujo as its president, youths again swarmed out of the camp and began throwing stones at vehicles and yelling pro-Fretilin slogans. UN police and more than 20 Australian soldiers rushed to the camp to force the protestors back inside, where they screamed obscenities. Similar outbursts took place near the Fretilin headquarters in Comoro.
Despite Khare's claims, UN police, who occupy the front line in the fight to stop the violence, suspect a link between the violence and political parties. Head of the Comoro police post Joel Doria says his men have received numerous allegations of a connection between Fretilin and the simmering violence. During the election campaign, he says, police were arresting pro- Fretilin troublemakers and finding $30 to $100 cash in their pockets – improbably large sums for jobless refugees. "We request them to stay in the camp, but every time there is a political event they go out into the street and create problems," he says. "We have the information but we can't make the connection with evidence."
Doria, a veteran police officer who is more used to hunting extremists in his native Philippines than political agitators in East Timor, brings up on his computer screen photos of regular offenders and rock-throwers from the camps. "See, here they are causing problems on the streets of Dili. Then here are the same ones gathering at the Fretilin headquarters in Comoro," he says, switching to photos taken on the same day in front of the Fretilin building. "Why are they there? What is there for them?" Doria notes that over the past week, loud music has been blaring out of the Fretilin HQ at all hours. "That gives them an excuse to have a lot of people there. They are pretending to have a party. But really they are waiting to cause problems."
Many locals agree with his assessment. Street vendors say they've learned to expect trouble when they see local youths using their cell phones. "They have up to $50 credit on their phone cards. How can they afford it?" asks one.
PSD head Mario Carrascalco says his party has the names of three individuals, linked to Fretilin, who they believe order the refugees to cause trouble. "We have given their names to police. They are receiving money and drinks from senior people related to Fretilin leaders," says Carrascalco, whose car was attacked by stone-throwing Fretilin supporters near the airport refugee camp on July 30. "But to this point we have heard nothing about them being investigated." He has received numerous threats of violence. "Today, for instance, I got a short message saying they are going to burn Dili Hospital if Fretilin does not govern," he says. "That is terrorism." Carrascalco has concerns that UN and local security officials will not be proactive enough to prevent injuries: "The police handle it, but only after things have started. They only come after the victims are already there."
Out on the streets, Dili residents like de Oliveira are nervous. "I have a friend who overhears a group of Fretilin supporters at the refugee camp near the city having a meeting," he says. "They said they had a plan: that when the decision is made, they will burn all the shops in Dili."
| East Timor media monitoring |
Horta: 1975 generation is making the people suffer
President Josa Ramos-Horta has asked all the political leaders of the 74/75 generation to reflect upon their attitudes and whether they are making the people suffer. "Twenty years have passed. We have to recognize our errors, by which we the political generation of 70s caused a lot of suffering for the people. Sometimes we ignore our errors because of our grand ego. We never learn the lessons of the past" said the president in his speech on the Referendum Day on Thursday (30/8). (STL and TP)
Government studying the case of Alfredo and the petitioners
The Vice Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres stated that the government has started studying the case of Alfredo and the petitioners. "Xanana is looking forward to the development of a good mechanism for finding a peaceful solution to the case," said Mr. Luis.(STL and TP)
F-FDTL will remain deployed in the east
Commander of F-FDTL Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak said that F-FDTL will remain in Baucau, Viqueque and Lautem as the length of its deployment is not yet determined. Currently, 24 members of the F-FDTL are deployed in the east (7 in Baucau, 10 in Viqueque and another 7 in Lautem). (STL)
Bishop Ricardo: Leaders need to have correction
Bishop Ricardo da Silva said that the Referendum Day- 30 August -- is a day for the East Timorese and a day for the leaders to look how they can do better for the people of Timor-Leste. "A nation's stability is not only determined by the behaviour of the people; leaders need to focus on national unity, loving each other and working to improve people's live", said the bishop. (STL)
Alkatiri: the Alliance government should not make accusations
The former Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Mari Alkatiri asked the Alliance government not to make accusations against Fretilin by investigating corruption in the previous Fretilin-led government. "I think they may perform an investigation, and when no evidence is found they should be prepared to go the tribunal, because they have committed defamation," said Mr. Alkatiri. (TP)
To be peaceful, avoid besmirching others
The president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Mario Carrascalao, said that if all want the nation to be peaceful, political leaders should avoid statements that might harm others. "How can the nation be stable when we are always hurting each other? We all need to live in peace, no one wants to live as we have been recently," said Mr. Carrascalao. Speaking about the words independence and autonomy that have been used by some leaders of late, Mr. Carrascalao said that the words were the options offered by United Nations to Timor-Leste to determine the future of the country. (STL)
Fretilin regrets the message of President Ramos-Horta
Francisco Miranda Branco, a MP of Fretilin, expressed regret at the message of President Jose Ramos-Horta on the anniversary of Referendum Day, 30 August, which he said showed Horta's contempt towards Fretilin. Mr. Branco said that as a father the nation, the president is responsible for finding a balance between the previous and current governments, and should not forget the refugees and Alfredo whilst surrounded by important international guests.
In the speech, President Jose Ramos-Horta said that Fretilin is making an error in trying to force the UN to end its mission in Timor-Leste. Horta also said that Fretilin won the 2001 election outright, and then went on to create laws without cooperation with the opposition which led to defeat for Fretilin in the next two elections. David Dias Ximenes, another MP of Fretilin also said that president's speech was used as an opportunity to attack others. (STL and DN)
Alkatiri: Illegal, the ISF presence in Timor-Leste
The Secretary General of Fretilin, Mari Alkatiri said that the presence of the International Security Forces in Timor-Leste is illegal as the trilateral accord was not ratified by the national parliament. "I did sign the accord, but when I stepped down as Prime Minister I could do nothing. However, the new prime minister who replaced me should bring it to the national parliament for ratification. "Why did the prime minister not bring it to the national parliament for ratification? If there was no ratification, then the presence of ISF in Timor-Leste is illegal," said Mr. Alkatiri. (DN)
5 PNTL members involved in Viqueque and Uatolari case
The Public Ministry has indicated that there are five members of PNTL among the suspects allegedly involved in arson in Uatolari, Viqueque district. Speaking to the journalists on Tuesday (28/8), the Attorney-general, Longuinhos Monteiro said that the five members of the PNTL are on duty in Uatolari, Viqueque district. "The Public Ministry will ask police in Viqueque to investigate, and if PNTL members are involved in this action, then a new team should be established for the purposes of further investigation," said Mr. Monteiro. (STL)
Ramos Horta: need to see the human factor in Alfredo's case
Within the meeting of High Level Committee, President Jose Ramos-Horta officially presented the case of Alfredo Reinado and petitioners to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in order to find solutions. Speaking to journalists after the meeting on Tuesday (28/8) in Presidential Palace Caicoli, Dili, President Horta said that the human issue should not be forgotten when dealing with Reinado and the petitioners, since they are all human beings. (STL and TP)
Atul Khare: groups organized the violence in Viqueque and Baucau
The SRSG in Timor Leste, Atul Khare stated that the violence in Viqueque and Baucau districts was not spontaneous, but organized by some groups. "It happened due to the lack of knowledge on constitutional interpretation from the political leaders," said Mr. Khare in a meeting with the political leaders in Baucau district on Thursday (23/8). He explained that the role of the leaders is to ensure the democratic process continue in the country. Mr. Khare also called on the political leaders to cooperate with each other to contribute to the countryb development. (STL)
Jailed police will not be activated
The PNTL Interim Commander, Afonso de Jesus, stated that based on the law governing the PNTL, the members of PNTL who are in jail due to violence will not be activated. "It is obviously that in the discipline law governing PNTL there is an article that allows PNTL officer to be on duty after fulfilling a sentence of more than about three years," said Mr. Afonso on Tuesday (28/8) in Caicoli, Dili. Currently the secretary of state for defence affairs is looking at revising the law. (STL)
Autonomist and nationalist jargon kills the reconciliation
The member of national parliament from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Mario Viegas Carrascalao said that the autonomist and nationalist jargon used by political leaders could ruin and kill the spirit of reconciliation. "Mr. Xanana himself raised reconciliation and peace for all Timorese, so whoever uses these words wants to separate people," said MR. Mario. (STL)
30 August, some ministries and state secretaries sworn in
The empty seats in the Alliance government will be filled on 30 August. According to the schedule, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao will swear in the Minister and secretary of state on 30 august in Nobre Palace Lahane, Dili. "The swearing in will be held on 30 August, in the afternoon," said Mr. Gusmao after the meeting of the High Level Committee in the Presidential Palace Caicoli, Dili. (STL)
UNPol seizes weapons document
The joint team comprising the Attorney-general, Longuinhos Monteiro, UNPol and PNTL over the last two weeks seized secret documentation registering the purchase of weapons in Bazartete, Liquica district. "This document has been directly seized by Mr. Longuinhos, UNPol and PNTL" said an unknown source in last few days. According to the source there are also other goods together with the document such as three passports with one name from Mozambique, one pistol, a uniform of the URP and some other unidentified articles. Speaking to journalists on Friday (24/8) the Attorney-general Mr. Longuinhos Monteiro acknowledged that evidence had been seized and that they will conduct further investigation. (TP)
Alfredo's status will be determined after the dialogue
The secretary of the State of Defence affairs, Julio Thomas Pinto affirmed that Alfredo's status will be determined after having dialogue. "Alfredo's status will discussed after dialogue, but talking about status it is the competency of the commander based on the law, not politicians," said Mr. Pinto on Tuesday (28/8) in Memorial Hall Farol, Dili. According to Mr. Julio, the president's position on Alfredo and the petitioners is to create a task force along with the national parliament. (TP)
Prosecutor identifies suspects of violence in Baucau and Viqueque
The Prosecutor-general has identified 11 suspects in Viqueque and 57 in Baucau following the violence that broke out in the eastern part of the country, resulting in many victims. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday (28/8) in Caicoli, Dili the Attorney- general, Mr. Longuinhos Monteiro stated that the prosecutor general has established a team for one week to conduct such activities. "We have identified 11 suspects in Viqueque and 57 in Baucau. The 23 suspects in Baucau have been put in preventive prison to enable the case to proceed promptly," said Mr. Monteiro. (TP)
Downer to participate in the Timorese Popular Consultation Day
The Australian Minister of Cooperation and Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer will visit Timor-Leste for Timor-Leste's 8th Popular Consultation Day on 30 August, according to the Prime Minster of RDTL's secretary on Tuesday (28/8). The secretary also said that Mr. Downer will visit Timor-Leste to participate in Timor-Leste's historical day to gain independence. Mr. Downer will also hold a meeting with all political leaders of the country to discuss the current security situation in Timor-Leste, after participating in a ceremony of popular consultation day, Mr. Downer reportedly will visit Australian soldiers in Caicoli, Dili. (TP and STL)
OJETIL: using force never solves conflicts
The Youth and Student Organisation of Timor-Leste (OJETIL/Organizasaun Juventude Estudantes Timor Leste) reportedly called on President JosC(c) Ramos-Horta not to use international forces as the instrument to solve the current conflict and disturbances in Timor-Leste. Speaking to journalists in a press conference on Tuesday (28/8) in Dili, Vice president of OJETIL, Liurai Tasi, affirmed that president should focus on dialogue to find a solution for such conflicts. Mr. Liurai Tasi added that President should immediately take measures against the Aussie soldiers that did not respect the Fretilin flag. (TP)
MP questioned ISF's mandate
The MPs on Monday (27/8) questioned the continued presence of the International Stabilization Forces (ISF) in Timor-Leste as ISF's mandate ended on 20 August. The MPs from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Fernando Dias Gusmao and Elizario Ferreira from Fretilin in the plenary session asked President Jose Ramos-Horta to clarify ISF's mandate. Mr. Riak Leman from PSD on the other hand defended ISF's presence in the country. According to Mr. Riak, the country could benefit from having the international forces, especially with the current situation. "If not we would kill each other. The ISF came here upon the invitation of the former president, former prime minister and former president of the parliament," said Mr. Riak. (TP)
President should define Alfredo's status to minimize confusion
The members of the parliament yesterday (27/8) called on the state, especially President Jose Ramos Horta to define Alfredo Reinado Alves' status in order to minimize the confusion and avoid conflict. MPs from PSD, Fretilin and CNRT said that Alfredo's status is unknown to Timor-Leste and requested clarification prior to having a dialogue. (TP)
Bishop Basilio and Xanana discuss ways to solve Timor-Leste's problems
Bishop of the Baucau Diocese, Mgr. Basilio do Nascimento reportedly met East Timor's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao on Monday (27/8) to discuss ways to solve the current problems of the country. Speaking to the journalists, Mgr. Basilio said that the Prime Minister asked for the church's opinion on how it [the church] could help solve the problems. The bishop also said that although the church is concerned about the situation, it does not have the power or forces to secure and calm the situation. (TP)
Fretilin accused of corruption, ready to be investigated
The MP from Fretilin, Elizario Ferreira confirmed that Fretilin is not afraid of an investigation [Fretilin has been accused of corruption during the previous government]. Speaking to journalists on Monday (27/8) at the national parliament, Mr. Ferreira said that Fretilin is ready to be investigated by the national and international teams, including the Attorney-General. He also revealed that there is no evidence for this accusation. (DN)
Arsenio Bano: President's declaration goes against constitution
The MP from Fretilin, Arsenio Paixao Bano reportedly objected to President Jose Ramos-Horta's decision to take the IDPs out of the Metinaro camps. "The president's decision goes against the universal principles of the Timorese constitution," he said. (DN)
Ramos-Horta asks permission to go to Australia
President Jose Ramos-Horta has sent a request [permission letter] on Monday (27/8) to the NP to travel to Sidney, Australia on a private visit. CNRT MP Gertrude Moniz said that the situation of the nation is too volatile for the head of state to go on such a trip. She said that there are many problems that require direction from the President, such as Alfredo's case and the Metinaro incidents. (TP)
MUNJ submits report on Alfredo to Secretary of State for Defence and Security
The Movement of National Unity and Justice (MUNJ) reportedly submitted its preliminary report on Alfredo Reinado Alves and his men on Monday (27/8) to the Secretary of State for Defence, Julio Thomas Pinto. "We always give updates to those responsible for Alfredo's case," said Mr. Agostu. He added that such report is meant to assist in solving the case. (DN)
Horta: too early to be sorry to the IDPs
Speaking to the journalists on Friday (24/8) President Jose Ramos Horta said that the IDPs have become victims for the second time. "They have twice become victims for both the crisis and the action of radical Fretilin members who threat them everyday," said President Horta while talking to an NGO Forum IN Dili. Separately, the member of national parliament from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Mario Viegas Carrascalco, said that some peoples' discontent following the president's decision on the new government formation could create an unstable situation. (TP)
980 police officers to be active
The members of PNTL who completed their screening following last year's crisis are now on active duty in Dili. The PNTL Commander-Designated, Afonso de Jesus said that 980 PNTL members are now on duty in Dili, this excludes members who in the process of being screened. (TP)
ISF to collaborate with the local authority in security escalation
The Chief Village of Afaloikai, Henrique de Carvalho has asked the International Stabilization Forces (ISF) that are allocated in Uatolari, Viqueque district to collaborate with the local authorities to secure the district. Speaking to the journalists on Friday (24/8) in his residence, Mr. Carvalho said that if ISF, UIR and F-FDTL withdraw from the region, the problems will reemerge. (TP)
Autonomist government, a rumor
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmco said there does not need to be a law passed to check the background of parliamentarians because the accusations that the government is unconstitutional are based on rumours only. He said that rather than waste funding on this, which will have no benefit for the people, it is better to forget the past and come together to discuss the future of the people in this country. (TP)
Bishop Basilio: "I believe, Fretilin will not destroy the efforts of 24 years"
Bishop Basilio Nascimento of Baucau Diocese believes that Fretilin will not destroy the independence benefits it fought 24 years to get. "I think that they should know and consider that Fretilin's struggle and bloodshed for 24 years should not be destroyed," said Bishop Nascimento in Baucau. Commenting to the accusation that the Catholic Church supports the Alliance government, the bishop said that the Catholic Church never backed any party. (DN)
President submit Alfredo and Petitioners' case to Xanana
President Jose Ramos-Horta will submit the case of Alfredo Reinado Alves and petitioners officially on Tuesday (28/8) to the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmco to try and solve both problems peacefully. "Alfredo is ready to have dialogue to solve this problem," said President Jose Ramos-Horta on Friday (24/8) after meeting with students in the Presidential Palace in Caicoli, Dili. (STL)
Longuinhos, does not fulfill the criteria to be PNTL commander
The member of national parliament from Social Democratic Party (PSD), Mario Viegas Carrascalco said that the Attorney -General Longuinhos Monteiro does not qualify to be the PNTL commander, even though he knows much about the police force. He revealed that the new PNTL commander should have a vision for reform to restore the reputation that was ruined in last year's crisis and if a commander has no credibility the reform goals will not be achieved. "We should observe that during his roles as the Attorney-general he failed to resolve a lot of problems which remain controversial, such as the case of Alfredo Reinado," said Mr. Mario. (STL)
Furthermore, another MP from CNRT, Aderito Hugo da Costa said that to convinced people that the reform of the judiciary is and PNTL is solid, it needs a credible and knowledgeable figure. "It is the competence of the president to nominate an attorney general, but he/she should be a credible figure to run the office," said Mr. Hugo on Friday (24/8) in PNTL's office, Dili. (STL)
President threats to take out IDPs from camps
The President Jose Ramos-Horta has threatened to remove the IDPs from Metinaro because of their ongoing provocation that resulted in house burnings on Thursday last week. Speaking to journalist on Friday (24/8) the President said that he will recommend the F-FDTL secure IDP camps Metinaro. "If they destroy people's properties, the state will not recognize them as IDPs," said President Horta. He added that he has heard that IDPs in Metinaro kill others' livestock, loot properties and throw rocks at cars. "I call on radical members of Fretilin in the Airport, Metinaro, Jardim and Obrigado Barracks to stop the provocation," said President Horta. (DN)
Adriano: We try and persuade Alfredo and petitioners to return to F-FDTL
During the electoral campaign of presidential election, the Democratic Party stated it defended Alfredo Reinado, his followers and the petitioners to return back to F-FDTL, said the PD parliamentary leader Adriano do Nascimento. He added that PD continues to make efforts to raise the issue of halting the operation against Reinado and his men. "We raise this issue at the plenary session to support the president's ideas," said Mr. Adriano on Friday (24/8) at the parliament, Dili. (DN)
26 houses were burnt in Metinaro
Twenty six houses were burnt in Metinaro on Thursday (23/8) morning by unidentified people from nearby IDP camps. Three young men alleged to be involved have been arrested by the Portugues FPU in IDPs camp of Metinaro and are being investigated for the arson. According to the UNPol Daily Security Briefing, there was a fight in Metinaro yesterday morning involving 100 – 300 people armed with machetes, steel darts and bows. Formed Police Units (FPUs) and the International Stabilization Force (ISF) managed to control the situation, but the market was almost completely destroyed in the fighting. Three people were arrested. Mr. Ananias Goncalves, one of the victims the said that he did not know the reason behind the violence. "We totally lament this criminal action, we will not tolerate the damage done in Metinaro by displaced people. We as the population accept them but they do not consider what we have done for them," said Mr. Goncalves sadly. (TP and STL)
Humanitarian assistance distributed today
The Vice Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres has announced that the Government will send 30 trucks of humanitarian assistance as emergency support to the victims of the eastern violence. "The assistance will got to people in Baucau and Viqueque districts especially in Uatolari sub-district," said Mr. Jose Luis on Thursday (23/8) in Government Palace, Dili. (TP and STL)
Xanana: Fretilin, not to be egoistic
Prime Minister Kayrala Xanana Gusmao has called on the Fretilin party not to be egotistical by stating that the Alliance government is the autonomist. Speaking to the journalist after meeting with President Jose Ramos Horta on Thursday (23/8) in the Presidential Palace Caicoli, Dili Mr. Gusmao said that Timorese should not continue with the bad tradition of commenting on peoples's backgrounds, but rather that they should accept each other. "I will ask the National Parliament to create a board to investigate the backgrounds of all of us," said Mr. Gusmao. (STL)
Dudu: Alfredo is the defender of law
The Former Falintil Commander region IV, Ernesto Fernandes Dudu on Wednesday (22/8) in Fatubesi Ermera said that the current meeting between President Jose Ramos-Horta and Alfredo Reinado Alves and his men is the sign of willingness from the state and church to solve the problem. Mr. Dudu also said that Reinado will not run away from his responsibility to the judicial process. He said that Reinado should be responsible for his action through justice. (STL)
Timor-Leste, needs anti-corruption law
The head of the Public Administration of Political Science Faculty of UNTL, Tolentino de Araujo said that the by the new Prime Minister, Kayrala Xanana Gusmao to draft an anti- corruption, collusion and nepotism law is a strong step towards good governance. "I think it is the positive step that will combat corruption in the country," said Mr. Araujo on Thursday (23/8) in national parliament. (STL)
Need time to solve Alfredo's problem
The state and government of Timor-Leste need time to solve the case of Alfredo Reinado Alves and his followers as it is a serious case in the country according to the member of national parliament from CNRT party, Paulo Martins. He said that the problem could be solved when all parts have the same good will to seek the solution for Reinado's case in the dialogue. He said that the problem will not be ended when all parties stand apart and do not accept each other. (STL)
Horta to presents Alfredo's case to the government
President Jose Ramos-Horta reportedly will present the case of Alfredo Reinado Alves to the government on Tuesday next week. "Next week Reinado's case will be presented to the High Level Committee," said East Timor Prime Minister, Kayrala Xanana Gusmao on Thursday (23) after meeting with President Jose Ramos-Horta in Presidential Palace Caicoli, Dili. (TP)
Fund for health treatment, Rogerio rejects the accusation
The former minister of interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato has rejected the accusation that the Fretilin's government gave him US$30.000 for his medical treatment. His lawyers Mr. Paulo Remedios and Nelson de Carvalho told journalists on Thursday (23/8) in Hotel Timor, Dili that Lobato did not receive the money. "Government should not accuse our client of receiving money from Fretilin. I ask the government to show the legal invoices, it is clear that Mr. Rogerio does not receive US$30.000 from Fretilin," said Mr. Paulo Remedios, quoting Lobato's words. (TP)
Arsenio Bano gets SMS threats
The Vice President of Fretilin party also the member of national parliament from Fretilin, Arsenio Paixao Bano said that he received threats of the Short Text Message (SMS) on Monday (20/8) via the overseas Mobile Number. "This is the first SMS I receive from Australian Mobile Number on Monday (20/8) at 1306 hours," informed Mr. Bano on Thursday (23/8) in CCF Comoro, Dili. He said that he is totally concerned by the SMS that threatened him not to criticize East Timor's new Prime Minister. "O lalika Kontra bebei-beik katuas Xanana, mas kuidadu buat ruma iha Dili halai mak biban se lae......" / "You should not go against Mr. Xanana, be aware if something happen in Dili manage to run if not......' he quoted the SMS. (DN)
Joaquim dos Santos: If Alfredo loves stability
The Fretilin member of the national parliament Joaquim dos Santos said that if Alfredo Reinado honours his public word, he is ready to submit himself to the justice, to have dialogue and disarm. Speaking to the journalists on Thursday (23/8) Mr. dos Santos said that his actions will be based on his desire for stability in the country as a Timorese citizen. (DN)
Manuel Tilman: accepts anticipation elections
The member of the national parliament from Democratic Alliance (AD – KOTA/PPT), Manuel Tilman said that he agrees that the problems causing the conflict and violence that broke out in the country need to be resolved. Speaking to journalists on Thursday (23/8) at the national parliament Mr. Tilman said that Fretilin will lose when its programmes do not pass in national parliament. (DN)
Cornelio Gama: "Timorese leaders overlook the national unity"
The member of national parliament from UNDERTIM party, Cornelio Gama L-7 said that Timorese leaders have forgotten the word of National Unity they declared to develop Timor-Leste. "I want to say that at the start of independence, we spoke words of compromise that all Timorese should trust in national unity to build the nation and people of the country," said Mr. Gama on Thursday (23/8) at national parliament, Dili. (DN)
F-FDTL: ready to have dialogue with Petitioners and Alfredo
The Secretary of State and Military and Defence, Julio Thomas Pinto has confirmed that the F-FDTL is ready to have dialogue with the petitioners and Alfredo Reinado and his men. "F-FDTL is always open to have dialogue with petitioners and Alfredo Reinado Alves and his followers," said Mr. Julio on Tuesday (21/8) in Government Palace, Dili. He said that the F-FDTL is ready to talk to try and solve the problems in the country. (TP) New government starts discussing IDPS' problems
The new government led by Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao in the meeting of council ministers on Wednesday has begun discussing the IDP problem. "We discussed many issues to keep an eye on the emergency situation in the eastern part of the country concerning IDPs and the Government will examin the problems," said Vice Prime Minister, Jose Luis Guterres after meeting. He also said that the government continues to provide humanitarian assistance to the victims of violence that broke out in Baucau, Lautem and Viqueque districts. (TP)
Xanana: Fretilin's member will be involved in the government
The Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has declared that the Alliance government will include some members of Fretilin in the government's structure. Speaking to the journalists after the meeting of council ministers on Wednesday (22/8) in government palace, Mr. Gusmao said that he will consult with Fretilin members to ensure they are involved in the alliance government. "I will not name those Fretilin members who will be included in the government's structure, as it is better you ask the Vice Prime Minister and Fretilin representative Jose Luis Guterres," said Mr. Gusmao. "I know that our Prime Minister, Mr. Gusmao has sent some letter to Fretilin's leaders to ask some members to take part in the government," said Mr. Guterres. (TP)
Emergency assistance lost in the mid way
The emergency support distributed to the eastern part of the country, Baucau, Lautem and Viqueque districts a week ago, did not reach the victims. "Some got lost mid-way or did not reach the victims because the location of the victims is difficult to reach," said Ms. Antonia Carmen da Cruz, the Director of Social National Services on Tuesday (21/8) in Caicoli, Dili. According to Ms. Carmen, the number of the victims is large and includes victims of sexual assault. Separately, the CNRT parliamentary member Paulo de Fatima Martins informed that the emergency supports to the victims in the eastern parts of the country has been insufficient. (TP)
Government to reform F-FDTL's standpoint
The Secretary of State and Defence, Julio Thomas Pinto affirmed that government led by Prime Minister, Kayrala Xanana Gusmao will reform the F-FDTL to professional standards. "The reformation is not focused on the Falintil veterans; there are many veterans that have a vision for how to develop the military. It is very important to reform the mentality from that of a guerilla mentality to a professional mentality," said Mr. Pinto. He added that government will also make a special study on the military's ability to vote in elections. (TP)
RENETIL to monitor activities of the parliament
The Resistencia National do Estudantes Timor0-Leste/ National Resistance of Students of Timor Leste (RENETIL) has commended monitoring the new parliament. Speaking to journalists on Wednesday (22/8) in Dili RENETIL's Coordinator, Eurico Nelson de Carvalho stated that the RENETIL's role is to monitor things such as participation, quality of participation, decision making mechanisms and parliamentary ethics. Mr. Eurico said that the national parliament represents all Timorese people in the process of legislation, supervision and political decisions. (TP)
Xanana's governmental cabinet not completed yet
Although the Alliance's government was sworn in on 8 August, there still remains some ministry and state secretary positions that have not been filled. Speaking to journalist on Tuesday (21/8) in Government Palace, Dili the vice Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres said that the Prime Minister Gusmao will find people to fill the positions but did not comment on who they would be. (STL)
ISF 20km away when dialogue with Alfredo held
Alfredo Reinado has told the Government that the International Stabilization Forces (ISF) should 20km away from where any talks may be held. Mr. Reinado has also called on the ISF not to conduct helicopter and ground patrols near the place of dialogue. Reinado's lawyer, Benevides Correia Barros said on Wednesday (22/8) at the Hotel Timor in Dili said that it's important that the ISF, UNPol and PNTL fulfill the president's request in halting the operation against his client. He also said it should be guaranteed that when Reinado does come to talk, that he is not captured. (STL)
UN agencies condemn violence against children
The United Nations Agencies in Timor-Leste together with national and international NGO have condemned the violence against children in the country.. The agencies include UNICEF, Catholic Relief Service (CRS), FORUM NGO Timor-Leste, IOM, European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), UNMIT, TIMOR AID and Care International. The condemnation is done through the joint declaration which calls on all Timorese people including political parties, authorities and the members of community to protect children from the violence and physical threat and to promote childrens' right to peace. These agencies note with concern the violence in the eastern part of the country that resulted in children becoming the victims during violent protests. The agencies also proposed to the authorities to arrest the perpetrators that have been violent. (STL)
Cipriana Pereira: Fretilin militants complicated with the Alliance government
The Fretilin parliamentary member Cipriana Pereira said that Fretilin's militants in the rural areas specifically in sub- district Atauro are concerned about the alliance government led by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Speaking to journalist on Wednesday (22/8), Ms. Pereira said that the people from Atauro sub-district are concerned the alliance is unconstitutional. (DN)
Misusing state's fund, needs investigation
The member of the national parliament from CNRT, Cicmlio Caminha Freitas has called on the government to investigate the fund for medical treatment for Rogerio Lobato in Malaysia. "In the plenary session I propose that this matter needs to be investigated," said Mr. Freitas on Tuesday (21/8) in his office. According to Mr. Freitas, the former Prime Minister and former ministers of justice, finance, and health need to be questioned on this issue. (STL)
Alfredo is ready to submit himself to the justice
President Jose Ramos-Horta reportedly met Alfredo Reinado Alves in Ermera district, to convince Reinado to submit himself to the justice when the process of dialogue concludes. According to the president, Reinado declared him that he wants to solve this problem, because there has not been a solution for one year. President Horta added that he understands the situation of Alfredo Reinado and his followers who abandoned F-FDTL. "I went there to show that I want to solve the problem peacefully and that Reinado has made many efforts to collaborate with this state in solving the situation," said President Horta on Tuesday (21/8) in LABEH's office Kampung Baru Comoro, Dili. The President said that he has asked government to create a task force to solve the problem. (STL and DN)
Unconstitutional government: Timorese is asked to solve it constitutionally
The Madrid Club, comprised of the Former Prime Minister of Latvia, the Former President of Philippines, Fidel Ramos, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jenny Shipley and the former President of Mauritius, Cassam Ateem have called upon the Timorese people to live calm and avoid violence to solve problems constitutionally, if the president's decision of appointing the Alliance to form the new government is unconstitutional. "We, together with the leaders of Timor-Leste, appeal to all people to calm and respect the law and orders," said Club Madrid through its press letter issued last week. The Madrid Club said that President Jose Ramos-Horta has made the decision to appoint the Alliance led by Xanana Gusmao and any rejection to that decision should be voiced within the court, not through violence on the streets. (TP)
MPs congratulate the Alliance government
The members of the national parliament from the National Unity Party (PUN) through a plenary session on Tuesday (21/8) have endorsed the Alliance government led by the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao. However, Fretilin's members are maintaining that the Alliance government is illegitimate because it is unconstitutional. (STL)
Atul Khare: holding government is not to govern
At a meeting held by NGO FONGTIL on Tuesday (21/8) in Caicoli, Dili the SRSG, Mr. Atul Khare stated that the people who form the government are there to serve the needs of all Timorese people. Mr. Khare said that the power within a democracy comes from knowing how to be responsible and serve the people. According to Mr. Khare the current government is represents all organs, the opposition and civil societies together in the process of development. (STL)
Alkatiri and Lu-Olo, asking temporal substitution
The Fretilin parliamentary members have submitted a letter for temporary substitution for the positions held by Mari Alkatiri and Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo. The mandate of Mr. Alkatiri is temporarily delegated to Fretilin's member Elizario Ferreira and Mr. Lu-Olo is temporarily delegated to Mr. Joaquim Amaral. (TP)
Arsenio Bano: PSD, along for the ride of ASDT
The Vice President of Fretilin party, Arsenio Paixao Bano on Tuesday (21/8) said that Fretilin has right to claim victory because it got more votes than other political parties such as CNRT, PSD/ASDT, PD, PUN, UNDERTIM and KOTA/PPT. (DN)
ISF commander, inform the security situation to Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Commander of International Stabilization Forces (ISF), John Hutcheson on Tuesday (21/8) held a meeting with Minister of Foreigner Affairs, Zacarias Albano da Costa to inform regarding security matters and in incident in Tasi Tolu. Speaking to the journalists after meeting, Mr. Hutcheson said that he has informed about the incident in Bercoli and Tasi Tolu to the minister. "The incident in Tasi Tolu involved a vehicle colliding with a motorbike rider and the incident is being investigated. (DN)
UNPOL, PNTL and F-FDTL are constantly in coordination
The UNMIT spokesperson Ms. Allison Cooper said that UNPol, PNTL and ISF always coordinate each other to maintain security situation in the country. Speaking to journalist on Tuesday (21/8) Ms. Cooper said that police are coordinating with the ISF to prevent incidents across the country to avoid burning houses and destroying properties. "The coordination between the security forces remains constant to prevent incidents of violence that occurred in Dili and the eastern districts in the recent weeks, said Ms. Cooper. (DN)
Ramos Horta: people are the heroes of national liberation
In a message to the nation on Falintil Day on 20 August, President Jose Ramos Horta stated that people are the heroes of the national liberation, so they must avoiding blame one another and come together for national unity. President Horta appealed to the Timorese to reflect on their desired goal of national unity. (DN)
Lasama: no discrimination in development
In a message to the parliament on for the Falintil commemoration day on 20 August, the President of National Parliament, Fernando de Araujo Lasama stated that the parliament is committed to serving the people and that there will be no discrimination within national development. Mr. Lasama said opposition leaders will have a special role within the level of ministries to enable parliament to collect all good ideas to develop the new nation. (DN)
Lu-Olo: "Better the president to ascertain his words"
The member of national parliament, Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo has called on President Jose Ramos-Horta and all political leaders to consider their words before talking publicly following some declarations from parliamentary members that the recent violence was created by Fretilin radicals. Speaking to journalists at the parliament, Mr. Lu-Olo said while he does not question the statements of the President, he "respectfully calls upon the president to measure his words," said Mr. Lu-Olo. (DN)
Arsenio Bano: new government, tends to have positions
The vice president of Fretilin party, Arsenio Paixao Bano said that the new government led by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao will use Fretilin's programmes as it has none of its own to work on. Speaking to journalists on Friday (18/8) in Dili Mr. Bano revealed that Fretilin believes that the new government will use the programmes of Fretilin during their governance. "We observe that this new government is only to share political seats. We have not seen their programmes, because during the campaign they did not show their programmes," said Mr. Bano. (DN)
John Hutcheson: "ISF is going on support eastern part"
The Commander of International Stabilization Forces (ISF), Brigadier John Hutcheson said that ISF will cooperate with UNPol and PNTL to maintain support of security in the eastern part of the country. Speaking to journalists on Friday (18/8), Mr. Hutcheson said that the ISF has been deployed in many places during the last week in the eastern part of the country to maintain security. He added that security situation in eastern part has calmed over the past few days. (DN)
Ramos Horta: Alfredo has honesty to solve the problem
In a message following the Falintil Day on 20 August, President Jose Ramos Horta said that fugitive Alfredo Reinado Alves shows sincerity in wanting to solve his problem situation. Mr. Horta also said that as President of the republic, he keeps an eye on Reinado's and the petitioners' problems. (DN and TP)
MONALPON Threats to boycotting Govt's activities
The National Movement of Maubere People/Movementu Nasional Povu Maubere (MONALPON) said it will continue to boycott Government activities formed by the Alliance. Approximately 50 people protested in the national stadium in Dili yesterday to protest against the government led by Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao.
"The Government of Xanana-Horta is not national unity; Xanana ransacked power from Horta's aspiration and President Horta makes decision depending on his will without people's interest. Maubere youths should not let it be," said a demonstrator through his protest.
"Our demand is to boycott the activities of the unconstitutional government because this government does not respect people's right in the elections, more over the Alliance is not registered in the court of appeal," revealed the MONALPON coordinator, Sanamia on Monday (20/8) in Municipal Stadium, Dili. (DN and TP)
Fretilin NPs back to National Parliament
The 21 members of national parliament from Fretilin returned to the national parliament on Monday (20/8) after two weeks. However, even though they have returned, the chief member of the parliament from Fretilin, Aniceto Guterres declared that Fretilin maintains its position that they do not accept president's decision on the new government formation. (TP)
Police should not be political activists
The President of the National Parliament, Fernando de Araujo Lasama states that members of the PNTL should not be the political activists in the future. "Police should not be the activist of the parties," said Mr. Lasama after meeting with F- FDTL commander, Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak on Friday (17/8) in Dili. He revealed that PNTL's members, as Timorese citizens have right to cast their vote in the general elections, however they ought to act impartially and neutrally in performing their duties. (STL)
Fretilin will not tolerate violence
Fretilin's Aniceto Guterres has confirmed that Fretilin condemns the violence that broke out in the eastern part of the country, especially in Baucau and Viqueque districts. "Since the outset, Fretilin has not tolerated and has condemned the violence" said Mr. Guterres. He said that when the conflict broke out in Baucau and Uatolari, Fretilin's member in national parliament proposed an investigation into the violence to the parliament. He said the violence in Baucau and Viqueque was the demonstration of discontent against the new government formation. "Fretilin condemns such because Fretilin's leaders do not authorize Fretilin's militants and sympathizers to act based violence. "If we authorize, it is our responsibility," said Mr. Guterres. (STL)
Horta: "Demonstrators have not to be delirious"
In response to today's protest in Dili, the President Jose Ramos-Horta has called upon Fretilin supporters involved in the organization Movimento Libertacao Povo Maubere (MOLNAPON)/Liberation Movement of Maubere People to be peaceful in their protest. Mr. Horta said it should be peaceful and remain within the confines expressed by the police. "If there is some violence, they will be arrested and transported to the Becora prison," said Mr. Horta. (STL and TP)
ISF gives back Fretilin's flags
The Commander of International Stabilization Forces (ISF), Brigadier John Hutcheson informed that ISF has returned the Fretilin flags they took in Bercoli in the Baucau district in last few days. He explained that on Saturday (18/8) 15:00 hours ISF's soldiers took three Fretilin flags. "One of the three Fretilin's flags has been given back to Bercoli's chief of Suco whilst he was in Baucau at that time," said Mr. Hutcheson at a press conference on Sunday (19/8) at Phoenix camp Caicoli, Dili. He added that the other two flags also have been given back through F-FDTL and UNPol to Bercoli village. "We are sincerely and sorry for taking the flags" the Brigadier said.. (STL)
Ramos Horta: Fretilin's disagreement is normal
The President Jose Ramos-Horta has stated that Fretilin's disagreement on the winning alliance is normal in a democracy. "I recognize that any party may disagree with my decision as disagreement is normal within a democracy and all political parties can voice their concern about the constitution through the appropriate judicial means," said President Ramos-Horta. According to the President the problem's solution will depend upon political stability, not political and individual unrest. (TP)
Madrid Club asking Timor-Leste to calm
The Madrid Club comprised of the Former Prime Minister of Latvia, Former President of Philippines, Fidel Ramos, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand Jenny Shipley and the former President of Mauritius, Cassam Ateem has called upon the Timorese people to live calm not violence. "We, together with the leaders of Timor- Leste, appeal to all people to calm and respect the law and orders," said Club Madrid through its press letter issued last week. The Madrid Club said that President Jose Ramos-Horta has made the decision to appoint the Alliance led by Xanana Gusmao and any rejection to that decision should be voiced within court, not through violence on the streets. (TP)
Horta asking Fretilin to have reflection on the Falintil Day
On the Falintil Day, today (20/8), President Jose Ramos-Horta appeals to all Fretilin's radicals reflect on the day. "I appeal to Fretilin's radicals not to engage in violence as they will be arrested if they engage in violence. This state will not be held back because of someone's threats to enact violence on people," said Mr. Horta on Saturday (18/8) in GMT. (TP)
Timor-Leste-UN agree to reform security sector
The Head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) has outlined four key areas to address in working towards the reform of the security sector in the nation. At a high level meeting in Dili this week, attended by senior leadership of the national military and police, the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta and the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao both gave opening addresses welcoming the assistance of the United Nations in addressing the challenges facing the security sector.
Mr Atul Khare said he agreed with both the President and Prime Minister about the need to look at the road traveled to avoid pitfalls in the future. Mr Khare listed the need to improve relations between the police and the army, strengthening the legal framework, increasing capacity and enhancing civil oversight as the four priority areas in building an effective and accountable security sector, that serves the needs of the people of Timor-Leste.
"UNMIT will assist the Timorese people and authorities in these four areas relating to the security sector. The strengthening of the army and police will be crucial to the development of Timor- Leste as a modernizing state and the United Nations will assist the government in achieving a security sector that is efficient, effective and accountable," Mr Khare said.
In the course of discussions, participants agreed to have larger participation by civil society in the reform process, keep in mind the need to maximize scarce resources, avoid another crisis as experienced in 2006, and work towards closer cooperation between military and police, even as each of the security institutions strive for increased professionalism and enhanced capacities. (TP)
Xanana: Central committee of Fretilin destroys Fretilin
At the first meeting with the 13 district administrators on Tuesday (13/8) at STAE's office in Dili the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao declared that the leaders of Central Committee of Fretilin (CCF) have destroyed the reputation of their party. "I told Mr Alkatiri that CNRT has not destroyed Fretilin but rather it was created to save people," revealed Mr. Gusmao. (TP)
Ramos Horta: If the new Government is illegal, take it to Court
After meeting with national and international investors on Thursday (16/8) in Memorial Hall in Dili the President Jose Ramos-Horta said Fretilin should take its concerns to Court if it believes the new Government is unconstitutional and illegal. "In two weeks Fretilin has not brought the case to Court. There is no other mechanism, and the violence in the Eastern regions such Baucau, Viqueque and Lospalos will not solve the problem," said Mr. Horta. (TP and TVTL)
Mario Viegas: "We should not arrest anyone through the allegation"
The President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Mario Viegas Carrascalao said that he does not support the arrest of Mari Alkatiri regarding the violence in the Eastern districts. Speaking to journalist on Thursday at the national parliament Mr. Carrascalao revealed that a person should not be arrested without investigation. "Before we detain somebody we should prove there is a cause and Mari Alkatiri should not be arrested on accusation only," said Mr Carrascalao. (DN)
Xanana: "Youth's blood never flow again"
The Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao has told the National Congress of Youth in Timor-Leste that young people's blood will never flow again. The Prime Minister also said that the youths' parliament will be established by the government. (DN)
Arsenio Bano: "Xanana has no power, better to resign"
The Vice President of Fretilin Arsenio Paixao Bano said that if the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao can't calm the situation, he should resign. In a press statement on Thursday Mr Bano said that Fretilin only authorizes its members to participate in peaceful demonstrations over the formation of the new government. (DN)
Rogerio Lobato to stay in Malaysia for 3 months
The Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said that Rogerio Lobato will stay in Malaysia for three months efore returning to Timor-Leste to fulfill his seven and a half years sentenced. "They asked for three months for medical check," the Prime Minister said. (DN)
Movement to boycotting the new government
Fretilin members involved in the organization Movimento Libertacao Povo Maubere (MOLNAPON)/Liberation Movement of Maubere People have stated they will organize mass a boycott against the activities of the new government in the coming weeks. Speaking to journalists on Thursday the PNTL Interim Commander, Inspector Afonso de Jesus confirmed that there will be a manifestation organized by MOLNAPON on 20 – 21 August in the capital, Dili (Municipal Stadium).
He said the protest has been licensed by the PNTL and UNPol. He added that PNTL his calling on the protestors to cooperate with authorities to maintain law and order in the country. "We want the protest to be calm and peaceful manner. He said the PNTL has made preparations against any person who may choose not to follow peaceful guidelines. (STL)