Repúblika Banana

PD hakarak fa'an rai Timor-Leste ba ema riku sira!!!

2007-06-29T10:53:00.000+09:00

STL and the former pro-Indonesia elite

2007-06-18T13:29:00.001+09:00

STL or Suara Timor Lorosa'e is a newspaper full of crap reflecting the intellectual capacity of its chief editors, Salvador Ximenes, Domingos Saldanha, et al. Ximenes and Saldanha are former autonomy supporters. Under Indonesia, they established this newspaper under the name Suara Timor Timur with the support of the Indonesian military. Suara Timor Timur became the Indonesian army's tool to propagate its propaganda and intimidate the East Timorese to submit to Indonesian rule.

STL has small column which it calls "Lidun" (corner in English). Lidun acts like an editorial piece quoting its subjects and then provides a short answer to it. The answers are meant to be provocative and carry a point. However, the fact is that these answers always fall into the absurd. Anyone will notice that this "corner" just reflects the intellectual deficit of the editorial team at STL.

Thus STL's "Lidun" on page 5 in its June 15th edition says:

55-Lebo denied intimidating the population in Gleno.

Why are Gleno residents taking refuge in the Borja Park, Motael?

(In Tetun: 55-Lebo dismente intimida populasaun Gleno. Tanbasa populasaun Gleno refujia mai Jardim Borja Motael?)

Then on page 6 STL reports that "Ermera refugees are growing in the Borza [sic] Park, Motael". The report cites the refugees, 81 of them, as saying that they had been forced to take refuge in Dili after coming under attack from the group Colimau 2000 and other groups belonging to the opposition parties. Some of them testified that their attackers yelled "Viva Ramos-Horta" as they launched their assault while others said that they were taken as prisoners for days. These refugees identify themselves as members and sympathisers of FRETILIN and have been under pressure to give up their support for Fretilin. They came from the villages of Lisapat and Urahou, areas known as Fretilin stronghold, in Ermera.

Colimau 2000 is a shadowy group based in the Maliana-Atsabe regions with suspected links to the former pro-Indonesia militia groups in West Timor. This group has caused much violence in and around the same region. A few years ago Colimau 2000 attacked villagers around Hatolia area. This event prompted the newly independent Timor-Leste government to deploy F-FDTL around the area and tens of members of Colimau 2000 were arrested and handed over to police (see the UNMISET press release at http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unmiset/pr300103.pdf). However in April of 2006 this group came to prominence again. It is believed that Colimau 2000 high jacked the peaceful rally organised by the "Petitioners" group and kicked the wider conflict which nearly brought Timor-Leste to a civil war. Interestingly enough Colimau 2000 has since organised itself into a political party called PDRT (Partidu Democratica Republica de Timor) and will contest in the upcoming elections.

Reports of other attacks against supposed Fretilin supporters have also increased ever since the result for the presidential run-off was announced. Fretilin supporters in the districts of Liquiça, Oécusse and Ermera came under regular attacks by supporters of Partido Democratico (PD), Xanana's CNRT and a breakaway faction of Fretilin called "Mudansa". These attacks are well documented with the perpetrators well identified. However nothing has been put in place to stop the attacks or have the perpetrators arrested and bring them before a court.

55-Lebo is a group composed of former resistance fighters accused of being part of the group armed by the Fretilin government to act as its death squad to eliminate its political opponents. They are said to be hardcore Fretilin militants. There have accusations against them that they were terrorising the Ermera population to force them to vote Fretilin. It is a fact however that this group is linked to Fretilin and was organising Fretilin's campaign in Ermera area.

The Borja Park in Motael is the actual Jardim Borja da Costa, a park next to the Motael Church compound. There are already a lot of IDPs taking shelter at the church compound. The political-military crisis that occurred last year also pitted the "lorosa'e" against the "loromonu". The "lorosa'e" people were said to be politically aligned to Fretilin. They were also accused of collaborating with the F-FDTL to attack the "loromonu" people and drive them out of Dili. As it turned out, when the ISF was deployed in Dili and the F-FDTL retreated, the "loromonu" people gained upper hand and drove the "lorosa'e" residents of Dili out of their homes and into IDP camps. So, many of the IDP camp residents are "lorosae" and are commonly acknowledged as supporters of Fretilin. It would make anyone believe that these "lorosa'e" people would still hold some kind of resentment against the "loromonu" people after last year's conflict. After all it was them who drove the "lorosa'e" people out of their homes. But the situations around the camps have been peaceful. In fact there is mutual acceptance among the IDPs, after all they all sympathise with Fretilin.

By following the above information and then correlate it to the news as reported by STL on its page 6 would lead anyone to conclude that the Gleno refugees have nothing to do with the 55-Lebo group. The 55-Lebo group is in fact aligned to these refugees politically as all of them are linked to Fretilin. The refugees have been driven out of their homes in Ermera by groups opposed to Fretilin, namely Colimau 2000/PDRT and even members of PD and CNRT. It wouldn't make sense that the 55-Lebo group would be attacking some of its own.

However the STL editorial appears to suggest that somehow 55-Lebo is the principle cause of the refugees' displacement. It quotes the 55-Lebo as denying any intimidation from their part on the Gleno population then it asks the question as to why there are refugees from Gleno present in Dili. This rhetorical question puts the responsibility on the 55-Lebo group and ultimately to Fretilin; that 55-Lebo denies having being involved in any acts of intimidation yet the fact that there are refugees in Dili proves the opposite. In addition the report on the Ermera refugees is buried on page 6 in amongst other unrelated news reports. Anyone interested in politics and security, particularly on this issue, will have difficulty in noticing this article.

But STL is not only known for its incompetence and complete lack of professionalism. It is also known as a politically tendentious paper, specially its stance against Fretilin. It has been touted as the media wing for Fretilin's opponents much like the role of the private media in Venezuela in conjunction with the opposition groups in their crusade to overthrow President Hugo Chaves. This latest editorial by STL follows a steady stream of negative and often inflammatory articles and editorials against Fretilin. STL's articles and editorials are not only politically tendentious, but they are also marred with inaccuracies, inventions, rumours and gossips. This editorial piece is in fact attempting to accuse Fretilin and its members for what it is clearly a victim of. Members of Fretilin are attacked and groups linked to Fretilin are put on the spot to forcibly accept responsibility. Even when members of Fretilin are attacked, Fretilin is still accused as the attacker. STL knows that to make such direct link is next to impossible because no reader would believe in it. So STL puts out the tendentious editorial while buries the actual news somewhere in the middle of the page. Usually when Fretilin is accused of any type of attack, the report is revealed on the first page taking the most prominent headline.

It is obvious that STL's objective is not that of journalism and least of all to contribute to the development of democracy in Timor-Leste. Its ultimate objective is part of a wider agenda sponsored by the former pro-Indonesia East Timorese elites, be they in Timor-Leste or in Indonesia, to sabotage Timor-Leste move towards a successful and independent State. The fact that STL is run part of this self-serving elite is not a peculiarity but it fits perfectly well into this piece of conspiracy. If one takes a more profound look into the way STL has made its various reports in the past, there is a correlation between the eruption of conflicts and STL reports. This is no coincidence as the inflammatory, error-ridden and inaccurate reports that STL often put out became the focus for the eruption of new conflicts. For these former pro-Indonesia elites, destruction of Fretilin is also a goal in itself. If Fretilin is discredited and eliminated from the East Timorese politics, then the whole independence movement is also discredited and history can be rewritten to vindicate the self-serving pro-integration movement.

STL is obviously not an independent media institution but an organisation with a political agenda. It is not contributing to public information and development of democracy in Timor-Leste. In fact its whole existence and operation is designed to prevent Timor-Leste from developing into a nation truly democratic and independent. Its links to the former pro-Indonesia elites is a testament that the struggle for a truly independent, stable and viable Timor-Leste is far from over. Fretilin has been the only political organisation capable of defending the East Timorese right to independence and is steadfast on defending this right at any cost. Fretilin is a threat to people like Ximenes and Saldanha. However the results of the upcoming elections will be seen by these former pro-Indonesia elites as a victory, though a small one. A failed-state is their ultimate goal. STL should be placed under constant surveillance for the coming years.

“Gente à volta de Xanana é do pior que há”

2007-06-12T10:06:00.001+09:00

11-06-2007

Timor-Leste

Mário Carrascalão diz que "Xanana Gusmão está a dar guarida à chamada
FRETILIN-Mudança para "regressar à FRETILIN quando destituírem Mari
Alkatiri".

O ex-Presidente Xanana Gusmão, líder do Congresso Nacional de
Reconstrução de Timor-Leste (CNRT) e candidato às legislativas de 30
de Junho, está rodeado de "gente do pior que há em Timor-Leste",
afirmou ontem Mário Viegas Carrascalão.
"Há indivíduos que estão com ele que se chamavam, por exemplo,
Francisco UDT, depois chamaram-se Francisco APODETI, hoje são
Francisco CNRT", disse à Lusa o presidente do Partido Social Democrata
(PSD) e cabeça-de-lista da coligação eleitoral com a Associação Social
Democrática Timorense (ASDT).
"São um grupo de pessoas que viram no fascínio de Xanana, na posição
que Xanana tem, a possibilidade de viver à sombra dele", acrescentou
Mário Carrascalão numa entrevista concedida a meio da campanha
eleitoral, acrescentando que "o objectivo número um de Xanana é
destruir Mari Alkatiri".
"Não é destruir a FRETILIN", analisou o líder do PSD e ex-governador
de Timor durante dez anos, quando o território se encontrava sob a
ocupação indonésia.
"Xanana Gusmão está a dar guarida à chamada FRETILIN-Mudança, que vai
depois regressar à FRETILIN quando destituírem Mari Alkatiri",
secretário-geral do partido maioritário e ex-primeiro-ministro.
"Isso não é saudável aqui para Timor", considerou Mário Viegas Carrascalão.
"Eu gostaria de ver Alkatiri destruído democraticamente, e quando digo
destruído é eliminado da cena política em eleições", não de qualquer
maneira.
"Mas a última coisa que eu queria era ser acusado de contribuir para a
instabilidade em Timor e tenho de arranjar forma de convivência com o
próprio CNRT, que tem muita gente, muita gente, de quem não gosto",
adiantou Mário Carrascalão.
"Isto engana o povo, que olha a sigla e pensa que este partido lutou
pela libertação de Timor", continuou o presidente do PSD pegando num
jornal do dia e apontando o artigo de primeira página sobre o CNRT.
Para Carrascalão, Xanana corre o risco de perder a credibilidade que
tinha, porque "para ser governo, é preciso ter-se sensibilidade para
assuntos dministrativos e temas sociais. Não é só discursar. É preciso
saber como".
"Há com certeza técnicos para fazer as coisas, mas se um líder não
acompanhar, é co-responsável. É engolido", prosseguiu, opinando que
Alkatiri é odiado em Timor-Leste.
"A maior parte da população odeia-o. Talvez sem razão. Eu não sei",
afirmou, esclarecendo que ele liderou um Governo que "nunca disse a
Alkatiri que discordava dele ou em que algum ministro ameaçasse sair.
Todos querem comer. E isso vai ser pior com o CNRT".
"Xanana é um homem bom demais para fazer o que eu fiz durante dez anos
aqui em Timor: usar o princípio de que só morro uma vez mas aquilo que
eu entender que está certo, é isso que eu vou fazer", analisou ainda
Mário Viegas Carrascalão.
"Eu não sou como ele. Sou bom mas não sou aquele bom como o Xanana,
que chora e comove as pessoas. Para mim, o que é, é. Quem gosta,
gosta, quem não gosta, não gosta. Não vou modificar-me para fazer
jeitos", declarou.
Sobre a candidatura de Xanana Gusmão, o candidato do PSD às
legislativas declarou que "ele é uma pessoa que devia continuar na
posição de um pai deste país, e não meter-se em questões de governos".
"Já com José Ramos-Horta eu disse: você é um Nobel da Paz, deve cuidar
da paz, da harmonia, e um chefe de governo tem que tomar decisões
drásticas. Vai causar muita antipatia".
Para Mário Viegas Carrascalão, o novo Presidente da República "deu o
primeiro passo errado" ao promulgar a lei de alteração eleitoral.
"Eu adiava as eleições mas nunca assinaria uma lei contra a minha
consciência. O próprio José Ramos-Horta dizia que não concordava com a
lei", concluiu.

Xanana the traitor?

2007-05-29T12:32:00.001+09:00

David Alex was obviously killed in a gun battle with TNI but it's not the battle that is a problem here, the question is how did the enemy know about the whereabout of David Alex Daitula, if there was any treason who did it and for what purpose.

Don't just accept one side of an event and think it's the absolute truth but there must questions when you feel that there was some element of missing facts about that event.

Let me ask you some questions. Hw did the indonesian military knew about Daitula's exact hidden place?..After 21 years never captured by Indonesian army, how can TNI knew with so much details about the position of David Daitula at that time and easily launching an ambush to capture and kill him the following day?...

Bear in mind that some attacks launched by Daitula against BRIMOB (Indo.Police) and TNI, some months before his killing, were never agreed by Xanana Gusmao. Daitula was heavily criticed by Gusmao and even Horta at that year. Daitula was even considered the hardliner among FALINTIL's commanders.Though the fact that he was vice chief staff of FALINTIL.

About Mauhudu I probably would not say that Xanana has a role in his murder but I would say that Xanana excessive illogical reconciliation strategy with TNI generals which tend to make all Timorese people to experience absolute amnesia about TL history of massacre and crimes, which created by him just to please those criminals TNI generals, will certainly a main factor that hurt, discomfort and create a sense of denial to justice for all the victims of indonesian military crimes. In this case, it includes Mauhudu's family which dream for justice to prevails. Xanana failed them by his reconciliation without justice and reconciliation to forget the past. Who are the winners for this absolute ridiculous reconciliation shit**?? Of course they are those criminals; TNI generals warmly hugged and kissed by Xanana Gusmao, the Nobel Peace Prize dreamer.

My friend, we timorese shall not think that Xanana is uncriticiseable or he is the God himself. I tell you he is just an ordinary Timor citizen trusted by timorese people to lead them. So as a member of timorese society I have all my rights to critice him and demand for his responsability and responses to many questions about the suspected and unnormal deaths of many FALINTIL commanders under his leadership.

Xanana himself criticed Nicolau Lobato about many Falintil commanders' death under Nicolau's leadership. So why not shall we now question Xanana about treasons commited by some pro-independence elements, close to Xanana at that time, on the deaths of Daitula David Alex, Pedro Nunes Sabalae and his assistant, and sudden death of Konis Santana who told to be sick but in fact was known to be healty before his death. You don't believe me, just ask Somoco, the East Timor actual vice interior minister.

Many and many FALINTIL and clandestine commanders were traited just because they are to tough on their principles about how to fight against Indonesian occupation.

There was a treason on the death of a resistance commander chief of CLFC and his assistant, involving some elements in clandestine movement associated with David Ximenes which obviously responsible directly to Xanana Gusmao at that time. For this Xanana must be held accountable and to respond to questions arrised by the families of these individuals.

Thank you Ze Luis....

2007-05-29T12:30:00.001+09:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ze Luis <ze.zeus07@gmail.com>
Date: Apr 26, 2007 7:28 PM
Subject:
To: frenterevolucionaria@gmail.com

Ne'e Frente Revulusionariu ka Frete Reaksionariu! Etiketa la iha,
promove lia bosok no isultus hanesan imi nia patraun.

Abilio Mausoko sei fó depoimentu iha dia 5 de Juñu

2007-05-24T18:01:00.000+09:00

Tuir isuisu ne’ebé la’o iha Dili laran ne’e, Abílio Mausoko (Abílio Warga ka Abílio Mesquita) sei fó ninia depoimentu ba iha tribunál iha dia 5 de Juñu (lee ninia istória iha ne'e). Saida maka sei mosu iha ne’ebá? Ita hein…

Senñór Prezidente RDTL, José Ramos-Horta, Ó bá ne’ebé agora?

2007-05-23T12:40:00.001+09:00

Foin daudauk Timor-Leste komemora ninia aniversáriu ba dala lima Loron Restaurasaun ba Independénsia nian. Iha loron ne'e prezidente foun mós simu ninia pose hodi komesa mandatu foun. Timor-Leste nia prezidente foun maka Dr. José Manuél Ramos-Horta, premiadu ho Nobel da Paz no mós diplomata ho rekonhesimentu iha mundu tomak.

Parese problema imediatu ida ba Prezidente Ramos-Horta atu rezolve maka kestaun ex-majór no ex-komandante Polísia Militár, Alfredo Reinado nian. Molok Prezidente Ramos-Horta simu ninia mandatu foun ne'e, ita hotu haree hanesan kestaun Alfredo nian nee atu hetan daudauk ona rezolusaun. Ex-ministru interior Sr. Rogerio Lobato hetan prizaun to'o tinan hitu tanba ninia envolvimentu iha atividade fahe-kilat iha tinan kotuk. Rona ida ne'e, Sr. Alfredo Reinado mós hatán katak nia sei tun mai Dili hodi hola parte iha justisa. Hafoin ISF sira ba ataka Sr. Alfredo ho ninia elementu sira iha Same, nune'e mós iha nafatin sinál pozitivu katak Sr. Alfredo hakarak halo diálogu. Igreja Katólika tau nia an hanesan mediadór ne'ebé Sr. Prezidente Ramos-Horta ho Sr. Alfredo mós simu. Ita bele dehan mós katak maioria elite polítika Timor nian mós simu ho inisiativa ida ne'e. Durante kampaña eleitorál Prezidente Ramos-Horta halo mós promesa barak. Ninia promesa ida maka oinsá nia sei rezolve kazu petisionáriu ho kazu Sr. Alfredo Reinado nian.

Ikus-ikus ne'e parese Sr. Alfredo nega filafali ninia promesa dala ida tan. Mezmu ho mediasaun igreja Katólika nian. Foin daudauk Sr. Alfredo hatete katak nia sei la kumpre ho inisiativa ne'ebé maka hala'o ona ho igreja nia mediasaun ( haree iha ne'e). To'o pontu ida ne'e ita bele dehan katak ita la hatene loos Sr. Alfredo ninia hakarak loos ne'e saida?

Sr. Alfredo nia ezisténsia iha justisa nia liur aprezenta prigu boot ida ba estabilidade Timor-Leste nian hanesan nasaun independente ida. Se Sr. Alfredo kontinua halai nafatin hosi autoridade governu nian, nia sei kontinua hala'o ninia atividade ne'ebé undermine autoridade Estadu nian. Povu hateke ba Estadu hanesan garantór ba sira nia seguransa pesoál no garantór ba estabilidade sosiál ho polítika. Bainhira povu hetan persepsaun katak Estadu ne'e fraku no laiha ona kbiit atu fó protesaun ba sira, povu sei lakon sira nia konfiansa no buka alternativa seluk atu hetan protesaun ne'e. Estadu ne'e iha perigu atu lakon ninia lejitimidade iha povu nia matan se Estadu ne'e husik Sr. Alfredo halai hosi justisa no autoridade Estadu nian ne'ebé hetan lejitimidade hosi povu tuir eleisaun demokrátika. Sr. Alfredo laiha lejitimidade no nia laiha kbiik nein uitoan atu fó protesaun ho seguransa ne'ebé só Estadu ida maka bele fó. Estadu ho povu iha perigu ida nia laran atu monu ba situasaun vacuum power. Saida maka Sr. Prezidente Ramos-Horta tenke halo agora?

Problema Sr. Alfredo Reinado nian tuir loloos iha tiha ona ninia solusaun iha tinan kotuk karik polítiku balubalu la aproveita ho ninia dezersaun hodi halo polítika ba sira nia interese rasik. Bainhira Sr. Alfredo husik tiha ninia kadeia komandu militár, polítiku na'in sira hanesan Sr. Prezidente Ramos-Horta ho agora ex-prezidente Sr. Xanana Gusmão hatudu momoos hela sira nia apoiu polítiku ba asaun Sr. Alfredo nian. Envézde buka maneira hodi izola kedan Sr. Alfredo atu nune'e nia labele hetan tan apoiu hosi seksaun sosiál seluk, Sr. Horta ho Sr. Xanana sé fali liman ba Sr. Alfredo hodi fó fali lejitimidade ba asaun ne'ebé nia halo. Iha rai-seluk, asaun Sr. Alfredo nian ne'e ema konsidera hanesan grave tebetebes. Rai balun nia kastigu ba asaun sira hanesan Sr. Alfredo nian ne'e maka kastigu to'o mate.

Maibé ho lejitimidade ne'ebé maka Sr. Alfredo hetan liu hosi asaun Sr. Horta ho Sr. Xanana nian, ohin loron Sr. Alfredo konsege konsolida ninia ajenda iha povu ki'ik nia leet. Povu komesa haree daudauk ba Sr. Alfredo hanesan alternativa ba Estadu, Estadu ne'ebé soberanu ho podér hosi povu maibé laiha pozisaun firme ka bele impoin ninia autoridade hanesan estipula iha Constituição da República. Iha naran nasaun modernu no demokrátiku ida, Estadu mesak maka órgaun ida lejítimu liu hodi reprezenta povu. Bainhira povu lakon ona fiar ba Estadu ne'e, Estadu ne'e monu no sai Estadu falhadu. Iha rai barak, eventu ida hanesan ne'e sempre tuir kedan ho eventu sira seluk hanesan revolusaun, ditadura, gera sivíl, etc. Ninia konsekuénsia aat tebes. Ema rihun ba rihun maka sei mate. Rai barak iha Áfrika ho Sudueste Ázia nian maka sai ona exemplu ba mundu tomak haree. Sr. Horta ho Sr. Xanana tenke haree katak Sr. Alfredo ninia ajenda la'ós atu mantén Estadu ida iha ninia fatin, maibé atu hamonu Estadu ida. Timor-Leste oan sira hala'o rezisténsia hasoru Indonézia iha tinan 25 nia laran hodi harii Estadu ida la'ós atu hetan kaos ho anarkia, ne'ebé no podér polítiku só hetan de'it liu hosi forsa kilat nian.

Maibé, dalaruma ita bele argumenta katak Sr. Horta ho Sr. Xanana lakohi hola medidas ne'ebé drástiku tanba bele hamonu rai ne'e ba krize ida boot liután karik? Tan ne'e maka sira sente di'ak liu hamaus de'it Sr. Alfredo duké halo nia laran sai nakali liután no provoka krize ida boot liu fali. Keta ba Sr. Horta ho Sr. Xanana, di'ak liu ema na'in 30 resin de'it maka mate duké ema rihun resin? Talvés Sr. Xanana hakarak evita ema mate tan hanesan violénsia iha post-referendum 1999 nian? Bele hanesan ne'e mós agora oinsá? Se Sr. Alfredo lakohi submete nia an ba autoridade Estadu nian, oinsá maka Sr. Prezidente responde ba buat ida ne'e? Karik Sr. Prezidente Ramos-Horta sente katak Sr. Alfredo nia lejitimidade ho Estadu nia lejitimidade iha nivel ida hanesan? Se nune'e karik, ita hotu ba eleisaun hodi hili Sr. Prezidente Ramos-Horta hodi halo saida?

Hakerek na'in ida ne'e haree katak Prezidente Ramos-Horta tenke ezerse ninia autoridade tuir Constituição RDTL define. Nune'e Prezdente Ramos-Horta mós iha lejitimidade moral atu kontinua buka dalan hodi neutraliza lalais Sr. Alfredo nia influénsia iha rai-laran, liuliu iha parte loromonu. Povu Timor-Leste labele iha opsaun ida ne'ebé nia tenke hili entre Sr. Alfredo ho Sr. Prezidente RDTL nian. Karik to'o ona pontu ida ne'e, entaun Timor-Leste sei la fila ona ba kotuk. Dalan ba oin maka sei fase ho raan.

Lafahek Rai Maran

Prime Minister Material?

2007-04-17T21:22:00.000+09:00

Signs of endearment

The Australian
LAST LOOK
Jane Fraser
October 07, 2006

THERE seem to be so few rules left about public displays of affection and protection. Men, for example, no longer open car doors for women or give up their seats on buses and trains, and this is neither here nor there; we all have to stand on our own two feet when the cows and birds come home to roost, and whatever it is that cows do at home.

One particularly irksome ingrained habit, however, lurks in the male psyche and that is the primitive urge to walk on the roadside of a woman. Everywhere in the world, even as we speak, hundreds and thousands of men are doing little sewing machine-like movements around women so that they are gallantly saving them from being run over by the proverbial escaped horse or having mud splashed on their hooped skirts by a runaway landau.

But we still snort at overt physical gestures that we consider untoward. Snogging on the train station platform, for example.

In general, kissing is a bone of contention. Apparently Xanana Gusmao insists female reporters kiss him on the lips after an interview. Yuck; not that I have anything per se against the man; he's a revolution junkie's pin-up. It's the principle of the matter. Cheek-pecking is OK, and that's that.

Recently, the politics of the more anodyne hand-holding became the conjecture du jour after Margaret Whitlam was quoted as marvelling at John and Janette Howard's habit of holding hands in public. "For god's sake, they've been married for over 30 years!" she expostulated.

This casual sort of commentary was a bandwagon just waiting to be climbed upon, and an umbrage tree ready to be climbed. Broadcaster Neil Mitchell bought into the brouhaha, accusing Treasurer Peter Costello of lacing fingers with his wife, Tanya. "I did notice you with your wife the other day. I am afraid, disgracefully, you were holding hands," he thundered amiably. Costello's riposte was that he had been married only 25 years, so perhaps you are supposed to stop after the 26th.

Cherie and Tony Blair were photographed leaving the British Prime Minister's Labour conference farewell function holding hands and Bill and Hillary Clinton were often caught with hands linked, even after his brief excursions into infidelity were made public; after all, as she once memorably and forgivingly said, he's a hard dog to keep on the porch.

Funnily enough, grumpier though I become by the minute, I have nothing against hand-holding; some of my best friends do it, but I am, as a rule of thumb, a lot shorter than most men, which means I have to raise my arm to about the same position as I would were I executing an overhead smash. This means I am not in control of the situation and feel as though I am being led along like a wizened orang-utang by the zookeeper.

At the end of the day, it's just not me.

Promessas e/ou Subornos?

2007-04-16T13:27:00.000+09:00

Ramos Horta no seu discurso de campanha fez uma série de promessas que sabe que não vai cumprir. Primeiro porque confunde as competências do Governo com as de um Presidente da República; Segundo porque tem demonstrado na prática que é fraquinho em matéria de gestão tanto económica como administrativa. Elenca uma série de assuntos que são da competência do Governo, constitucionalmente consagrado. Na sua tentativa deseperada de angariar votos, faz uma aproximação à Igreja, adoptando uma atitude caricata e patética de “oferecer” um apoio anual de 10 milhões de dólares às duas Dioceses. Não será um suborno? A CNE não vê isso?

Mas vejamos o que disse Sua Santidade o Papa Bento XVI, ontem Domingo de Ramos:

Depois de dedicar o Domingo de Ramos aos jovens, o Santo Padre sublinhou que, para seguir a Deus é necessário ter "mãos inocentes e coração puro". "Mãos inocentes são aquelas que não recorrem a actos de violência" e "não estão contaminadas pela corrupção e subornos". O que Ramos Horta está a prometer é um autêntico suborno.

Corrupto é tanto aquele que oferece como aquele que recebe, estando cada um no seu papel, de corruptor e de corrompido. O que dizem a isso Senhores Bispos?

O Santo Padre na sua homilia de Domingo de Ramos condenou ainda os que consideram “a mera utilidade das coisas, o lucro, a carreira e o sucesso como o fim último da vida”.

Eduquemo-nos para educar os jovens, “ esperança do futuro”!

(comments from a reader)

The new CNRT flag

2007-04-16T13:24:00.000+09:00

The proposed flag for Xanana's new CNRT party:

"Fretilin Mudanca" leader accused of Sexual Harassment!

2007-04-09T14:15:00.000+09:00

Now we know why Jorge Teme (centre) was replaced as Timor-Leste ambassador to Australia.

Jorge Teme is a member of the "Fretilin Mudanca" and is a spokesperson for Ramos-Horta's campaign bid to become the next president.

After returning to Dili Teme had fallouts with Fretilin and was subsequetly alienated. Now it is clearer that his replacement resulted from his indisciplinary behaviour. Teme is understood to have served his post in Canberra with his wife and children by his side!

Jorge Teme is a sexual criminal. Perhaps he now hopes that he could regain his place in Canberra again? Or maybe New York? Gosh!!! I hope Ramos-Horta looses for the sake of Timor-Leste!

You can hear an interview of Jorge Teme by the ABC here.

Northern Territory News (Australia)

April 4, 2007 Wednesday

Diplomat in court

EAST Timor's first ambassador to Australia is being sued by a
Territorian for alleged sexual harassment.

Jorge Da Conceicao Teme, now a spokesman for a Fretilin group
supporting Jose Ramos Horta in East Timor's presidential election,
will contest the allegation.

The complaint has been made by Margarida de Araujo, who lives in Darwin.

The case is alleged to have arisen from when she worked at the East
Timor embassy in Canberra between 2004 and 2005.

TFC: Timorese Fried Chicken?

2007-04-09T11:34:00.000+09:00

Comment away....

Quotable: Xanana Gusmão

2007-04-06T23:04:00.000+09:00

Xanana models himself after Suharto?

«Para mim, Suharto, apesar de tudo o que lhe possamos acusar, é o 'pai' do desenvolvimento da Indonésia»

"For me, Suharto, apart from everything that we can accuse him of, he is the 'father' of Indonesian development"

"Ba ha'u, Suharto, apezár buat hotuhotu ne'ebé ita bele dún ba nia, nia maka 'aman' dezenvolvimentu Indonézia nian"

Suharto's "development" in Timor-Timur:

Suharto's "Family Planning" ? -- see more at (http://www.interet-general.info/article.php3?id_article=3141)

Notice the military uniform?

Suharto the President

Suharto wannabe?

Just Do It!

Ballot paper for the Banana Republic presidential election

2007-04-06T22:51:00.000+09:00

FAVOR HILI ITA-BOOT NIA KANDIDATU
HO HAKEREK "X" IHA KAISA IHA BESIK
BA FOTO HO BANDEIRA:

The Aspiring Feudalist.

2007-03-28T15:46:00.000+09:00

NO COMMENTS.

Xanana patents the CNRT for private political use.

2007-03-27T20:32:00.000+09:00

So Xanana has finally put an end to speculations that he will run a party called CNRT! Hm... if you are stupid enough, you would say "hey... that's a strange coincidence. Now where have I seen or heard that name before? Hm..." A case of déjávu? Ofcourse not.

Xanana is the smartest politician in Timor-Leste and he quickly moved to seize and patent the CNRT name for himself. Now why didn't anyone think of that? Duh'. Imagine what the Timorese political landscape would look today had someone registered a party called CNRT, carefully rewording the names like Congresso instead of Conselho and Reconstrução instead of Resistência, used the colours of the flag, the blues, the whites and the greens. Maybe the Timor-Leste parliament would have been a dual-party system, the Fretilins against the CNRTs. If only Lasama or Mario were clever enough, today they would command one of the biggest parties in Timor-Leste. But... there is only one Xanana as we all know.

So today Xanana confirmed that after his mandate expires on the 19th of May, he will head the CNRT party into the parliamentary election. If the CNRT wins, Xanana is set to become the Prime Minister!

Xanana's CNRT: ConNosco Roubamos Timor.

OK Xanana, didn't you say that being a president was hard? And the Timorese president is largely a symbolic post with a couple of powers which rarely come to force. Yet you proved yourself to be so incompetent. Your words and actions, or inactions, allowed, even helped to plunge the country into a crisis which nearly ended in a civil war. And now you want to be a Prime Minister? If you can't even handle a simple a job as a president, what hope is there for you as a Prime Minister? By selling lots of pumpkins?

And here is another problem for you. You said you will lead the new CNRT party at the end of your mandate. OK. When does your mandate end? On the 19th of May? Not a chance in Mercado Lama. You see, the mandate for the new parliament had already expired sometime in March. There should have been a new parliamentary mandate by now so that the new parliament can swear in the new president. How can a parliament with an expired mandate instate a new president? And until the new parliament is elected, until the new president is sworn in, you will have to remain the president, which in effect prevents you from joining your CNRT or leading it into the parliamentary elections. You wanted the presidential election to be held first so that a new president can take your place and you would be free from your presidential duties and now it seemed to have backfired. Go bananas!!!

When it comes to the Presidency of Timor-Leste, the First Lady does matter.

2007-03-26T13:51:00.000+09:00

I want Francisco Guterres "Lu Olo" to be the next president for many reasons. One of the most important reasons is that Lu Olo is happily married, has a decent family and is married to an East Timorese woman, a Buibere. And yes, I want an East Timorese, a Buibere to be the next First Lady. Lu Olo's wife, Cidália Lopes Mouzinho Guterres should be the next First Lady.

Avelino Coelho's wife is not East Timorese. Fernando Lasama's wife is a Philippino/US citizen. Ramos-Horta doesn't have a wife, nor does Francisco Xavier do Amaral or Manuel Tilman. Lucia Lobato is not married. João Carrascalão is married to Ramos-Horta's sister. The only problem for me is that Carrascalão's wife spent too much time abroad and is out of touch with the real history and needs of the Buibere women. João Carrascalão's family does not see itself as Timor-Leste residents, not today not ever. And please, NO MORE AUSSIE FIRST LADIES!!!

Lu Olo is the only candidate with a decent and loving family and a First Lady of real East Timorese and Buibere background.

Let's vote Lu Olo for the next President of the Republic!

Quotable: Mari Alkatiri

2007-03-21T21:47:00.000+09:00

"A verdade é que a militância por uma religião tem por objectivo conquistar o reino dos céus. A militância por uma organização política tem por objectivo fazer da terra o céu." (Lusa, 20 March 2007)

"The truth is adherence to a religion has as an objective to conquer the kingdom of heaven. The adherence to a political organization is to make heaven of earth."

Leandro Isaac and Dr. Smith from Lost in Space

2007-03-21T21:25:00.000+09:00

Have you ever watched any classical episode of Lost in Space? The character of Dr. Smith is incredibly identical to Leandro Isaac. Dr. Smith also looks very similar to Isaac. Unreal!

Dr. Zachary Smith is an intergalactic doctor of environmental psychology and an agent for an enemy foreign government in the Lost in Space series. Leandro Isaac is a doctor in pollitical opportunism and selfserving individual who will stop at nothing to fulfill his ambitions.

Dr. Smith is chronic schemer much like Leandro Isaac.

Maubere! Who will you vote for?

2007-03-21T20:48:00.000+09:00

Maubere! Who will you vote for?

BREAKING NEWS: Fernando Lasama pulled out of presidential race

2007-03-21T17:27:00.000+09:00

He thought the the April 9th election was to elect a new Prime Minister.

Hihihihiii.....

2007-03-19T14:53:00.000+09:00

Hihiiihihihiii.... A commentator

said Lasama is good in leadership.

Hiihiiii hahh hihiiii......

That's the funniest thing I heard.

Horta and the Vatican: Strange bedfellows

2007-03-18T16:50:00.000+09:00

Ramos-Horta as President of Timor?
God help Timor!

The Prime Minister, José Ramos-Horta, a candidate for the upcoming presidential election has been distributing leaflets showing a picture of him meeting the pope. This is a blatant and crude attempt to mislead the voters on a supposed connection between candidate Ramos-Horta and the Vatican. The voters, being devout catholics and largely illiterate with little access to information, are being led to believe that somehow Ramos-Horta's candidacy has the support of the Pope, the highest authority in the Catholic church.

Hihihihi!... I use the Pope you
use CNRT! Alkatiri is f*cked!
Hihiiiihihi!...

During Ramos-Horta's campaign lauch, he deliberately sported a shirt showing an image of Christ in clear view of the people. This is nothing more than a ploy to attract the people to Ramos-Horta's supposed religious side, which every sensible person knows he has none. But to the largely uninformed and illiterate East Timorese, the use of religious icons became a powerful tool to attract gullible voters.

Is Ramos-Horta deserving of a Catholic church backing? Perhaps yes from the point of view of the ultra-conservative Catholic church of Timor-Leste. Ramos-Horta leads a life which violates every moral code inherent to this congregation. He never had a legal marriage to his first wife although they have a son together. They were separated many, many years ago. In factm in Timor-Leste unmarried couples are regarded as second class citizens by the Catholic church. The Church does not recognise their child and refuses to baptise them. Yet Ramos-Horta gets so much backing from the Catholic church of Timor-Leste. Ramos-Horta also leads an adulterous life even by Church standards. With the gay issue being of central moral concern to the Vatican, it would be surprising that the Church even considers lending its support to someone as immoral and un-Christian as Ramos-Horta.

Horta and a mystery woman

Ana Pessoa joined the first wives'
club a long time ago. The best
move she ever made for sure.

Ramos-Horta also openly supported the US invasion of Iraq, a move which the Pope openly criticized.

Stragen-bedfellows? Indeed.

Who I will vote for...

2007-03-17T21:12:00.000+09:00

1st - Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo

Married with children (picture). First wife died while fighting the Indonesian army. An independence hero and a living legend. Spent 24 years in the resistance fighting Indonesian army. Wife is from Atauro and will make a good Timorese First Lady. Lu Olo's children are welbehaved bunch of kids, too.

2nd - Avelino Coelho

Red wine loving pseudo-Marxist, ex-seminarian, Fidel Castro wanabe who is married to an Indonesian. Spent many years in Austrian embassy after unsucessfully tried to seek assylum. There is no way that Timor should have an Indonesian first lady. Spent many years organising resistance in Indonesia with his socialist faction within Fretilin.

3rd - Francisco Xavier do Amaral

He has chronic heart disease, Parkinson's disease as well as suffering the effects of old age. He has long been separated from his wife and has no children. If he became president, he'd probably last only a couple of weeks. But, again I wouldn't like to see this dellusional feudalist bring back to life his feudal lifestyle to the highest post in Timor-Leste's state, thank you. No first lady. Spent the occupation years in Indonesia as a gardener for an Indonesian general. To be fair, it was Indonesia's way of humilliating Timor-Leste's nationalism by putting its first president to do someone's garden.

4th - Manuel Tilman (left)

Divorced from his Portuguese wife a long, long time ago. Once sought Indonesian citizenship through the help of Suharto's daughter, Siti Hardyanti Rukhmana who he developped a business partnership to import Portuguese made goods to Indonesia. Apparently he had been offered a much younger woman selected by his family through traditional means. Will not have a first lady. Spent the occupation period in Macau and Portugal.

5th - Lucia Lobato (far right, with blue suit)

Her claim to fame is her masculine looks and her unshaven legs. She is unnmarried, probably will stay that way for obvious reasons. Will have no first gentleman. Spent many years in Indonesia as a student of some sort. Has a masters degree from some university in Indonesia.

6th - Jose Ramos-Horta

Martini drinking French speaking swinger and self-styled not so-cosmopolitan diplomat who wants to be a New Yorker but is condemned to spending the rest of his sexually-active life in a third world country with not too many people to hit on. Divorced from his wife a long time ago and has a son who is luckier than the father for not having a permanent address in Dili. Officially single but swings around with a special preference for young women and men. Spent the occupation years living in Mozambique.

7th - João Carrascalão

Married to José Ramos-Horta's sister. Children are not in Timor nor do they have any plans to live in Timor. Has accute heart problem. I would vote for him because he has a good sense of humour and is a good drinking buddy. Spent the period of Indonesian occupation outside of Timor.

8th - Fernando de Araújo Lasama

Fernando who? Right. The one married to that Filipina rumour monger. Seriously. An Australian first lady has given Timor its enough share of headache. But now a Phillipina? God help Timor! Spent many years in Indonesia as president of RENETIL, Timorese student underground group. He was imprisoned with PR Xanana. Never finished his studies.

First lady material?

The first lady Timor
had to have.

My vote goes to Lu Olo!

Reader's Comments

2007-03-16T13:14:00.000+09:00

From timor2 RE Australian academics helped to spread the rumor mill which deepened the crisis in Timor-Leste

I think the intent of this article is not to justify whether there was a massacre. The author validly raises the need for academics or anyone observing the issues in Timor Leste to take an objective rather than a subjective view on the crisis in Timor Leste. It challenges people not to look at a superficial view of Timor Leste or on the contexts of good v‘s evil or truth v’s lies and rumours. Many people jumped the gun and took the rumour of Tasi Tolu as a fact and began to criticise and demonise the FFDTL and the Government without seeking information from other sources. The result of the “independent” findings on the Tasi Tolu “massacre” clearly has highlighted that misinformation or unreliable information that is abundant in Timor Leste and we all have to be weary of this and ensure that attempts are made to investigate an allegation rather than pure reliance on word of mouth.

Irrespective of wether it was constitutional or not, as a Timorese who witnessed the April 28 2006 ransacking of Dili by the Petitioners and their supporters, based on the circumstances of what was happening, I believe and fully support the Governments decision to bring out the FFDTL to calm the situation.

The Police unresponsiveness the events in April is of grave concern not only for the Government but the citizens of Timor, whose symbols of governance were attacked (Gov cars and Gov building, intolerable in any western country) and private possessions were also destroyed (peoples cars and homes, intolerable in any society).

The communication network was down which made it difficult for the Government to coordinate anything with the President. I agree that there are other avenues of contacting the President but they are time consuming and not tested because of the gravity of the situation which needed a quick and decisive reponse. The main concern of the Government has to be resolving the situation in urgency before it escalated further rather than contacting an uncontactable President.

I don’t think there is a concession at all; it is clearly evident the author tries to balance both sides of the argument in regards to the Governments actions and emphasise that the FFDTL call out is a problem that can be resolved politically and not through defaming anyone, or supporting armed thugs like Alfredo.

The calling out of the FFDTL did result in relative calm in Dili, the Petitioners retreated to Ermera. The Government had made a plan to rebuild properties destroyed and again called for continuing negotiations (which mind you have been going on since January 2006, the main cause for failures in negotiation is because of the unwillingness of the Petitioners to resolve their grievances). Alfredo to many observers surprise abandoned his post and retreated to Aileu claiming that he received orders to shoot down the Petitioners and that he was demonstrating also against a “massacre” at Tasi Tolu (Both claims unfounded). Rumours that the FFDTL massacred 100 people in Tasi Tolu were being disseminated by the opposition and some Academics both Timorese and Australian which contributed to the already tense climate. The “so called” negotiations between Xanana, Horta and Alfredo never reolved in anything and in May, clear concerted attacks were made on the FFDTL at Dili with the protagonist being Alfredo and Rai Los.

No the 2007 elections will not be a magic wand and at the instance resolve the crisis. But a good turnout at the elections signals the belief of the people in the notion of nationhood and hence counters the damages of some of the divisions that may have been created during the crisis. A good turnout demonstrates that there is confidence in Timor Leste and will emphasise that Timor is not a failed state that some people want it to be. Many Timorese suspect that the East/West divide was a superficial problem used as a political tool, hence why the clashes between “Eastern” and “Western” youths have died down and now we see the problems associated with “Gangs” not divided by regional allegiances emphasising another belief that the insecurity in Dili is being superficially created. Of paramount importance to ending the crisis is that all political organisations accept the result of the elections.

To resolve this crisis one must know what the underlying causes are, I suspect the Timorese know who the protagonists are and what were the political motivations behind the crisis, they will be the ones that will end up not gaining the sympathy of the voters in the next elections.

Se PR Xanana bele uza CNRT, hau mos bele...

2007-03-15T22:01:00.000+09:00

PR Xanana hakarak uza CNRT-nia naran hodi habosok povu atu vota ba ninia partidu. Nia buka muda de'it Resistência ba Reconstrução, envézde halo programa di'ak hodi atrai votante sira. Iha realidade, mudansa hosi rezisténsia ba rekonstrusaun la'ós fasil, no PR Xanana nia mudansa hosi gerilleiru ba estadista, durante tinan lima nia laran hatudu ona katak nia laiha kapasidade duni. Agora hakarak habosok fali povu hodi uza CNRT-nia naran?

Partidu CNRT mós sei hamosu konfuzaun-boot ida. Imajina. Se PR Xanana bele uza naran CNRT hodi harii partidu ida, ha'u mós bele. Prezidente Xanana uza Reconstrução, ha'u bele uza R ne'e ba REPÚBLICA, RESTAURAÇÃO, REHABILITAÇÃO, REBELDES, RENEGADOS, REFUGIADOS, RECAMBIADOS, REPATRIADOS, REGADOR, RETORNADOS, REINADOS, ho barak tan.

Hm.... Partido Conselho Nacionál da República Timorense, se lae Conselho Nacionál dos Refugiados Timorenses, eh lae Conselho Nacionál da Restauração Timorense. PM Ramos-Horta nia partidu CNRT di'ak liu bolu Conselho Nacionál dos Regadores Timorenses.

Good luck!

Partidu CNRM

2007-03-15T20:33:00.000+09:00

Prezidente Xanana atu harii partidu ida naran CNRT? Labuat ida. Hau sei harii ha'u-nia partidu naran Partidu CNRM, Conselho Nacional da Restauração Maubere.

Is President Xanana planning to establish a political party called CNRT? That's fine. I will establish my own political party called CNRM, National Council for Maubere Restoration.

New member to Repúblika Banana

2007-03-15T19:16:00.000+09:00

The blogger would like to introduce writer Lafahek Rai Maran who will post in Tetun for our Tetun readers.

Blog-na'in ida-ne'e hakarak introdús hakerek-na'in Lafahek Rai Maran, ne'ebé sei hakerek iha lian tetun ba lee-na'in tetun sira.

Thank you/Obrigadu

Repúblika Banana

Activism and double standards

2007-03-13T21:46:00.000+09:00

The ammount of protest against Australian army attack on the disgraced renegade soldier and his men is incredible to say the least. Alfredo Reinado and his men were armed to the teeth with the latest assault riffles and holed up in a strategically positioned location in Same, awaiting possible military assault against them. They were ready and they knew what they were coming up against. And the subsequent military assault against them resulted in the death of five of Alfredo's men while wounding many others. There are also reported damage and losses to possessions owned by the local villagers affected by the Australian operations.

Numerous activists and academics poured their grief and anger towards this operation arguing that the use of force was not necessary against Reinado. That there should be negotiations instead of the use of lethal force. For instance, this latest one by East Timor Law Journal is urging people to sign a petition to the Australian Parliament to limit the use of lethal force in Timor-Leste. The online petition is available here. Rob Wesley-Smith, the self styled spokesman of a defunct group called AFET posted a sympathetic letter in favour of Alfredo Reinado, supposedly sent to him by a filmmaker. Alfredo Reinado, an army officer who fraternized with a lower ranking female officer and gave her a child while both were doing a military course in Canberra in 2005. The same Alfredo Reinado, married with children and wanted for murdering his fellow soldier. Alfredo Reinado whose action plunged the country into a deep crisis that almost tore the country apart. Yes. This Alfredo Reinado.

This never before heard outcry agaist Australian forces in Timor-Leste came immediately after the raid on Reinado's hideout in Same. Why? This is not the first time that the Australian forces have acted in this way. Just a few days earlier, Australian soldiers om fact killed two IDPs at the IDP camp in Nicolau Lobato airport, and severely wounded another one. These IDPs were unarmed and defenceless on top of having to live in a squalid condition. They were not armed, not least with the latest assault riffles as Reinado and his men did. Yet, Australians soldiers responded to a supposed minor disturbance with such lethal force, killing one on the spot. But there were not an outcry from these activists!!! Why? Speaking about the use of lethal force, Australian soldiers and Australian police constantly harrass the IDPs and anyone suspected of being an easterner or a Fretilin supporter. IDP camps come under tear gas attacks on a regular basis. IDP tents are constantly searched and destroyed. Youths inside the IDPs are regularly searched and arrested for no particular reason. Often the IDPs are blamed for any attacks from outsiders. These are clear violations to the rights and dignity of the East Timorese, something anyone in the free world does not tolerate. But no one raised a voice of concern in defence of these IDPs. Some even condemned these IDPs, blaming them for the trouble that they're in. Others accuse them of causing troubles to benefit a group (Fretilin) or individuals. But no one raises a voice.

Why they cried foul when the Australian military attacked a group of armed rebels with their fugitive leader while they stayed silent when Australian military attacked and killed unarmed civilian? Whose rights are they defending? A bunch of trigger happy cowboys armed to the teeth and holding the country hostage? Shame!!!

Australian academics helped to spread the rumor mill which deepened the crisis in Timor-Leste

2007-03-13T20:42:00.000+09:00

In April last year, the incidence in Tasi Tolu became the focal point which gave many people the ammunition to justify their actions. A group of army mutineers claiming to represent the western East Timorese who were suffering from discrimination within the F-FDTL, staged a week long protest reminiscent of one organized by Timor’s Catholic church a year earlier. These mutineers had earlier deserted their barracks claiming that they were being passed on for promotions in favor of their colleagues from the east, a claim that does not stand up against scrutiny. The protesters made various demands which were simply impossible or nonsensical to even be considered, let alone be met.

On the fifth day the protest turned violent. It was a predictable course of event and appeared to have been a planned outcome rather than a spontaneous reaction. The protesters were licensed to stage their rally until Friday the 28th of April. When they failed to meet this deadline and disband, the government sent in the police to disperse them. Unexplainably, the police number onsite was inadequate making them vulnerable to attacks. The protesters reacted and attacked the police, setting fire to a number of government vehicles and breaking the windows in the government building. It was claimed that rogue elements infiltrated the protest and caused the violence. Fingers were pointed towards a shadowy group called Colimau 2000. The police acted albeit inadequately. Some people were wounded while the rest of the group retreated to the western outskirts of Dili.

Meanwhile in Tasi Tolu, where the army mutineers had set up their base, violence erupted simultaneously as houses were burnt to the ground and people were attacked forcing many of them to flee to the F-FDTL headquarters nearby. The attacks were carried out by unknown groups who claimed to be westerners against the easterners. They were enraged by the treatment their fellow westerners suffered in downtown Dili. It needs to be noted that that particular suburb has been inhabited by easterners and westerners alike since the end of Indonesian occupation in 1999. They lived side by side occupying houses formerly owned by Indonesian civil servants who left as Indonesia relinquished its sovereignty over Timor-Leste. It was said that this attack resulted from rumors that their western brothers were being massacred by the government forces (the police) in downtown Dili. Nevertheless the reprisal in Tasi Tolu was swift, catching many of the victims by surprise. However there is the possibility that the attack in Tasi Tolu had been planned to coincide with the events in downtown Dili to further stretch police resources.

While retreating towards Tasi Tolu, the protesting mutineers were attacked at the Comoro market. Days earlier some of the army mutineers attacked market stalls belonging to the easterners in Taibessi. So this attack against them in Comoro may have come as a reprisal for their earlier attacks. These incidents, initially dismissed by almost everyone as isolated and unrelated to the more clashes to come, cemented the foundations for a wider “ethnic” clash. Suddenly tension between the lorosa’e and the loromonu erupted.

As the attacks in Tasi Tolu got out of hand and the police force became overwhelmed, the government quickly summoned the F-FDTL to Tasi Tolu to help restore order. The F-FDTL intervention was successful in that they succeeded in stopping further violence. Up to 6 people died from the melee as revealed by an independent investigation launched by the UN. Some of them died in justifiable circumstances after posing a lethal threat against the F-FDTL personnel.

However immediately a rumor surfaced that the F-FDTL had committed a massacre in Tasi Tolu in which up to 100 people may have died. The reaction abroad to the F-FDTL intervention was furious and was being founded on this rumored massacre. This rumor was not only of great consequence because of the number of victims, but it was more so because the victims were westerners and the perpetrators were easterners as represented by the F-FDTL. Days before the army mutineers had presented themselves as westerners and attacked their fellow easterners. Now the F-FDTL has taken side and attacked the westerners. Ironically, weeks earlier, President Xanana Gusmão had himself kicked off the east versus west tensions by openly demarcating the easterners as being made up of the residents inhabiting the three eastern districts, Viqueque, Baucau and Lospalos, while from Manatuto, Xanana’s hometown, onwards to the border in addition to Oecusse, are the westerners. To many people, President Xanana’s speech seemed to suggest that he was sympathetic to the westerners, thus the east versus west divide deepened to a critical point.

In Australia this rumor was propagated by a number of academics on receiving information from their colleagues in Dili. This rumor was sent to Australia via sms by Dr. Lucas da Costa, a senior member of the PD party and a lecturer at UNPAZ; and by Jaclin Siapno, wife of Fernando Araujo, PD’s president, via email. Jaclin Siapno was airlifted in a special operation by the Australian army from Suai, a town in Timor-Leste’s southern border, to Australia, apparently due to fear that the "ruling party" was after her to eliminate her. Jaclin Siapno worked as an academic in Melbourne where she was also a PD activist. She holds Philippino and US passports and has close links with a number of academics in Australia and the US. Some of these academics quickly jumped into her defense and helped to lend credibility to her bogus claim. Despite skepticism expressed by many against this rumor, these academics went on the defensive and quickly went on TV. Jaclin Siapno landed in Australia just in time to make it to the evening news and counted on the support of one Damien Kingsbury, an academic from Deakin University in Melbourne.

After further rebuttals against their arguments in support of this dubious rumor, one particular academic said that it didn’t matter anymore whether the number was 6 or 100 because a massacre is still a massacre. In fact the real question that needed to be asked was the circumstances in which these victims died, whether they were 6 or 100. Was the F-FDTL intent on killing the petitioners? Was their operation in Tasi Tolu motivated by a sinister plan to eliminate the army mutineers or anyone else in opposition to the government? Today we can confidently say that that wasn’t the case. There was no massacre, there were no mass graves to hide the 100 or so bodies and there are no sinister motives behind the operation. The debate has been reduced to whether the government’s action to send in the F-FDTL was constitutional or not; or whether the F-FDTL was trained and equipped enough to handle civil disorder, a task reserved almost exclusively to the police force. A counter argument to this is that in exceptional circumstances where the security and the integrity of the nation, the state, state institutions, the government, are threatened by an aggressor, internal or external, the state can take all measures necessary to stop this from taking place. But this is largely an academic debate and any violation in this context is not a criminal act but an act born out of incompetence, misjudgment, etc. It can be resolved politically through elections.

However it is rather alarming that these academics never considered the consequences that rumors such as this could bring. Instead of helping their friends in Dili to keep calm and verify the rumors properly, they are actually reinforcing and fomenting these rumors. These academics were aware that the conditions in Dili were such that rumors of this type, specially one that involves hundreds of victims, could be verified so easily. In 1991 even under tight military control and without much foreign presence the news of the Santa Cruz Massacre quickly got out to the world. In 2006, Timor-Leste, in particular Dili, was saturated with the presence of foreign missions, NGOs, UN agencies, foreign press, and a UN mission, on top of an unrestricted movement anywhere in the country, yet these academics chose to rely on their biased sources rather than find alternative ways of confirming this rumor.

It never crossed their mind that the RDTL government’s decision to send in the F-FDTL was decisive in that it stopped a situation from quickly spiraling out of control and threatened to undermine Timor-Leste as a nation. There was the real threat that the clash in Tasi Tolu could provoke an all out war between the eastern and western hardliners and result in countless more victims not to mention the divisive “ethnic” wedge driven into the community as a whole. The resulting consequence could have been irreparable for generations to come. The fact that these academics quickly reacted and overreacted, reaching a decision to vouch for this rumor is somewhat suspicious. Either they have conspired with those in Dili responsible for spreading this malicious rumor or they are too emotionally attached to their friends in Dili than to stand as academics and unbiased observers. In either case, their stance as academics should be seriously questioned given that they may have been partly responsible for plunging Timor-Leste into this deep crisis, which resulted in the deaths dozens of people and counting.

Alfredo Reinado models himself on his Indonesians patrons and not East Timorese

2007-03-06T12:12:00.000+09:00

Thomas Matulessy Pattimura, Indonesian
hero from the Maluku province who fought
against the Dutch domination. Alfredo
Reinado's hero. Any resemblance to Reinado
is not coincidental.

Alfredo Reinado, illegitimate son of a
Portuguese colonial official fights to
defend his interests.

There are people who say that Reinado chose Same as his battlefield to fight out the ISF because he wanted to portray this battle as similar to the resistance put up by Regulo D. Boaventura against the Portuguese colonial domination. I think these people are mistaken, including Reinado if he ever thought such a thing.

Reinado is a mestiço, the son of a Portuguese colonial official and his Timorese mistress. When the Portuguese official left Timor-Leste, Reinado was left with his mother. Today Reinado's father lives in Perth, Australia.
Reinado grew up in Indonesia and spent little time in Timor-Leste before joining a group of youths who sailed to Australia to seek Assylum. He knew more about Indonesian struggle and little or nothing about the Timorese struggle.
Reinado was a member of Indonesian ABRI before leaving it to go to Timor-Leste
Reinado married a non-East Timorese (an Indonesian) before taking up an East Timorese mistress of Same origin. The woman was a member of F-FDTL who Reinado had cavorted while both were in Australia for military training.
Reinado never put up any resistance against the advancing Australian army. Instead he fled before the operation started.
Reinado DOES NOT enjoy popular support in Timor-Leste. The small number of youth who follow Reinado are followers of the opposition parties (PD, PSD, ASDT) who have always opposed the Fretilin government. Nino Blasius Pereira, the spokesperson for MUNJ is the head of PD's youth wing. Pereira was not born in Timor-Leste. He was born in Flores, Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara and moved to Timor-Leste with his parents. Augusto Trindade is a PD official from the district of Liquiça. Trindade's father is a militia leader wanted for serious crimes and now lives in Indonesia.
It was Reinado's ancestors, the Portuguese, who attacked the people of Same in 1912 of which D. Boaventura heroicly resisted.

Reinado models himself on the Indonesians whom provided him with much of his education. His brief stay in Timor-Leste, he worked as a mechanic where he struggled to make ends meet. His life in Indonesia was no better, a fact which compelled him to move to Timor-Leste. While in Timor-Leste he heard a number of his friends were planning to sail a boat to Australia. Reinado's motive for joining this adventure was economic and not political. Reinado was never active in the East Timorese resistance, not in Timor-Leste under Indonesian occupation, not in Australia. He was invited to join Timor-Leste's fledgling army because he had experience in Indonesian navy. But his own arrogance quickly put him at odds with another overseas recruit, also from Australia, Lieutanent Colonel Donaciano Gomes, AKA Pedro Klamar Fuik. Pedro was directing the army mutineers and giving them orders. He quickly identified himself as a westerner and had some kind of standing among the mutineers. Reinado felt he had to do something to outstage Pedro therefore plunging the country into chaos.

D. Boaventura, the Manufahi hero who became the
symbol of resistance against Indonesia occupation.

Australian soldiers are serving Australian political agenda in Timor-Leste

2007-03-04T19:58:00.000+09:00

Reinado and Australian soldiers: too close for comfort.

The theses that Australian soldiers in Timor-Leste are protecting the disgraced former army official who deserted last year seems far fetched to some people. Reinado has time and again while under Australian soldiers' custody. Today Australian guns have turned against Alfredo Reinado. No doubt that Reinado’s use by date has expired and Australia is keen to get rid of him.

Alfredo Alves Reinado, a former army major in Timor-Leste’s defense force, the F-FDTL, and commander of that country’s small military police deserted a week after a rumored massacre supposed to have taken place in Tasi Tolu in April 2006. Reinado’s excuse was that the government of Mari Alkatiri ordered the F-FDTL to take care of the situation, an order Reinado understood as meaning “to eliminate” the petitioners physically. Incredible as it may seem, Reinado was in fact present at the site of this supposed massacre behind the F-FDTL lines as the operations took place. A few days later Reinado, heavily armed, along with some of his subordinates left the command and went to Aileu. They also took with them truck loads of military hardware.

While in Aileu Reinado made various contradictory and constantly shifting declarations. Initially he said he left Dili to provide “security” to the “frightened” population outside of Dili (against F-FDTL). He said he did not desert the army but was only carrying out his duty as a military officer and he continued to submit to military commands. As days went, his rhetoric also changed culminating tn the accusation that the government of Mari Alkatiri was corrupt and dictatorial and responsible for an order to massacre of the petitioners and their supporters in Tasi Tolu. Rainado maintained that the order was unconstitutional and Mari Alkatiri should resign and face charges. Now Reinado wants to “protect” his western brothers against the easterner dominated army. His accusation that that the government of Timor-Leste was trying to turn this country into a communist state modelled on Cuba and China also intensified.

However anyone who followed Reinado’s statements agree that he had no clear objective except a desperate attempt to force the government from office and transfer all the power to the president, Xanana Gusmão. The minor opposition parties like PD and PSD quickly jumped into Reinado's bandwagon calling for the same. Fernando de Araujo Lasama even led a group of demonstrators to confiscate the keys to the parliament building and handed them to President Xanana. They asked President Xanana to dissolve the parliament and the government. Later on PD and other minor parties also walked out of the parliament to insist on the parliament's dissolution. Ironically PD, PSD, ASDT and the other minor parties returned to take their seats in the parliament after declaring previously that they no longer recognized that parliament.

But Reinado's outrageous demands betrayed the real motives behind his actions. He wanted to remove the democratically elected government and parliament. All powers are to be in the exclusive hands of the president. He also had his personal ambitions, that of taking charge of the Timor-Leste army. In order to do this he tried to attract the sympathy from the westerners, in particular the disaffected youths.

He began with his claim that he was in Aileu to provide protection to the population of that town. This claim was flatly rejected by some of the local leaders including the Aileu DA. As he realized that the people of Aileu were not on his side, he probed for other possibilities and moved to claim that he was protecting his fellow westerners against the easterners who dominated the East Timorese army. He knew that the petitioners’ (the army mutineers) issue had gained some sort of sympathy among youths in the western districts namely Ermera and Liquiça. Many of these youth were activists working for the opposition parties, namely the Partido Demokratico or PD. Others belonged to a shadowy organization called Colimau 2000.

Some former pro-Indonesia militia leaders and their followers also responded to Reinado’s call enthusiastically. Furthermore, in order to attract followers from the Catholic church, Reinado also accused the government of Mari Alkatiri as communist. In 2005, The Catholic church had launched a propaganda campaign against Fretilin accusing Fretilin’s leadership of trying to turn Timor-Leste into a communist state where all priests and nuns would be physically eliminated.

Reinado’s statements stroke accord with the petitioners and their supporters. His rhetoric intensified and continued to accuse the Fretilin government of Mari Alkatiri as corrupt and dictatorial which acted unconstitutionally. In Australia, a number of academics who had long history of defending Indonesia’s annexation of Timor-Leste became Reinado’s cheerleaders by echoing Reinado’s rhetoric. Reinado accused the government of having a close alliance with the F-FDTL which is dominated by the easterners, and ordered it to eliminate Fretilin opponents including the petitioners and their supporters. The opposition parties were only too happy to see Reinado making these inflammatory and potentially destabilizing activities and saw in it an opportunity to gain political grounds. People like Leandro Isaac, a crook who worked closely with the Indonesian establishment before switching sides after the fall of Suharto, and activists from the opposition parties such as PD and PSD jumped into the bandwagon. In fact when Alfredo and his men attacked the home of the F-FDTL commander, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, Leandro Isaac took an active participation. Today Isaac is Reinado’s official cheerleader. Others like Fernando de Araujo, president of PD, joined forces with former militia bosses like Rui Lopes and Nemencio de Carvalho, and moved to Suai where they rallied former militia members to descend on Dili and sack this town. The Catholic church was too happy to accommodate Reinado providing him with moral support and later on, a hideout.

A Politically Motivated Rumor To Destabilize The State

Reinado was present in Tasi Tolu on the 28th of April behind the F-FDTL lines and took part in the operation. If there was a massacre that resulted in the death of a staggering hundred, where dead bodies would literally lie scattered on the ground with blood splattered everywhere, it should be of little doubt that this would be the first thing to come out of Reinado’s mouth. Anyone with some sense of humanity and justice, as Reinado claims himself to be, would understandably be very much disgusted. Ironically the first reason Reinado used to justify his desertion was that of a security arrangement to protect the people in Aileu. Obviously there was no massacre and the F-FDTL acted within reason. There was no reason for Alfredo to use a massacre to justify his actions.

But as rumors of the massacre spread throughout Dili and abroad (Australia) like a wildfire, so too did Reinado change his rhetoric. Reinado was actually picking up the peaces along the way to justify and persuade the people about his actions. Evidently Reinado’s actions had nothing to do with F-FDTL’s actions or the government’s orders. It was part of a sinister plan to topple a democratically elected government. Yet his justifications and accusations were discredited again and again by various independent adjudicators.

While in Aileu Reinado made various threats against the government in the hope that they would destabilize the country and the government is toppled peacefully. As his constant threats failed to even cause an alarm in the government, and as the Fretilin congress in May renewed its confidence in Mari alkatiri, Reinado finally launched his attacks against the F-FDTL. Days earlier he had moved from Aileu to the eastern outskirts of Dili. He claimed that some people in Aileu were watching his moves and those of his men and he felt threatened and unsafe. There were some element of truth to this claim. It is one of the main reasons that compelled him to move constantly from location to location as the local population everywhere he went showed little sympathy towards him and his followers. Prior to launching this attack, Reinado also warned the people of Dili to evacuate as the situations was set to worsen and an armed conflict was imminent.

After the conclusion of Fretilin’s congress in May, Alfredo’s supporters attacked a group of F-FDTL soldiers on the way to Dili to withdraw their salary. The attack killed one F-FDTL soldier and unfortunately for Reinado, that soldier was a veteran Falintil combatant from Bobonaro region, a westerner. (A group of youth from Bobonaro immediately formed a team to go on their own and hunt Alfredo and his men down.) This attack also prompted the F-FDTL to react, setting up an observation post in the hills of Fatu Ahi where the main road out of Dili to the eastern districts is located. When a group of F-FDTL soldiers went out on a foot patrol, Reinado and his men attacked. Reinado himself was filmed on Australia’s SBS shooting at the soldiers while boasting that he “got one”. Later on an independent investigation recommended that he be charged for this homicide. An exchange between the F-FDTL and Reinado and his men followed with the later taking on a number of casualties. Reinado retreated. But in Dili the situation began to deteriorate as the F-FDTL moved in and began to set themselves up behind Dili overlooking the hills. The locals in Dili, specially the westerners became agitated and feared that the F-FDTL would target them, perhaps as a reprisal for the attacks against the easterners previously in Tasi Tolu. The rumor that the F-FDTL were capable of killing people indiscriminately as they have shown in Tasi Tolu in April also didn’t help calm the situation.

Soon after a group led by Rai Los and his men with the help of the Liquiça police attacked the F-FDTL headquarters in Tasi Tolu resulting in a number of casualties on both sides. The police force in Dili became divided along ethnic lines. Some members of the police attacked the home of Brigadier General Ruak where his wife and his infant children had been present. The home was being guarded by a number of F-FDTL soldiers. Leandro Isaac’s home, just meters from General Ruak’s, became the base for this attack while he helped to coordinate the operation. It is not known why they decided to attack that house knowing that General Ruak was not there. General Ruak’s wife was herself a westerner from Same.

As it turned out the F-FDTL with the blessing of the government decided to arm a number of former Falintil combatants to reinforce the armed forces and defend the state against a perceived coup attempt. There were plans to ambush Alfredo Reinado and his men by moving in to Aileu from the direction of Same, Ainaro, Dili and Manatuto with the help of former Falintil guerrillas. The situation was tense and was threatening to plunge the country into an all out civil war. The outcome of this conflict is certain to be catastrophic. Nonetheless it could almost be certain that Alfredo Reinado and his men would also be eliminated totally. But it was a situation that no one had the guts to answer for so the outside help was summoned and Australia quickly deployed its troops.

Alfredo Reinado and his men finally moved to Maubisse’s Pousada, a former colonial inn tucked away amid a mountainous region. The Pousada is situated on top of a hill overlooking the town and is surrounded mountains. This inn had recently been renovated by Portuguese investors and became a favorite getaway for Timor-Leste expatriate community. In Timor-Leste standards, it was a five star accommodation in the middle of nowhere. It was revealed later on that President Xanana had been paying the bill for Reinado’s stay at that hotel.

Did Reinado choose this spot for its comfortable and luxurious accommodation? Perhaps. But the more plausible explanation is that he chose this spot for its strategic location, not only to protect himself from a possible attack by the F-FDTL but also from the suspicious population that surrounded him. The compound is situated on top of a steep hill with a clear view of everything below it. The F-FDTL’s armory contained no artillery capable of firing missiles that high and that far. Anyone attacking Reinado and his men with light armor from below would have had a severe disadvantage. In contrast, his base in Aileu was located in the centre of the town. The town itself is surrounded by hills making it vulnerable to attacks not to mention a hostile population which only cooperated with him reluctantly.

When the Australian soldiers landed a number of SAS (Australia’s special forces) personnel were sent to guard him and for the first time he felt secure enough to move around Maubisse. The SAS soldiers, professionally trained and heavily armed, escorted him everywhere he went. He received many visitors, chief among them were the leaders of the opposition parties like PD, PSD, ASDT, KOTA and the unrepresented Trabalhista Party. A number of priests also visited him regularly.

In the ensuing days following the resignation of Mari Alkatiri which paved the way for the foreign minister José Ramos-Horta to be the prime minister, a law was passed making it a criminal offence for any non-military personnel to carry a weapon. Anyone found in possession of war material would be arrested immediately. Negotiations for weapons surrender followed and the handover ceremonies were staged. Rai Los and his men symbolically handed over their weapons in the town of Liquiça while openly exposing his handgun under his belt which he kept. That ceremony proceeded with the blessing of the Bishop of Dili, Mgr. Ricardo da Silva. In Maubisse Reinado and his men also “handed over” their weapons under the supervision of the Australian soldiers. In actual fact, the number of weapons handed were merely symbolic. Witnesses in Maubisse pointed out that the day after the supposed handover, Alfredo continued to sport a shotgun and a Steyr and the Australian soldiers didn’t seem to mind. Some of his men also carried riffles. In fact Reinado’s relationship with the Australian soldiers appeared to be very friendly while ignoring the presence of the supposedly illegal guns in his hands and those of his men.

But Reinado’s own vanity got the worst of him. Unhappy with his stay in the isolated town of Maubisse he decided to move to Dili where he could sip a latte at Dili’s City Café or participate in the nightlife at Acait, where Joe Gonçalves, a parliamentarian representing the PSD party runs a nightclub. He was spotted at these places regularly.

His move to Dili was facilitated by President Gusmão who ordered Reinado to occupy a house just a stone throw away from Australian army compound at Dili’s heliport. The only problem was that the house had an owner and it was being rented out to a Portuguese national who was away in Portugal. The tenant’s friend noticed that Alfredo and his men had occupied his friend’s house and confronted the illegal occupiers. When this failed, he called on the Portuguese GNR whom upon arrival at the house discovered an arsenal at Reinado’s disposal. The GNR moved on to arrest Reinado but this action was made difficult after the President and the Australians army officers intervened. After much negotiations, Reinado agreed to be arrested but not by the GNR. He wanted the Australian soldiers to arrest him and arrest him they did.

In Australia, the media credited the Australian soldiers for discovering the weapons stash and Reinado’s arrest. In reality, the actions of Australian soldiers were embarrassing and alarming to say the least. How is it that Alfredo Reinado and his men were able to keep this much stash right under their nose? What is the Australian army’s real job in Timor-Leste? Or was the Australian army protecting Reinado? Was there any special arrangement made between the Australian army and the renegade soldier? Is the Australian army acting independently in Timor-Leste and is performing its duty as peacekeeper? Or are they serving a different agenda? Nevertheless Reinado an a number of his men were thrown into the Becora prison.

About a month later, many people in Australia were anticipating an important documentary to be televised by SBS’ Dateline program. The documentary was produced by David O’Shea and John Martinkus. John Martinkus has had an extensive reporting experience in Timor-Leste as well as other conflict zones like Afghanistan and Iraq. O’Shea and Martinkus’ latest documentary was set to rewrite the chronology of how the events unfolded. Many people were nervous, including a lot of politicians in Timor-Leste. However before the documentary went to air in the evening, Alfredo Reinado, his men, plus up to 50 other inmates literally walked out of the prison. Of the fifty who walked with Reinado included convicted pro-Indonesia militia members who committed serious crimes in the period surrounding the referendum of 1999. The prison itself had been guarded by New Zealand soldiers whom mysteriously retreated from their posts two days earlier.

It is well known that the prison of Dili is nowhere near a high security prison and any prisoner can escape from it as easy as just walking out of the gate. The reason that no prisoners escaped so far is because the conditions and facilities inside the prison is far better than what any ordinary Timorese could afford outside. The prisoners don’t suffer from any physical or psychological abuse. On top of this, they also get regular meals, exercise and rest. The office of human rights and other NGOs constantly visit them to provide counseling and prevent any inmates from being abused. It is an admittable fact that Alfredo Reinado could have walked out anytime he wanted had the New Zealand soldiers not guarded the prison. Such action would cause major embarrassment o the New Zealanders, a close ally of Australia.

After Reinado and a group of men walked out of the prison, accusations were thrown at each other between the East Timorese leaders and the peacekeepers. The Prime Minister, Ramos-Horta, blamed the New Zealanders for leaving their posts without adequate warning. The New Zealanders blamed the ministry of justice for not having adequate guards to guard the prison. But questions continue to hang in the air. Why did the New Zealanders leave their posts? Was it a coincidence that Reinado chose to escape from prison just before the documentary went to air? Even Rai Los also disappeared from Dili the same time as Reinado.

Though the Australian army and the Timorese government under Ramos-Horta played dumb as to Reinado’s whereabouts, many people in the community knew his exact movements. The F-FDTL through their extensive network of informants within the grassroots community was constantly updated of his movements. Reinado walked out of the Becora prison and stopped briefly in Kulau, a village located at the extreme southeast corner of Dili, for a party where he was entertained for hours. Then he moved on to Remexio where the local priest gave him and the other escapees, including the convicted ex-militia members, a place to hide, food and some resting place. But some witnesses said that he became suspicious of the local priest and behaved irrationally, threatening to kill some members of the local community should his whereabouts were revealed. Feeling insecure in Remexio, Reinado decided to move on and this time he went to Same where his mistress, with whom he had an affair while doing his military course in Canberra the previous year, lived. Reinado has a child with this woman.

His stay in Same was as brief as news of his presence quickly spread. He also learnt that many in the local population were suspicious of him and some were openly hostile. It was apparent that everywhere Reinado went, he wasn’t being received with much sympathy. Some people immediately scorned him at the sight of him being escorted by the pro-Indonesian militia escapees. His final destination was Suai where Rui Lopes run a virtual feudal fiefdom. Rui Lopes used to head the local pro-Indonesia miltia responsible for one of the worst massacres in the referendum period. Rui Lopes continues to maintain close contacts with the Indonesian special forces, KOPASSUS, responsible for setting up the most violent pro-Indonesia militia groups in Timor-Leste. He also runs extensive illegal smuggling network across the border with the help of his former pro-Indonesia militia colleagues in West Timor. In Suai, Reinado finally found adequate protection for himself. He even became a speaker in a conference sponsored by Catholic church to mull the issue of “democracy, justice and reconciliation”. This conference was held in November of 2006.

A number of Australian army officers were also present at that conference. They were photographed with Reinado having a casual conversation. This is amid pledges by the Australian army that Reinado would be captured. In the end the Australian army’s excuse was that they did not want to cause any unnecessary violence. They wanted to “convince” Reinado to surrender peacefully.

But other photographs revealed a heavily armed Reinado. In one of them Reinado appeared with a light antitank weapons system (LAW system), a rocket launcher. This is after a weapons amnesty issued by Ramos-Horta’s government last year; after a handover ceremony supervised by the Australian soldiers; after being arrested with possession of illegal weapons under Australian soldiers’ noses; and after escaping from jail. It seemed that each time Reinado appeared with stolen guns and illegal weapons, the Australian soldiers were always nearby, yet no attempt was ever made to confiscate the weapons and arrest him. Coincidence? No. Some of Reinado’s followers in Suai openly boast of the good relationship this rebel has with the Australian soldiers. It is not a mystery in Suai as to the origin of the LAW system in Alfredo’s possession. The rocket launcher was a “present” from the Australian soldiers. Apparently Reinado made a special request to the Australian soldiers whom he also invited to attend the conference. Some more astute followers who quickly realized the potential embarrassment and other consequences that this type of revelation could bring, immediately rebuffed this and explained that the rocket was lent to Reinado briefly for a photo opportunity, and then returned. Evidently Reinado did not just want fancy photo of him holding a rocket launcher. He wanted to warn the F-FDTL, the East Timorese government and anyone else who might be after him what they will come up against. The only problem is, Reinado seemed to have forgotten that many soldiers in the F-FDTL had been veterans in the two-decade long guerrilla war against the all powerful Indonesian army, which had far superior weapons system compared to the rocket launcher in Reinado’s hands.

It is a common knowledge among many people in Suai that Reinado made a special request to his friends in the Australian army to bring him this rocket. Whether the Australian soldiers only brought him the one pictured with him cannot be confirmed. Whether he returned the rocket launcher to the Australian soldiers after this “photo opp” is also uncertain. But Reinado has been heard as saying that he won’t hesitate to use the rocket against anyone who threaten him.

Be that as it may, the prospect of having Australian peacekeepers working closely or even supporting a group against a democratically elected government is frightening and by any international standards, a criminal act an morally irresponsible.

This blog became the only medium that alerted the world on the seriousness of this latest development. This blog even speculated as to the origin of this rocket launcher and tried to connect it to Rui Lopes and his connection in West Timor as well as Australia’s criminal underworld. Whatever means might Reinado use to get his hands on these types of weapons, they are alarming developments and spelled a turn to worse in any effort to stabilize the nation.

Some media in Australia picked up the lead on this blog and made some lousy attempt to investigate the source of this rocket. The ADF put out a statement denying that the rocket ever originated from them. The Timorese government led by Ramos-Horta also made a timid attempt pretending that it was acting tough against the renegade soldier.

Predictably, the story died without any result. Where did Reinado get the rocket? No one knew or cared. The Australian government and the ADF serving in Timor-Leste were only too happy that lousy Australian journalism failed to uncover the source of the rocket. Australian journalists, safe for a handful brave ones, are notorious for treating any news media as entertainment rather than serious events reporting. They are only too happy to cover stories that are easy to investigate and posed no threat to their careers. The sensationalist ABC 4 Corners documentary which accused the former prime minister Mari Alkatiri or arming a hits quad but was later denied by an independent investigation, is a good example of this. Liz Jackson was briefed by Australian consular staff in Dili and was supplied with names and other leads for her story. It was little wonder that the whole events as portrayed in the documentary appeared theatrical. But Liz Jackson went on to receive an award for this documentary, a government sponsored award to recognize journalists who don’t ask too many questions, specially the most difficult ones like what were Australian embassy staff doing at Reinado’s base a day prior to his attack in Fatu Ahi? What did they talk about with former US ambassador Joseph Rees when they met him briefly at Reinado’s base in Dili? Why was the US ambassador to Timor-Leste replaced after Mari Alkatiri stepped down? Is it to prevent the ambassador from being questioned by the international independent investigation? What was a US army officer, whose previous posting was Venezuela in the period when the opposition groups there launched a failed coup attempt against President Hugo Chaves, doing mingling with the organizers of the anti-government protesters in Dili in June last year? This army officer had recently been shifted to Iraq. What were some Australian army officers doing mingling with the protest organizers in last years anti-government demonstrations? What is the Australian army’s relationship with the rebel group led by the disgraced former army major Alfredo Reinado? These are the questions are as relevant for Timor-Leste as well as for Australia.

While in Suai, Reinado crossed the border to West Timor more than once sometimes accompanied by some PD members namely the Suai PD coordinator. It is confirmed that Reinado spent his Christmas celebrations in the border town of Atambua in Indonesia’s West Timor with other former members of the feared pro-Indonesia militias groups. Recently however Reinado and his men moved to a village in Ermera. The official line is that Reinado will enter in an agreement with Timor-Leste’s justice system to have his case heard in a court in Gleno. However a similar legal jurisdiction also exists in Suai. Some sources point to the fact that he and Rui Lopes were constantly feuding prompting Reinado and his men to briefly relocate to Fatululik. Some of these feuds were premised over Rui Lopes’s support for the PSD party whereas Reinado wanted to maintain his independence. He felt that Lopes and many others were using him to get support for the PSD and PD parties. There have been a number of incidents where Reinado berated at party officials from PD and PSD. On top of this, Leandro Isaac was also actively pushing Reinado to distance himself from the PSD. However the real reason may not be known, at least for now.

Yet in Ermera, Reinado did not get a welcoming party. The village chief of Aifu protested his relocation to his village. To this Reinado ordered his men to arrest the chief and had him brought before Reinado to explain why he protested against their presence in his village. But protests became more vocal and many villagers were openly hostile.

The Australian soldiers were given the task of guarding him. They set up checkpoints around road accesses as well as putting up observation posts around Reinado’s compound. All this went on just as his legal process was underway to have his case heard in Gleno, Ermera’s main town, and in the background of the announcement for the election date set for April 9th. Still, Reinado and his group evaded their guards, once again.

It needs to be noted here that in the weeks before Reinado’s escape, Fretilin, under the leadership of Mari Alkatiri and Lu Olo, the so called “Maputo” group had held rallies in various districts around Timor-Leste. The first rally was held in Baucau which counted on more than 5000 participants. Mari Alkatiri led the rally. A week later a similar rally was held in Same with the same turnout and enthusiasm. Once again Mari Alkatiri led the rally. Also during this rally, the Fretilin members of Same nominated Lu Olo as Fretilin’s candidate for the upcoming presidential election. The rally in Same was followed by another in Ermera a week later. However this time the rally encountered problems as some of the petitioners intimidated the rally organizers and participants. Truck loads of participants from Bobonaro were also ambushed in the town of Atabae and were forced to turn back. After the rally other Fretilin members were attacked and intimidated. Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) Mariano Sabino, the secretary general of PD party lamented the amount of security protection provided for the Fretilin leaders, namely Alkatiri and Lu Olo. The fact that days before this rally took place, the Fretilin office in Ermera was burned to the ground and a man guarding this office was also murdered seemed of little relevance. Mariano Sabino never condemned this incidence due to the close relationship between the PD party and the army mutineers. The UN police arrested a number of army mutineers and charged them with arson and murder in relation to the attack against the Fretilin office in Ermera.

It is evident that the extent of relationship between the opposition parties like PD and PSD and the army mutineers, including renegade ex-soldier Reinado, is much deeper than a mere political alliance. The armed rebels are increasingly becoming PD and PSD’s armed wing. Nevertheless the rally in Ermera was followed by an even bigger rally in Oecusse last Saturday where more than 11,000 people attended and confirmed Lu Olo’s candidacy to the upcoming presidential election.

It leaves little doubt that Reinado and those who conspired with him saw this show of support as extremely threatening. The Fretilin leadership chose the districts of Same and Ermera as a testing ground to gauge their level of grassroots support. Although officially Fretilin says that the rallies were organized to elect Fretilin’s electoral observers. The show of support in Same was overwhelming although Ermera suffered setbacks due to violence and intimidation. In any case, the rallies left Alfredo with little choice except to act and once again plunge Timor-Leste into chaos in the hope that would affect Fretilin’s popular support.

So Reinado escaped from Aifu right under the Australian noses, picked up a car in Gleno and made his way to Atabae. From there drove on to Maliana where some of his co-conspirators allowed him and his friends into the Border Patrol Unit’s (BPU) post and cleaned up the armory. Then Reinado proceeded to Salele and raided a similar post there. From there Reinado and his group took the main road and drove through Ainaro and finally stopped in Same. He could not count on a visit to his mistress in Same and to see his illegitimate son as she wasn’t there. She may well has chosen to avoid seeing him. This made Reinado even more upset and edgy. President Xanana Gusmão and Prime Minister Horta then issued an order to capture him and requested the ISF (International Stabilization Force) to this effect. The Indonesian government was also requested to close the border in order to prevent a possible escape by Reinado to West Timor where some former pro-Indonesia militiamen have vowed to assist him.

Some important remarks need to be said about the actions of the Australian soldiers. The Australian contingency numbers more than 1000 soldiers, highly trained, equipped with the latest technology and aided by airpower, yet they are not able to keep tag on a small time army officer who has no military experience safe for a few months worth of training at, ironically, Australian defense force academy.

When the Australia soldiers landed in Timor-Leste, much of the community pinned their hopes on their presence. However hopes quickly evaporated as the violence continued and the Australians soldiers stood by and watched. The Australian soldiers either allowed, or failed to act to prevent, the violence from continuing prompting many more casualties and destruction as well as tit-for-tat confrontations. These confrontations continue to this day even as the context took on many different forms along the way.

Initially the Australian government pressured the East Timorese government to accept an arrangement whereby Australia would be in exclusive charge of the peacekeeping operations. But this pressure came to no avail after other countries like Portugal and Malaysia rejected it. The only leaders in Timor-Leste to support Australia’s move were President Xanana and Prime Minister Horta. The only sensible and acceptable arrangement is one that involves the peacekeeping forces coming under a multilateral institution namely the United Nations. Nevertheless a compromise was reached with the Australians retaining their own command and coming directly from Canberra. The Australian soldiers were also given the western district of Dili, which includes the airport, as its area of operation.

The fatal shooting of the East Timorese IDPs last week needs to be taken into the following context. The Australian soldiers have been perceived as acting in a partisan way soon after they were deployed by the community at large. They are also known to be deeply suspicious towards Fretilin, the Fretilin-led government or any Fretilin supporters. Somehow the Australian soldiers became convinced that all of the easterners are Fretilin supporters. The Australians are seen by many as having little sympathy towards the easterners. For example the Australian soldiers went to the eastern districts and asked the local population whether they supported Alkatiri or Xanana. They also tried to convince the community leaders in Lospalos that Alkatiri and his Fretilin were criminals and murderers like the former president Suharto. As much as Australian apologists try to play down or discredit this allegation, one only needs to travel to Lospalos and speak to the local population there what happened when the first Australian army helicopter landed last year. It is also a fact that a number of Australian army officers visited some inmates in prison hoping to get incriminating stories against Alkatiri and Fretilin.

The relationship between Australian soldiers and the F-FDTL is no better. Australian soldiers are known to refer to the F-FDTL personnel with contempt even to the point of hostility. A recent accident involving an Australian national and a F-FDTL truck in Dili where the former suffered life threatening injuries seemed to have compounded the Australian soldiers’ dislike of the East Timorese armed forces. Even more alarming is the perception within the Australian security forces in Timor-Leste that all easterners are allied with the F-FDTL (and Fretilin). Most of the IDP camps in Dili are housing mainly IDPs from the eastern districts and the biggest among them is the one located at Dili’s airport. The IDPs have had a long quarrel with the Australian soldiers over the handling of some of the disturbances registered in these camps. It is a common complaint against the Australian soldiers that they always targeted the IDPs instead of the real culprits. Often groups from outside the camp would attack the IDPs and the Australian soldiers’ reaction would be to arrest the victims instead of the perpetrators. The IDPs also suffer regularly from Australia’s heavy-handedness. Australian army and police would raid the camps with teargas unannounced and cause as much terror to the population as possible.

Brigadier General Matan Ruak and Lu Olo, Timor-Leste’s parliamentary speaker, have time and again criticized Australian actions even going so far as to have them investigated. Ruak and Lu Olo are two of the most prominent figures from the eastern districts. These latest deaths at the hands of the Australian soldiers need to be seen in this context and if this is the case then Timor-Leste should brace itself for more violence to come and perhaps ready itself to become a new Australian colony. More people will die in Australian hands. A desired course of action ought to be to place Australian soldiers under UN command just like the other contingents. Or to remove the Australian soldiers and have them replaced with soldiers from a neutral country.

This latest escape by Reinado and his men should not come as a big surprise. The Australian soldiers have proved regularly how little respect they have for the Timor-Leste democratic institutions and laws. They participated in the farce in Maubisse last year when Alfredo Reinado and his men supposedly handed over their guns. Then they allowed Reinado to hold a stash of weapon right under their nose. This is right after a weapons handover was supposed to have taken place under their supervision. The Australians soldiers even tried to complicate the attempt to arrest Reinado by the Portuguese GNRs. Next, their friends, the New Zealanders left their posts in Becora prison allowing Reinado to walk out with his men, including a number of convicted pro-Indonesia militiamen.

Their attempts to arrest Reinado is laughable and insulting to anyone’s intelligence to say the least. Rather, their relationship with Reinado points to the contrary of their supposed mission in Timor-Leste. When Reinado threatened to shoot Australian soldiers, the head of the Australian army in Timor-Leste and other politicians in Canberra paid lip service to calm Australian voters. Instead of arresting Reinado, the Australian soldiers actually brought him a present, a rocket launcher. It left to be wondered whether an Australian army guard was at all necessary to keep Reinado firmly put in Ermera. The fact that the Australian soldiers were present in Ermera for this end looks nothing more than show. There was no real effort to keep tag on Reinado, much less to arrest him. The signal from the Australian soldiers were clear, “if you want to get out of here you can. We will not try to stop you.” A few days later Alfredo Reinado and his men walked off.

In the context of Australian’s role in the war on terror, if Australian soldiers can’t even guard a small time rebel and his group or track him down and arrest him, what hope is there for Australian soldiers involved in the war on terror? What hope is there for Australian soldiers in locating and capturing Osama Bin Laden? What hope is there for Australian soldiers in keeping the peace in Iraq and dismantling the Al Qaida networks?

But, if the Australian soldiers are serving a different agenda other than that of peacekeeping, this criminal and immorally unacceptable. And what agenda is this? Helping one rebel group topple a democratically elected government? Using one rebel group to redraw the political landscape of an independent country? Regime change? The setting up of a puppet government that will tow Australian line? Another Fiji? Another Solomon Islands? Another Papua New Guinea? Either way, the Australian soldiers, far from contributing to the restoration and preservation of peace, law and order, are actually helping to destabilize the country even further.

At this moment Alfredo Reinado and up to 100 of his followers are resisting arrest and have barricaded themselves in a government building in Same. They are heavily armed and surrounded by Australian soldiers attempting to capture him. Like his previous base in Maubisse, the current compound where he and his men have barricaded themselves have similar strategic positions. The building, a former colonial residence housing the local administrator, is situated on top of a hill overlooking the town below. Reinado’s rhetoric have toughened and are aimed to his former patrons, President Xanana and Prime Minister Horta. He has vowed to fight to death rather than surrender. He called President Xanana Gusmão “stupid” and has promised to reveal “all”. Many people are hoping that Reinado makes it out alive for various reasons. One of them and perhaps the most important one is to make sure that his promise to tell all is carried out. If the attempt to capture him turned violent and casualties recorded, this has the potential of further destabilize Timor-Leste. Australian soldiers will bear the brunt for allowing or failing to prevent Reinado’s escape. If the Australians soldiers shot at and killed Reinado and any of his men, this would also place the soldiers at a very difficult position inside the East Timorese community at large. Already they are being regarded with much suspicion by the easterners. If the westerners also turned against them, this will open up a new chapter in Timor-Australia relations.

The people of Same in general are not sympathetic to Reinado and his men. Had the population some sort of sympathy, they would have mobilized to keep Reinado safe and away from the Australian soldiers. Reinado and his men would not have had to retreat and isolate themselves just to a small area of the town. Actually, when Reinado arrived in Same with his entourage and spoke to the some of the villagers, he was quickly attended to with a clear message that he needed to go somewhere else. Sensing that he could not trust the villagers fully, he retreated to the compound which was to become his stronghold. Other villagers outside of Same town, in particular the ones that lie on the main road like the village of Holarua have set road blocks to prevent anyone else from joining Reinado.

In the past threats to capture Reinado have never been made good. Australians soldiers seemed sympathetic to Reinado if not siding with him. At this point, whatever actions the Australians take will have a major impact on Timor-Leste’s stability. Reiado has openly defied and rejected his commander in chief, the President of the Republic. More and more East Timorese leaders are coming out to have this renegade captured, safe for some political opportunists like Leandro Isaac and members of the opposition parties. Perhaps President Xanana and Prime Minister Horta finally realized that the boy wonder they groomed has turned into a monster and is threatening to bring them both down.

Australian soldiers have since launched their attack on Reinado’s “stronghold”. Four of Reinado’s henchmen died in the assault while he and a dozen of his men escaped. So much for fighting to the death! It is deeply suspicious whether Reinado escaped or whether the Australians have allowed him to escape. Reinado’s best bet would be to give himself up to the Australians who would definitely look after him. If some of the villagers get their hands on him, it may be that he won’t live long enough to tell the tale of what happened and who conspired with him to bring Timor-Leste to its knees.

Australian soldiers kill IDPs at Dili’s international airport

2007-02-28T08:49:00.000+09:00

Last week at least three IDPs were shot at the IDP camp in Dili’s airport, two have been confirmed as fatal, the other one sustained a massive injury. One of the victims received a bullet to his head, the other was shot in his chest and another one on his leg. The first two died, one on site, the other one in hospital. One of the victims was actually related to a Timorese parliamentarian representing the Christian Democrats and a vocal Fretilin opponent.

According to ADF sources the Australian soldiers were responding to a disturbance at the IDP camp, located in the perimeter of Dili’s Nicolau Lobato Airport, before the shooting took place on Friday morning. The ADF statement went on to say that yhey “were attacked with steel arrows, which are potentially lethal weapons" and they defended themselves by firing back at their attackers. According to East Timorese witnesses however, the victim who died on the spot was apparently shot inside his tent. This tent had been erected near the razor fence as an observation post to monitor the raising water level that resulted from the recent rain. It appeared that the bullet hit the victim inside his tent and then he crawled outside to find alternative cover as he bled heavily and died. There are photo evidence which corroborate this account. The interior of this tent is soaked in blood and the tent itself is riddled with bullet holes.

This is the first confirmed fatality committed by Australian soldiers against any East Timorese. The fact that the victims came from the “lorosa’e” or the eastern part of Timor-Leste is even more significant. Last year’s crisis was created artificially on a supposed east-west divide by the East Timorese elite and their fellow co-conspirators abroad. The victims of this conspiracy were none more so than the population of Dili. It began with rumors perpetuated in Dili by Timor-Leste’s political elite and some Australian “academics” that the F-FDTL were siding with the eastern East Timorese to murder their western brethrens. When the Australian soldiers landed in Dili, the F-FDTL withdrew leaving the security in the hands of the Australians soldiers. Waves of reprisals ensued as the Australian soldiers, supposedly in charge of security, looked on. People were driven out of their homes and into IDP camps while others were killed in a wave of reprisals. The Australian soldiers took on a relaxed attitude in the face of the violence prompting many East Timorese, in particular the easterners, to suspect that their sympathies lied with the westerners. A large section of the Timorese community generally view the Australian soldiers with much suspicion and these deaths will only exacerbate their image in the community.

As to be expected, the reaction to this incidence has been significant and cannot be ignored. Anyone with a knowledge of the present situation in Timor-Leste, particularly in Dili, should take this particular reaction seriously. A group of organizations and individuals wrote a letter condemning the Australian soldiers’ actions. Some of the signatories of this letter included warring youth gangs like 77, PSHT, etc. The Australians soldiers have just become a catalyst, uniting these warring youth groups and have given them something else to throw their anger on. So what’s next? Australians soldiers hunting down members o 77 and PSHT and shooting them dead?

Comments from anonymous...

2007-01-19T12:49:00.000+09:00

and who can forget the political priests?

The political priests: Pe. Apolinário Guterres, Bishop Ricardo da Silva, Pe. Domingos Soares "Maubere" and Pe. Zeca.

First Alfredo has a past connected to Indonesia. He has strong present connections to former integrationists/ autonomists. Just question where he was staying in Suai.

Alfredo is a hero to those who will do anything to get rid of FRETILIN. Even if it means supporting a criminal for candidacy they will do it. These are former militias, pro-autonomist, people who have a historical dislike of FRETILIN just look at some priests they even support someone that is a criminal and belongs to jail. Timor is on the margins of ridicule because of people who have their own agendas instead of adhering to the interest of Timor Leste. These are the only ones, who will vote for Alfredo the clown, and lucky for Timor Leste they are a minority (a boisterous minority who think they have the people on their side even if the people have never voted for them)

Second he is wanted for murder. There is enough evidence to suggest this. His presence at Fatu Ahi was a provocation, he was there only for one thing and that is to start trouble in Timor Leste and try to get rid of all symbols of sovereignty, our legitimate government and the Parliament with a mandate form the people. This is a serious crime which in many other countries involves the death penalty.

Any lawyer would love the Dateline footage that clearly shows Alfredo shooting at FDTL soldiers without even being fired upon, how a person can defend himself if there was no act of aggression towards him. I did not see the FDTL counting to ten then shooting, I did not see the FFDTL boasting that a soldier was shot dead, good to see you smile at the camera.

People want justice but not the type of justice that is wielded with a gun. Alfredo is a thug with no history of even helping the Timorese resistance. He was lucky the Australian Army was in Timor if they were not there to provide him security well you could only guess what the people and FFDTL would have done to him.

Anyway because of the sake of Democracy I invite Alfredo to run for Presidency, I also invite the current President to run for Parliament and become the next Prime Minister, or Fernando Lasama, or Mario Carascalao, or any highly political priest in Timor. Try your luck!!!

Prime Minister Ramos-Horta does not want to shake hands with criminals

2007-01-18T21:31:00.000+09:00

I don't shake hands with criminals

Yes. You heard it. The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste does not want to shake hands with Alfredo Reinado because he doesn't want to be seen as protecting a criminal. In his own words as quoted in Adnkronos International Prime Minister Ramos-Horta said "I do not want my people to offend me and tell me that I am protecting a criminal."

Alfredo Reinado, a criminal

This is an extraordinary admission from Prime Minister Ramos-Horta that Alfredo Reinado is actually a criminal. I wonder when did this backflip take place? I personally think that Alfredo Reinado is a criminal but that is just me, an ordinary man without a name or a face. But the Prime Minister? Holder of a sovereign institution? Doesn't anyone deserve a fair trial anymore to decide whether he or she is innocent or guilty? I thought everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Instead the Prime Minister had just made the decision without due trial and Alfredo Reinado is in fact guilty and therefore a criminal. Poor Timor!

Prime Minister Ramos-Horta, do you have any advice for this guy?

Alfredo Reinado, Rui Lopes, M72 rocket launcher and media coverage

2007-01-15T06:45:00.000+09:00

Report on East Timor War Lords

Recently I published on this BLOG a number of sensational revelations. These revelations were picked by the media, but they provided no confirmation nor denial to some of these allegations. No one bothered to check with Alfredo Reinado and the rocket in his possession, its serial number, its origin, etc. Shame. In the end it is the East Timorese who will continue to live with uncertainty and among small armed gangs holding them at ransom. Shame!

One of the media reports also confirmed that one of the Lopes' brothers' is on bail for criminal activities which involves illegal drug manufacturing (similar to the ones rumoured to be present and in use in Dili, specially during the anti-government rallies last year) and illegal arms possession.

President Xanana Gusmao,
East Timor's Nelson Mandela
or Charles Taylor?

I am glad that this BLOG helped to alert the media to look into this white elephant in the room which everyone is trying their hardest to ignore. How can you look away when a deserter with the potential to plunge the country into abyssmal failure is pictured with a rocket launcher? I don't understand why has the authorities in East Timor, specially the UN and the ADF, are not taking the slightest of interest to uncover where and how Alfredo Reinado got the rocket launcher? And what about President Xanana? Shouldn't he be worried that his protége obtained such weapon? Or does he believe that the rocket launcher in Alfredo Reinado's hands is for defending the East Timorese'? From whom I wonder. East Timorese deserve better!!

Here are some of the articles:

The Age

Snapped one fugitive, one rocket launcher

Tom Hyland
January 14, 2007

EAST TIMOR'S fugitive rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, wanted for attempted murder and armed rebellion, has been photographed with a rocket launcher of the same type as those stolen from the Australian Army.

The picture was taken late last year, about the time Reinado attended a seminar in the presence of Australian troops, who have close and cordial relations with him despite his fugitive status.

The launcher on Reinado's shoulder is a light anti-armour weapon (LAW), of the same type issued to Australian troops in East Timor.

The weapons have been at the centre of a security scare in Australia, where stolen rockets allegedly fell into the hands of terrorists. NSW police are still trying to find six of the missing launchers.

News that Reinado, who escaped from a Dili jail last August, has his hands on a missile capable to disabling a tank or bringing down a helicopter has raised intriguing and alarming speculation in Timorese and security circles.

A security expert said it was possible the missile came from criminal sources in Australia.

And if Reinado had more than one of the rockets, it raised serious problems for Australian forces if they tried to move against him, the expert said.

A spokesman for Defence Minister Brendan Nelson denied Australian troops had allowed Reinado to pose with an Australian LAW.

Nor, he said, had the Australian Defence Force supplied such weapons to the East Timorese Defence Force, from which Reinado deserted last May as East Timor's security forces disintegrated and the country descended into political chaos. He said all the LAWs issued to Australian troops in Timor were accounted for.

Last month, the Government announced an audit of stocks of the LAW, which fires a 66mm missile, following thefts from Australian armouries.

This month, a Sydney man was charged with possessing stolen rockets. Police alleged the weapons were in the hands of a terrorist group that planned to use them to attack targets in Sydney, including the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor.

The Reinado photograph was taken in late November, when the rebel leader spoke in the town of Suai at a seminar to promote reconciliation attended by government and church leaders. In interviews at the time, Reinado boasted he had no intention of surrendering or handing over his weapons.

Australian officers also defended their decision not to arrest him, saying they were acting on the advice of the Dili Government, which hopes to entice the former major to surrender and avoid more bloodshed in the traumatised nation.

Theories abound as to where Reinado obtained the weapon.

An East Timorese blogger has speculated it may have come from Indonesian sources or even from criminal connections in Australia. An international security expert said neither East Timor's police nor army officially possessed LAWs, but it was possible such rockets had been obtained and never entered in official inventories.

It was also possible the launcher came from "across the border" in Indonesia or from Australian criminals.

It was unclear from the Reinado photo whether the launcher was armed. The LAW is a one-shot weapon, and the one in Reinado's hands could already have been fired or was a safe training model.

But if it was an armed weapon, and Reinado had more of them, "it's pretty serious", the expert said. "An LAW could shoot down a Black Hawk helicopter, no problem," he said.

LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFREDO REINADO

Former head of East Timor's military police

Deserted with 20 soldiers in May last year.

Abducted by Indonesian troops as a boy during occupation of East Timor and forced to work as an army porter.

Escaped to Australia by boat in 1995.

Returned to East Timor after its independence and in 2002 joined his country's new armed forces.

Arrested by Australian troops on firearms charges last year.

Led a mass escape from jail in August.

PS: Alfredo's wife and children was evacuated to Australia and has been living in Perth under strict security watch!!!

The Sydney Morning Herald

East Timor rebels obtain rocket launcher

Tom Hyland
January 14, 2007

EAST Timor's fugitive rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, wanted for attempted murder and armed rebellion, has been photographed with a rocket launcher of the same type as those stolen from the Australian Army.

The picture was taken late last year, about the time Reinado attended a seminar in the presence of Australian troops, who have close and cordial relations with him, despite his fugitive status.

The launcher on Reinado's shoulder is a light anti-armour weapon (LAW), of the same type issued to Australian troops in East Timor.

The weapons have been at the centre of a security scare in Australia, where stolen rockets are alleged to have fallen into the hands of terrorists.

The news that Reinado, who escaped from a Dili jail in August, has a missile capable of disabling a tank or bringing down a helicopter has raised alarm.

A security expert said it was possible the missile had been obtained from criminal sources in Australia.

If Reinado had more than one of the rockets, there would be serious issues for Australian forces if they tried to move against him, the expert said.

A spokesman for Defence Minister Brendan Nelson denied Australian troops in contact with Reinado had let him pose with an Australian LAW.

Nor had the Australian Defence Force supplied such weapons to the East Timorese Defence Force, from which Reinado deserted in May as East Timor's security forces disintegrated and the country descended into political chaos.

The spokesman said all LAWs issued to Australian troops in Timor were accounted for.

This month a Sydney man was charged with possessing stolen rockets. Police said the weapons were in the hands of a terrorist group that planned to use them to attack targets in Sydney, including the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor.

The Reinado photo was taken in late November, when the rebel leader spoke at a seminar in the town of Suai, also attended by government and church leaders and aimed at promoting reconciliation.

In interviews at the time, Reinado boasted he had no intention of surrendering himself or his weapons.

Australian officers also defended their decision not to arrest him, saying they were acting on the advice of the Dili Government, which hopes to entice the former major to surrender and avoid more bloodshed.

Speculation abounds as to where Reinado obtained the weapon.

It was unclear from the photo whether the launcher was armed. LAWs are a one-shot weapon, and the one in Reinado's hands could have been fired and now useless.

But if the weapon was armed, "it's pretty serious", the expert said.

AAP

The South East Asian Times

Police discount rockets as supplied from Australia

Darwin, January 15: The Australian Federal Police do not believe anti-tank rockets in the possession of East Timor fugitive Alfredo Reinado were among those stolen from the Australian army.

An AFP spokesperson delivered the Australian national police force’s verdict when The Southeast Asian Times asked if a rocket launcher displayed in a photograph of the major could be one of the stolen weapons early last week.

The spokesman did not say how the AFP had reached its decision; nor did he say if Reinado’s possessing of the weapons had been investigated.

The possibility of the weapons having been stolen from Australia was raised in the weekend edition of the mass-circulation Sydney-based newspaper, The Sun Herald.

Major Alfredo Reinado was a key player in the violence that helped destabilise the East Timor government in May-June when the Australian-trained soldier led deserting troops and was accused of sparking the civil unrest that killed 21 people. Reinado’s shipping of arms into the mountains beyond Dili was known in Australia the evening it happened.

The story by an Australian Associated Press correspondent says Reinado had been photographed with a rocket launcher of the same type as those stolen from the Australian Army.

The photograph — published in previous editions of The Southeast Asian Times — was taken about the time Reinado- who escaped from a Dili jail in August - attended a Roman Catholic-Church-sponsored seminar in Suai, about 138 kilometres southwest of Dili in November.

Australian soldiers at the seminar made no effort to arrest him although he is wanted for murder and rebellion.

The Australians said the decision not to arrest the major followed advice from the East Timor government who wanted the fugitive to surrender without bloodshed.

The light anti-armour weapon is of the same type issued to Australian troops in East Timor.
The AAP correspondent quoted a spokesman for Defence Minister Brendan Nelson as having denied Australian troops in contact with Reinado had let him pose with an Australian anti-tank rocket.

Nor had the Australian Defence Force supplied such weapons to the East Timorese Defence Force and all such weapons issued to Australian troops in Timor were accounted for.
Police have charged Taha Abdul Rahman, 28, of south western Sydney with having supplied five of the Light Anti-Armour Weapons to one of the men arrested in anti-terrorism raids in Sydney last November.

Earlier, an AFP spokesman told Fairfax newspapers it was “common sense” to assume agents were searching for the rocket launchers in Victoria because known Islamist terrorist g cells were in Melbourne and Sydney’s southwest.

The AFP spokesman also discounted the likelihood that designer drugs made in Darwin had been distributed to youths promoting violence in East Timor, especially the capital Dili.

The AFP was asked about the possibility after a raid on an East Timorese-owned enterprise in the industrial suburb of Winnellie on June 30 last year.

The raid had been organised by the Northern Territory police, he said.

Forty two members of the Northern Territory Police, the AFP and Australian Customs arrested Ruy Miguel Lopes, 37, who was charged with possessing methyl amphetamine powder; liquid amphetamines and 5.8 litres of the date rape drug GHB.

Police reports say various types of unsecured firearm ammunition and about $30 000 in cash — believed to be tainted property - was also found and seized.

Lopes is now free on $A2000 bail but his lawyer, former Country Liberal Party member of the Legislative Assembly, Peter Maley, has twice told magistrates that his client will plead guilty at a formal lower court hearing in March.

The Lopes family is reported to have extensive investment in Suai.

Northern Territory police superintendent Peter Gordon said the Winnellie premises was used as the distribution hub for the drugs that were likely to be destined for the domestic market.

A member of the Lopes family - Rui Lopes — was prominent in the demonstrations against former prime minister Mari Alkatiri.

In August, he told a reporter from the SBS Dateline programme “We are ready to die, we’re ready to defend, and ready to kill.”

Rui Lopes, former pro-Indonesia
militia thug and "ready to kill."

Various Australian newspapers, including The Australian, have reported suspicions that members of the Dili gangs were given designer drugs and money to fuel their activities.

The source of one front-page story in the national newspaper, The Australian, was from within prime minister Jose Ramos Horta’s office.

The Southeast Asian Times

For Timor-Deste...

2007-01-11T12:49:00.000+09:00

Este comentário era para (o blog do) Timor-Deste respondendo ao post entitulado "ALKATIRI NOVAMENTE INCRIMINADO". Mas como já sabemos que não iria ser publicado, decidí pó-lo aqui. Espero que o bom moderadór o publique.

começa:

Voces falam como o Alkatiri fosse o homem todo poderoso em Timor, e que até tem mais poder do que o proprio Xanana, e os bispos, e que todo o que o Alkatiri comanda é feito. Afinal quem é o Alkatiri? Um muçulmano no seio de uma população de maioria esmagadora cristã, um árabe que nem tem nenhum raíz timorense, um homem que passou mais anos a viver fora do que dentro de Timor, um homem que tem mais inimigos do que amigos, um home que faz inimigos tão facilmente, ... e este é o homem que nas vossas imaginações tem poderes tão incríveis como o Suharto? A não ser que o Alkatiri fosse um milionário e que anda a pagar pessoas para fazer os trabalhos sujos dele. Mas um milhão tenho a certeza que ele não tem. E se ele já tivesse pago muita gente para fazer estes tipos de trabalho, tenho a certeza que já deviamos ter ouvido algo de muitas pessoas a acusá-lo de ter feito isto. Agora nem a acusação de ele ter dado a ordem para a distribuição de arma pega nele. Nenhuma pessoa se apresentou a acusando o de ter distribuido dinheiro às pessoas para criar confuzões ou de ameaçar outras pessoas para se calarem. Até de ele ter ameaçado o Railo a dizer o contrário. Estas acusaões absurdas e meia imaginativa só se podem ter vindo de pessoas que não batem bem na cabeça ou pessoas fingidas a quem só tem como interesse a defeza dos seus ideais preconceituosas e nada a ver com os interesses do povo timorense. Quando a verdade sai finalmente, vamos ver mais outra vez pessoas como vocês a fingir e a virar tudo ao contrario porque nunca mais vocês vão aceitar que tudo que vocês têm imaginado são falsas e não tem nenhum base.

Vocês são tão mentirosos como o Railos que agora tem que virar a palavra tudo ao contrário. Dantes jurava que tinha ouvido as palavras directamente da boca do Alkatiri. Agora até admite que nem o Rogerio Lobato lhe deu estas ordens, que foi o seu chefe do gabinete. Granda merda.

E este Alfredo? Afinal ele não é assim tão aceitado como vocês andam a falar por ai. Afinal algumas pessoas de Ermera nem o querem lá e manifestaram contra a presença dele alí. E oque o Alfredo fez? Raptou um chefe de aldeia para perguntar porquê é que fizeram uma manifestação contra ele. E este Alfredo diz que está a defender a democracia e a justiça. Que vergonha. Estou a ver, depois de ter passado muitos anos na Indonésia, Alfredo dever ter aprendido com o Suharto de como lançar um golpe de estado e ser um ditador. Que grande porra.

Yes. Timor-Deste is one of those BLOGs that only admit favourable comments to their position or any comments that are aimed at damaging Fretilin. This BLOG only publishes rubbis and I suspect it's being maintained in Portugal by people connected to PD. The last BLOG posted is obviously deceiving because the report presents something quite to the contrary of what actually took place. These people are trying to deceive themselvs by telling themselves lies that even they don't believe it themselvs. It a twisted little world that they live in. I hope they stay there.

Yet another response for Fitun Lotuk Lemorai

2007-01-11T12:47:00.000+09:00

The comment above (by Fitun Mutin Lemorai) is just a lot of bull shit.

The international independent investigators did not find eny evidence of Mari Alkatiri giving orders to distribute the weapons and even less to kill his political opponents. Only in your wildest and frustrated dreams can you come up with such allegation which have been dismissed by an international panel. Yesterday even Railos denied that Alkatiri ever gave him such orders.

But apparently your good friend Alfredo Reinado, the self declared defender of truth and justice and defender of the peope (you would have to ask where he was hiding when Indonesia massacred East Timor for 25 years) wasn't very happy when he visited Ermera on Monday. Some people there (ten or less, drunk or sober, but unhappy citizens nevertheless voicing their discontent) rallied against his presence. And what did Alfredo do? He arrested a village chief and a number of other people from Aiphu and questioned them why they protested against him. This he did while a rebel soldier fighting against a supposedly dictatorial and oppressive government. Can you immagine if Alfredo had been the head or the army or even worse the head of the government? And where did Alfredo learn all this? Indonesia and then Australia. So typical.

And for people like you, the neo-colonial minded anglophiliacs, only in your twisted little mind can you even suggest that Timor would be better become a protectorate of the US and Australia. Look at what the US did in the Philippines? A toxic waste dumpsite and then a country marred with decades of dictatorship. The Philippinos finally liberated themselves from the dictatorship and also the US bases there. Good on them.

Protectorate of Australia? Like the PNGs? Like the Aborigines?

Look at all the former Anglo-Australian colonies in the South Pacific. What became of them? Is this what you want East Timor to be?

Ofcourse you do because you are like one of those people who stand to gain the most if East Timor became a protectorate of Australia or the US. Here in Australia I see many wealthy and successful Aborigines. But these people are in the small minority and claim to represent the Aborigines. In fact the vast majority of the Aboriginal communities here in Australia live in states worse than many third world countries. Yes. It would be good if Timor became a protectorate of Australia, but only good for you and not the East Timorese.

I know people like you who have a lot of miconception and preconceptions but always refuse to have some self reflection and self correction. You are probably educated in the English speaking culture and you think you are the best in the world. Look around you. All of the countries that speak English are miserable debt ridden third world countries which are continually exploited by their English speaking mentor countries like UK, USA and Australia.

Yes these people like Alkatiri and others have been living in Africa for a long time. But you also forgot that your good friend Ramos-Horta and Jose Luis Guterres have also once been Africans. Your friend Ramo-Horta actually belted a child near his Areia Branca mantion just a few days ago. So much for a Noble laureate.

You say Alkatiri and the rest brought in the worst from Africa. I say that thanks to their experience in Africa, they brought East Timor towards more independence than ever. I am proud for the fact that East Timor is among the few countries, though poor, has no debt. If these people had been corrupts and copied their friends in Africa, the first thing they would do would be to get loans from all over the place to embezzle the money. I have no doubt that Alfredo, the Australian trained soldier, or people like you, would do things like these much like your friends in the English speaking Africa and South Pacific. I am also proud of the fact that Alkatiri because of his vision negotiated successfully for East Timor's rights to the Timor Sea resources under the circumstances. And where did he learn all this? Africa? Who cares?

So the trial or Rogerio Lobato is going on and slowly truth is beginning to emmerge. In the past Railos had been interviewed by sympathetic journalists who only asked questions for their own conviniences. Now people like Railos are being grilled in a court of law and are exposing themselves of how deceitful they have been. Railos has denied that he received the order to distribute weapons directly from Alkatiri, something which he has always maintained and used in the ABC 4 Corners program to deepen the crisis in East Timor. Soon Alfredo will also have to appear in court. This proves that Railo is a layer if not working under someone's order. But I don't think he will because he is a coward, just like the way he made the surprise attack against the F-FDTL soldiers in Fatu Ahi.

The independent investigation has dismissed the allegations that the weapons distribution was for the purpose of eliminating political opponents. But the investigators also found that weeks before the crises, police weapons have been transferred to three key locations, in Ermera, Aileu and Liquisa.

What does this prove if not a planned attack to force the government out? That sections of the police force is in cahoots to stage a coup? If I was Rogerio Lobato who lost the confidence in the police force and in Paulo Martins and I discovered that the police was moving guns around, what would I do? I would exactly that. I would arm a militia to protect the government. And this is Rogerio Lobato's defense today and it is legal under East Timor's law. Unfortunately for Rogerio Lobato, he trusted a crook like Railos.

As for Taur Matan Ruak. I have nothing else to say except that this man is a living hero. For a man who spent most of his adulthood fighting an army in the bush deserves nothing but my utmost admiration. For a man his size, he stands taller than Xanana and Horta put together. This man truly has charisma that is why he was able to prevent the F-FDTL from reacting any further which could have caused much more bloodshed. Taur Matan Ruak for president and you will see East Timor finally head towards some good sense and finally independence. Under Xanana Republic, East Timor has become the example of a Banana Republic. Taur Matan Ruak for President.

Fitun Mutin

Agreed.

Another response to Fitun Lotuk Lemorai

2007-01-11T12:44:00.000+09:00

To Fitun Lotuk Lemorai (1:26 AM)

You are a real fool- some of the things you say are so ignorant and uneducated you have to wonder where you received your education.

Timor Leste become a protectorate of Australia- absolutely no way! Long live the independence of Timor Leste- there is no way any nationalist Timorese would ever allow Timor to be dominated by foreigners.

Lobato is in court as we speak, so we'll see how the trial goes. And by the way, Railos won't bring any evidence to implicate Alkatiri because he doesn't have any.

You must be a PD or PSD supporter... perhaps instead of insulting people you should focus on your own party and policies- but going from your comments you aren't even smart enough or educated enough to develop any policies and would be happy to sell Timor Leste to foreign powers. You are the one that has a lower IQ than a monkey- perhaps should be swinging in the trees and eating bananas....

Yes. Agreed. Long live independent Timor-Leste!!! Fitun Lotuk should just move to Australia like Alfredo Reinado's wife.

Comments: plain ignorance like this one from Fitun Lotuk Lemorai

2007-01-11T12:29:00.000+09:00

There won't be any sensors in this BLOG so comment on what you like and how you want it.

But this comment belos from someone pretending to be Fitun Lotuk Lemorai, I find it absolutely laughable. The commentator is typical of those people who are frustrated because their plans are slowly unravelling.

Who is not a criminal in East Timor now?

Rui Lopes, Lino Lopes, Nemesio Carvalho and Alfredo Reinado are described by the writer as criminals, thugs, Indonesian underbows, militia leaders, and etc. etc. But by seeing the actual political situation in East Timor where the officials in the government in Power like Mari Alkatiri and Rogerio Lobato forming gangsters to kill his own brothers who choose to become opponents in a free democratic country like East Timor, aren't these people more criminal than people like Rui Lopes and Alfredo Reinado? What is wrong in Nemesio's position or Lasama's position to urge people to stage a rally or a demostration. Isn't it a legal act in democracy?

This is a load of monkey poo!!! The international independent investigation dismissed any rumours that a "hit squad" was ever formed to elliminate Fretilin or Alkatiri's political opponents. And during Railos appearance in court, when questioned he even denied ever having received any order from Alkatiri to do such a thing. Only people like who are so frustrated because it seemed that nothing you threw on Fretilin stuck to it, would be so paranoid and so irresponsible for making allegations like this one and like the one about F-FDTL committed a maasacre in Tasi Tolu.

So go play with monkeys. Alfredo Reinado is and continues to be a thug and a warlord. Rui Lopes is a thug and a criminal. The Lopes family in Australia is still a suspect in how the M72 got to Reinado's hands. Nemencio de Carvalho is still the former militia leader who coordinated some of the worst militia violence in East Timor. Lasama and his wife are responsible for spreading the rumour that F-FDTL committed a massacre in Tasi Tolu.

Rebel bikie linked to rocket launcher theft

2007-01-09T20:31:00.000+09:00

THE LINKS:

Alfredo Reinado - Rui Lopes - Lino Lopes - Rebel biker gang in Australia - Almerio Lopes' children in Sydney - weapons thieves!!!

SOMEBODY PLEASE ALERT THE AUTHORITIES!!!

Natalie O'Brien
09 January 2007

POLICE investigating an alleged terrorist plot using stolen Australian army rocket launchers hope to arrest more suspects, including a member of Australia's biggest outlaw motorcycle gang.

The Rebels bikie from Sydney's southwest is one of several people suspected of playing a part in a stolen weapons trail leading to alleged Sydney arms dealer Taha Abdulrahman and his clients - one of whom is a terror suspect.

It is believed that police are getting closer to a number of further arrests in connection with the illegal sale of the anti-tank weapons, which police allege were intended to be used to attack targets including the American Express headquarters in Sydney.

Mr Abdulrahman, 28, was arrested and charged on Friday with 17 offences, including unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised supply of a prohibited weapon. The charges relate to five shoulder-mounted, anti-tank rocket launchers among seven allegedly stolen from the army. Police have recovered one of the launchers after cutting a deal with Sydney underworld figure Adnan Darwiche, who is serving a double life sentence for murder.

It has been revealed that the Darwiche family, which was caught up in a string of shootings in western Sydney stemming from a feud with the rival Razzak family, had access to some of the rocket launchers.

Five of the stolen rocket launchers are believed to have been sold to a Sydney man who is now facing terrorism charges.

Community sources have told The Australian that a member of one Middle Eastern crime family has privately boasted of possession of at least one rocket launcher.

Police said last week that Mr Abdulrahman had no immediate connections to the Australian Defence Force and that no ADF members were said to be under investigation at this point. But the focus of the police investigation is now on how the weapons were moved from the army to the Rebels, Mr Abdulrahman and then into the hands of a potential terrorist cell.

The AFP yesterday declined to comment.

But NSW Police Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism Nick Kaldas said the arrest last week of Mr Abdulrahman was "one phase of the operation".

"It is by no means the end of the investigation. A number of significant lines of inquiry are being actively pursued and that effort will be sustained until the matter is resolved," Mr Kaldas said.

Mr Abdulrahman is accused of knowing several of the 23 terror suspects arrested in Sydney and Melbourne in late 2005 during the nation's biggest counter-terrorism sweep, known as Operation Pendennis.

But how he may be allegedly linked to the Rebels bikie gang is still being investigated.

In recent years there has been a rise in the number of Middle Eastern Australians joining motorcycle gangs, but experts say they have been mainly swelling the ranks of rival clubs, such as the Nomads.

Former federal agent turned academic Michael Kennedy said the links between the Rebels and the Middle Eastern community in southwest Sydney were likely to be more entrepreneurial.

Dr Kennedy said the Rebels members would know "someone" who would know someone else who could move the weapons on the black market.

Last week, police said they would allege one of the 66mm portable rocket launchers was destined to be fired at a Sydney target.

Australia's only nuclear reactor and the Australian headquarters of American Express in Sydney were touted as among the likely targets for Mr Adbulrahman's alleged terrorist clients.

The country's intelligence and spy agencies are conducting a nationwide audit of the defence forces' weapons and munitions stocks.

REPLY to the commensts on "How did Alfredo Reinado get his hands on the LAW M72 rocket launcher?"

2007-01-08T12:19:00.000+09:00

Thank you to all of you who replied to this the post "How did Alfredo Reinado get his hands on the LAW M72 rocket launcher?" Here are my answers.

Alfredo Reinado. Defending whose interests?

Thank you for alerting me that the man pictured with the Styer is Leandro Isaac and not Joe Goncalves. I have always confused these two men who belong to the same PSD party, although Leandro was later expelled. Leandro Isaac is more of a talker, brutish and a thug who throughout his time working for his Indonesian bosses was wellknown for his disrespect for women while having abused many of them. He is also wellknown for his ability to study the political atmosphere which provided him with sound judgements as to when he should dissociate himself with a group and jump on to the next thus saving himself. He quickly switched side when Suharto fell from power and became a CNRT activist. I was very much surprised when I saw Leandro Isaac next to Xanana when the later returned to Dili for the first time after the referendum. He then joined PSD because he thought with the backing of Xanana and Mario Carrascalao's supposed figure would bring PSD to power. But after serving briefly with the PSD as one of its deputies, Leandro Isaac started his courtship with Fretilin, the party in power, and began to distance himself from PSD. Later on the PSD expelled him from the party. It was obvious that Leandro Isaac may have smelled an imminent victory in the conspiracy to force Fretilin from office and quickly joined the conspirators, even going as far as leading the attack against Taur Matan Ruak's reidence.

What is wrong with picture? From L-R: Taur
Matan Ruak, Xanana Gusmao and Leandro Isaac.

Joe Goncalves on the other hand lived in Melbourne before moving on to live in Cairns. He is quieter and is PSD's English speaking spokesman. Joe Goncalves is more entrepeneurial, most notably his restaurant/nightclub based in Acait. One has to ask whether his restaurant business right next door to the government offices and the parliament building conflict with his position as a member of parliament? Still, it remains a fact that Alfredo Reinado has links to Joe Goncalves through his ex-wife in Melbourne who facilitated Reinado's legal battle to stay in Australia while he was still living in Melbourne. Alfredo Reinado regularly visits Joe Goncalves' ex-wife whenever he can during his stay in Australia. Alfredo Reinado is also a regular at nightclubs set up by Joe Goncalves and his current wife, specially the one established at Acait. Alfredo is also in friendly terms with Joe Goncalves, politically or otherwise.

The Acait building next to the government palace,
behind of which Joe Goncalves and is wife runs a
restaurant and a nightclub frequented on a regular
basis by Alfredo Reinado.

Thank you also to the poster who alerted me that Rui Lopes was never a member of UDT but was an APODETI supporter. I have always thought that his family provided the UDT with a base in Suai. Be that as it may, this does not change the fact that this man was a thug and a criminal of the same category as Joao Tavares (UDT commander during the civil war in 1975) under Indonesian occupation. The difference between Rui Lopes and Joao Tavares is that while Joao Tavares remained true to his "ideals", Rui Lopes was more of an opportunist. When he and his family relized that under an independent East Timor they woul loose their power and privileges, they quickly supported the anti-independence supporters, in this case APODETI. But when the Suharto regime was on the way down in late 1990s, and that the prospect of independence was inevitable, his support shifted to the pro-independence side, an attitude prevalent with many of East Timor's current figures like the Carrascalao family, some members of the Alkatiri family, Leandro Isaac, Tomas Goncalves, Joao Mariano Saldanha, Francisco Kalbuadi, and many others. Joao Tavares on the other hand remained true to what he had always supported. To this, Tavares deserves some credit. But Rui Lopes is the epitome of the greedy, thuggish and the ruthless criminal, the classic example of an opportunist whose only interest is himself at the expense of others. In Suai he and his family can be characterized as the local war lord or the godfather, constantly bullying the Suai community much in the same way as he and his family did during the Indonesian or the Portuguese period.

Xanana and Joao Tavaras. Too close for
comfort?

General Wiranto. Wanted?

But, isn't love beautiful?

It also remains a fact that Rui Lopes amassed his wealth serving his Indonesian military bosses during Indonesian occupation, while his mestizo family received many privileges during Portuguese colonial period which provided them with wealth and a power base. Rui Lopes headed a pro autonomy militia in Suai, the feared Laksaur militia group which was involved in the massacre at a Suai church. He was the thug who worked for the Indonesian military to keep the Suai community towing the Indonesian line.

Rui Lopes still maintains his links to the remnants of the militia groups in West Timor, where he also pays regular visit. These remnants of the militia groups are armed and are protected by top figures in the Indonesian military. They have vowed to retake East Timor back to Indonesian fold, or at least the western border regions. Not that there is any idealism behind this push to bring East Timor back to Indonesia, it is purely driven by their greed to recover their privileges lost when their Indonesian masters were defeated by the East Timorese in the referendum.

This relationship which Rui Lopes maintains with his friends in the Indonesian military, whom continue to be his financial backer in their effort to destabilise independent East Timor, and his relationship with the remnant militia groups also cover illegal activities around the border area, from gun running to drug trafficking, sandalwood smuggling, prostitution and the illegal importation of taxable goods such as fuel, tobacco and other goods.

Today Suai has become a district with the highest number of prostitutes at work. While Joao Tavares has been expelled from Maliana and Tomas Goncalves is reduced to a nobody living in Dili, Rui Lopes maintained his powerbase in Suai. Rui Lopes uses his power and influence to exploit women in Suai and is profitting from the local prostitution. He is the local Pimp.

It also remains a fact that Rui Lopes' brother, Lino Lopes, who lives in Darwin is well known for his criminal activities. The Australian police has a file on him, while one of his sons regularly spends his time in jail for activities ranging from assault with lethal weapons to drug trafficking. Lino Lopes is part of a criminal network established in the Northern Territory which involves biker gangs and other feared mafia groups. It also remains a fact that one of Rui Lopes' nephews is a drug addict who grew up in the Sydney's western suburbs and has contacts with local criminal gangs. He may have become the point of contact between the weapons thieves, Lino Lopes in Darwin and Rui Lopes in East Timor ensuring the LAW M72 ending up in Alfredo Reinado's possession.

It also remains a fact that Alfredo Reinado escaped with a number of militia convicts. Just what is his relationship with these escapees is anyone's guess. But if I were fighting for truth and justice for the East Timorese, the last thing I want to do is to help, or create a condition which, these convicted ex-militias to escape. The fact that Alfredo Reinado chose Suai and Rui Lopes' farm as his hideout is chilling. Helping ex-militias to escape and then making friends with a former militia figure who maintains links with the remnants of the militia in West Timor as well as corrupt Indonesian military officials is definitely not in the interrest of truth and justice for the East Timorese. If these militia escapees have not already crossed the border to West Timor, then they are somewhere in East Timor just waiting for the perfect moment to exact their revenge and ultimately bring East Timor to God knows where. So no prize for guessing where these ex-militia escapees may be hiding. I doubt that they have gone back their villages because they know the only welcome party that will receive them is a linch mob. But hiding in the farm of a militia friendly thug and under the protection of self declared "freedom" fighter who stole state weapons and took up arms against the state but is protected by the president himself, is not a choice worth contemplating.

Alfredo Reinado meeting his "supreme
commander" in an attempt by president
Xanana to mediate between him and
the government.

It also remains a fact that a number of LAW M72 rocket launchers were stolen from Australia's defence department. Most of them are still missing. These rocket launchers disappeared just before pictures of Alfredo Reinado bearing one of them surfaced. Coincidence? Maybe. Although the links I presented here are circumstancial, it remains of paramount importance that an investigation the origins of the M72 rocket launcher in Alfredo Reinado's possession be conducted. The PNTL and the F-FDTL don't have this type of weapon in their inventory. The Australian Defence Force in active duty in East Timor doesn't have one. The Portuguese contingent doesn't have one. Yet, LAW M72, an anti-tank weapon, is a rocket launcher designed to pierce a tank's armour and destroy it as well as its occupants. Maybe it was a leftover Indonesian military inventory. But why would the Indonesian army have an anti-tank missile in East Timor where they were the only forces that owned tanks or could even man one effectively (in case the FALINTIL guerilla stole one)? What would such weapons be of use in East Timor? The only military force in East Timor with tanks are the Australian military. Was this weapon destined against Australian armoured vehicles or APCs? Did Alfredo Reinado deliberately pose with a M72 to show the Australians of what they would come up against if they decided to arrest him? But more importantly how did he get the M72? How many M72 is in his possession?

Alfredo Reinado and the M72. How did he get it? How many does
he have? Does anyone care?

Australian APCs in East Timor. Possible targets?

A commentator also alerted me that the one pictured with Alfredo Reinado is a used one, meaning, once the cap is opened and part of the rocket extended, you cannot put it back. You have to fire it. The the type pictured with Alfredo Reinado is usually used only for training purposes. That the pictured weapon is either a used launcher without a rocket or one that is just waiting to be fired. But this is largely irrelevant. The question ought to be how Alfredo Reinado came to possess such a weapon given the possibility that it may have been brought into East Timor legally has been eliminated. Or perhaps the Alkatiri government smuggled it in to elliminate Fretilin's opponents, yet the recent independent investigations dismissed rumours of illegal weapons purchase (the so called missing containers) by the Alkatiri government.

So it remains a matter of urgency that the UN, the East Timor government and the ADF verify this particular inventory in Alfredo Reinado's arsenal, how many there are, how he got them, who supplied them, etc. How he came to be in possession of the M72 will reveal a turn to the worse in efforts to make East Timor a viable and peaceful state.

The much publicized "handover" of weapons
by Alfredo Reinado and his men under
the auspices of the ADF. Weeks later
Alfredo was arrested and imprisoned
for weapons possession.

My suspicion still lies with Rui Lopes and his networks in Australia. Could it have come through him? There is after all a possible motive behind why Rui Lopes is so keen to see the back of Fretilin and aid Fretilin's political opposition. Rui Lopes wants to re-establish his power and influence in East Timor the same way he had them under Indonesian rule. Rui Lopes wants a return of his fiefdom to facilitate his criminal activities and his powerful and privileged stance in the Suai community much like what he enjoyed under Indonesian period. Furthermore, East Timor is in a strategic location for any kind of illegal trafficking between Australia, Indonesia and Asia. A weak East Timor with corrupt officials is just the perfect set up for people like Rui Lopes and his contacts in Australia and Indonesia to establish their criminal enterprises. When you have corrupt Indonesian military officials maning the border, Rui Lopes effectively running Suai (and now with the help of his mate Alfredo Reinado), his brother Lino Lopes and his criminal networks in the Northern Territory, Rui Lopes financing some figures in the East Timorese political establishment who are potential leaders of the country, and you have the perfect blend to turn a country into a failed state run by thugs, war lords and the criminal underworld. At the same time the Indonesian military figures who never wanted to see East Timor independent from Indonesia will also feel vindicated.

It should not come as a surprise that former militia figures like Rui Lopes and Nemencio de Carvalho chose to side with the anti-government protesters to bring East Timor to a stand still for they have much to gain from this. A failed East Timor will not only to vindicate their political views and those of their former Indonesian military masters, but ultimately it would also make it a perfect ground for their criminal activity. The fact remains that Rui Lopes did not only provide the logistical and financial part int the anti-government protests, he and Nemencio de Carvalho also provided their men to boost the number of protesters, causing much of the disturbance, destruction and violence which nearly brought East Timor to its knees. A failed East Timor will usher in a state where thugs like Rui Lopes, Nemencio de Carvalho and Alfredo Reinado can establish a free reign and a powerbase for their criminal activities, linking them up to their counterparts in Indonesia, Australia and the rest of the world. Forget Rogerio Lobato. He sided with the wrong people and lost out. He is history.

I don't wanto to add to the confusion that is already is the political blamegame in East Timor. What I want is for this issue to be taken seriously and investigated. We cannot have an East Timor with a group of people threathening its stability armed to the teeth. How can we all just sit by and pretend? There is an elephant in the room but no one is talking about it, everyone is looking away. Or is there a reason why everyone is looking away instead of tackling this issue?

Thank you for your attention.
PS: I don't want to sign this post for safety reasons, for myself, my family and friends. In the end, it is the message that is relevant not the messenger.

One of them is in East Timor in the hands of Alfredo Reinado!

2007-01-07T07:40:00.000+09:00

Is this one of the rocket launchers the Aussie government is looking for?

Fears rockets are buried

Warren Owens

January 06, 2007 11:00pm

STOLEN Australian Army anti-tank rockets and their launchers are believed to have been stowed in plastic pipes and buried in a secret hideaway by a suspected terrorist gang.

Instructions on how to hide the M72 anti-tank rockets were allegedly contained in a computer seized by police in a terrorist raid in 2005, The Sunday Mail has learned.

The material detailed how weapons could be concealed in PVC piping, an ideal hide for the weapons that are used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Police surveillance observed a suspect loading a car with several 100mm PVC pipes, originally feared to be for bomb-making.

A Sydney court was told last year that another accused terrorist's vehicle contained a spade, a rake and a small quantity of dirt when seized by police, indicative that digging might have taken place shortly before.

A former Islamic bookshop worker appeared in court in Sydney on Friday accused of selling seven anti-tank rockets to a Sydney crime boss. The alleged seller, Taha Abdul-Rahman, 28, was remanded in custody until next week when police are expected to reveal details of their case against him.

Police allege the crime boss Eddie Darwiche, now serving a life sentence, paid more than $70,000 for the weapons, five of which he onsold to suspected terrorists.

New South Wales and federal police say the gang discussed targeting several prominent buildings including the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney.

The one-shot disposable M72 first used by Australians in Vietnam can pierce a 30cm steel plate or 60cm of reinforced concrete.

Three days after Darwiche was said to have bought the stolen rocket launchers, the crime boss hatched plans to fire one of the anti-tank weapons at a fibro Sydney home where rival gangsters were hiding, according to evidence before a Supreme Court jury last year.

A Darwiche associate, Abbas Osman, contacted a former Canadian military man to seek advice about using the rocket-launcher.

"We want to fire it into a house. I just want to know – if it goes through a house, a fibro house, does it have to hit something hard?" Osman allegedly inquired.

Darwiche apparently left the rocket launcher behind and used two automatic rifles and two pistols to kill his rival and an innocent woman asleep in the house.

Police recovered one rocket launcher last year after Darwiche was convicted of murder.

But the other six are still to be located, with police vowing that "no effort will be spared in pursuing this".

How did Alfredo Reinado get his hands on the LAW M72 rocket launcher?

2007-01-06T16:25:00.000+09:00

Alfredo Reinado's connection to Rui Lopes and Australia's criminal underworld explained.

Alfredo Reinado, the self styled leader of the
anti-government forces.

Pictured with the M72 rocket launcher.

Rui Lopes, former pro-Indonesia
militia leader pictured at the
anti-government rally last year.

Rrecently news flashed of stollen defence department weapons in Australia. These weapons are being reported as destined for terrorist acts targetting numerous buildings including nuclear reactors. Among the weapons stolen were the light anti-tank weapons called M72.

In November of last year pictures of Alfredo Reinado, the self styled rebel soldier who has been accused by UN investigators for murder, was pictured with the same rocket launcher. It is a fact that neither the PNTL (East Timor's police) nor the F-FDTL (East Timor's defence force) have such weapon on their inventory.

However there is a good possibility that these weapons may have been sourced from Indonesia through rouge Indonesian military officers and former militia thugs. It is a well known fact that Rui Lopes, leader of the former Suai pro-autonomy militia Dadurus, and a well known thug in Suai has excellent contacts with remnants of the militia in West Timor as well as rougue Indonesian officers from KOPASSUS. Rui Lopes was himself trained by the KOPASSUS.

Lopes played an key role in the anti-government rallies last year which demanded the resignation of the then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. He also has links with Partidu Demokratiku (PD) becoming one of PD's chief financiers. Just where Lopes gets his money is not anything too difficult to ascertain. Lopes made his fortune serving his Indonesian masters during the Indonesian occupation. Currently it is believed that he is still on the payroll of his former Indonesian masters. He pays regularly visits to West Timor to report to his bosses.

Fernando Lasama Araujo, president of Partido
Demokratiku and an associate of Rui Lopes. He and
his wife, a Pinay named Jaclin Siapno, helped to
spread the false rumours that the F-FDTL
massacred up to 100 people in Tasi Tolu last year.

In the past, his thuggish and brutal ways made him a feared man around Suai and a darling of the Indonesian military, as much as Joao Tavares was in Maliana or Tomas Goncalves in Ermera. These men were groomed by the Indonesian military to be their intermediary in keeping the local population to tow the line. All these men were made Bupati (mayors) of their respected regions. Lopes was a much feared Bupati in Suai, Tomas Goncalves became the Bupati of Ermera and Joao Tavares Bupati of Suai. These were also also key strategic regions under Indonesian occupation and special military attentions have always been paid to them.

Nemencio de Carvalho, another former militia
leader and feared around the district of Same.
He led the Mahidi militia group which was
responsible for a number of murders and
tortures. He is also a close associate of
Fernando Lasama and was responsible for
rounding up supporters in the Same and Suai
border and sending them to Dili to participate
in the anti-government rallies.

When Alfredo Reinado escaped from the Dili prison he made a quick stop in Same to see his mistress, a former F-FDTL soldier who he courted while they were studyin in Canberra. She became pregnant and was dismissed from the force. After this brief stop in Same, Alfredo's final stop was Suai, staying at one of Rui Lopes' farms.

Joe Goncalves, member of East
Timor's Parliament and under
criminal investigation for his involvement
in the coup last year. He is under
investigation for weapon possession and
of attacking the home of Taur Matan Ruak,
chief of F-FDTL. His ex-wife and children
live in Melbourne and have good relations
with Alfredo Reinado. In fact his wife
facilitated Alfredo Reinado's legal situation
while he was still living in Melbourne.
Whenever Alfredo Reinado is in Australia,
he pays regular visit to Joe Goncalves' ex-wife.

Alfredo Reinado was adopted by an Indonesian army officer and was taken to Indonesia where he grew up. He also joined Indonesia's navy prior to moving to East Timor. It is well known that like Rui Lopes, Alfredo Reinado also visits his "friends" in West Timor regularly. Some sources confirmed that Alfredo Reinado spent his New Years Eve in Atambua, West Timor, partying with former members of the pro-Indonesia militia. Remember, Alfredo escaped the Dili prison with a number of inmates convicted for their role in the 1999 violence.

With converging interests, Alfredo Reinado's close relationship with Rui Lopes was an unavoidable outcome. Their history of involvement with the Indonesian army, Alfredo Reinado's links to the militia whom he helped to escape from the prison, their anti-Fretilin political stance and their ambitions for power and wealth made them natural allies. In addition to the fact that both also have Portuguese fathers and Timorese mothers, they also have similar thuggery and womanising characters.

Therefore, could the anti-tank rocket launcher have come from Indonesian military officers in West Timor through Rui Lopes? It is a possibility that we cannot dismiss. However in light of the recent revelations in Australian TV of the stollen defence force weapons, a dazzling yet disturbing development have come before us.

Rui Lopes comes from a big and wealthy mestizo family in Suai. His father was a Portuguese ranch owner in Suai who bred horses. They were staunch supporter of the Portuguese rule and abhorred the prospect of an independent East Timor with the East Timorese as its rullers. The family became UDT's power base in Suai. When Fretilin pushed UDT to West Timor, the Lopes boys became involved in the Partisan, a group of East Timorese young men trained by Indonesian army to counter Fretilin forces and eventually pave the way for Indonesian invasion.

After Indonesian invasion, Rui Lopes stayed in East Timor running his father's ranch in Suai as well becoming the strongman of that region under Indonesian military payroll. His other brothers moved to Australia. Today his brother Lino Lopes lives in Darwin and Almerio Lopes in Cabramatta, Sydney.

Lino Lopes is well known for his criminal activities in Northern Territory. He is involved with various criminal gangs, gun running and drug trafficking. He is under investigation by the Australian police for a series of criminal activity, namely drug trafficking. When the drug ice was speculated to have been present among the gangs that run amock in Dili mid last year, attention suddenly focused on Rui Lopes' brother, Lino.

The Lopes children are also heavily involved in drug abuse as well as trafficking. One of Almerio Lopes sons is a drug addict who regularly visits his uncle and cousins in Darwin. The Lopes children are well known among the East Timorese community in Darwin for their thuggish characters, their drug addiction and their connections to the criminal underworld.

Thus what has this latest revelation in stolen weapons in Australia got to do with Alfredo Reinado holding one of these weapons in East Timor?

The weapon in Alfredo Reinado's possession may have come from Australia through the Lopes' families in Australia. This particular weapon surfaced in East Timor just after these weapons were stolen from Australia's defence department. It could have arrived in East Timor through Lino Lopes' contact in the Australian criminal underworld (many of them biker gangs), just like the possibility of the drug ice getting there.

The connections are just obvious to be ignored. The Astralian federal police should be alerted and the Lopes family in Darwin and Sydney investigated. Here these rocket launchers have been sold to groups with terrorist intents. They have been sold for as little as AU$5,000 each. The Lopes family's connection to the criminal underworld here in Australia would have facilitated its transfer to East Timor. It could have arrived through one of the containers in the Dili wharves, or it could have gone in there through West Timor. One of checking it is very simple. The Australian army should confiscate the rocket launcher and check its origin.

To read the news of the missing weapons, please click here, here and here.

Here are pictures of Alfredo Reinado holding the M72 rocket launchers:

Here are some pictures of the type of missing rocket launchers in question:

Information about LAW M72 can be accessed here, here and here.

Any comments are most welcomed.

From JACO ASWAN regarding the UN's report

2006-10-18T12:03:00.001+09:00

O Relatório da Comissão Especial Independente de Inquérito das NU (CEII) é globalmente aceitável e poderá constituir, apenas mais um instrumento para o sistema judicial, tendo em vista evitar a impunidade dos responsáveis pelos crimes graves e violações dos direitos humanos ocorridos no âmbito da grave crise político-militar. Para tal é essencial, que seja constituído um tribunal específico (especial) com juízes, procuradores e defensores públicos independentes e internacionais especialmente destacados para tratarem dos casos resultantes da crise político-militar, como recomenda a própria comissão. Caso contrário, teremos mais uma vez tentativas de reconciliação com a finalidade de “branquear” os crimes cometidos o que levará à tal impunidade tão característica em Timor-Leste e que já ficou provado não resultar na consolidação de um Estado de direito, que não pode existir sem democracia e justiça.
Assim, este relatório pouco acrescenta e é insuficientemente esclarecedor em relação às suspeições que têm vindo a ser lançadas desde o início da crise politico-militar, sendo descaradamente tendencioso e pouco isento. As conclusões e recomendações são muito generalistas e pouco objectivas não sendo por isso um contributo importante para a resolução dos problemas como era esperado.

No entanto, considerando a reconhecida capacidade técnica dos membros da comissão, dos meios utilizados, das entrevistas efectuadas, testemunhos recolhidos (200) e documentos obtidos (2000), o relatório parece ser demasiado superficial em aspectos considerados essenciais, apesar das cerca de 90 páginas, para que fosse possível efectuar a análise da crise e ser suficientemente conclusivo, no sentido de “… clarificar a responsabilidade pelos acontecimentos e recomendar medidas de responsabilização pelos crimes…”, nomeadamente os seguintes:
- Origem da crise (causas) e narrativa cronológica dos acontecimentos sem distorcer a verdade dos factos (por exemplo: seria importante referir que a carta dos peticionários foi entregue ao General Ruak sobre a forma de anonimato e averiguar o que esteve por trás desta situação);
- Antecedentes da crise (remotos e recentes relacionados com a criação das Forças de Segurança e Defesa, acções de âmbito subversivo, as circunstâncias que envolveram a carta dos peticionários, os níveis de manipulação identificados com actores internos e externos e as circunstâncias e modalidade autorizada para a manifestação dos militares que foram desligados da instituição);
- Caracterização dos incidentes e das Forças que estiveram em oposição ao Estado de direito, assim como as suas verdadeiras motivações e envolvimentos com personalidades e partidos da oposição. Não podem nem deviam ter sido omitidos factos (intencionalmente), pois a CEII tem conhecimento dos eventos e testemunhos de Internacionais e Nacionais. Por exemplo: Em 25MAI06 a unidade das F-FDTL em Caicoli (QG da PM) foi flagelada por parte de elementos da PNTL liderados por Abílio Mesquita e Ângelo Kelo e só depois desta situação ter ocorrido é que o Comando das F-FDTL deu ordens para abrir fogo sobre quem os estava a atacar.
- A iniciativa dos ataques às posições das F-FDTL por parte de desertores e dissidentes da PNTL é perfeitamente evidente, pois os militares das F-FDTL estiveram sempre confinados às suas unidade em posições defensivas;
- Motivos e circunstâncias da falência da hierarquia da PNTL, as implicações e consequências da desintegração do seu efectivo (Distrito de Dili), assim como o abandono da instituição com o respectivo armamento.

Neste contexto, importa ter presentes os termos do mandato da Comissão de Inquérito (curiosamente no mandato não é referido o dia 24MAI06 em que o QG das F-FDTL foi atacado durante uma manhã e ocorreram baixas como é do conhecimento geral) para facilmente se concluir, que o sucesso da CEII, solicitada pelas autoridades timorenses (preferia não referir apenas o nome de Ramos Horta como aparece na maioria da comunicação social), dependia fundamentalmente de três factores:
- Capacidade técnica;
- Investigar com profundidade e imparcialidade;
- Conhecer a realidade timorense e serem criadas as condições para poder ser obtida toda a informação, mesmo a considerada critica/sensível.

No entanto, infelizmente, aquela comissão só teve a capacidade técnica, que é reconhecida internacionalmente e, facilmente poderá ser provado, que esteve sujeita a grupos de pressão (lobbies nacionais/internacionais que estão envolvidos no processo de desestabilização de Timor-Leste – façam o favor de fazer pesquisa atenta dos locais e com quem estiveram alguns dos seus membros logo que saíram de Dili) e foi feita a blindagem de muita informação que seria importante no processo de análise. Aliás também facilmente se constata que foi apresentada muita contra-informação (uma das características endémicas da sociedade timorense).
Portanto, a CEII não teve a sua tarefa, já de si complexa, facilitada e daí não ter ido tão longe quanto se desejaria para o apuramento da verdade. No processo de análise tem de haver a necessária integração dos factos com fundamentação clara, que possa conduzir a conclusões objectivas. Constata-se, que neste relatório existem diversas deficiências no processo de análise, porque nem sempre foi efectuada a devida integração dos factos pelo que as conclusões nem sempre são objectivas, tendo as constatações ficado muito aquém daquilo que seria naturalmente expectável.

O referido relatório está bem elaborado tecnicamente (se não estivesse é que seria de admirar!), utilizando alguns artifícios para tornar o envolvimento do PR na crise politico-militar o mais “soft” possível, mas não é suficientemente isento o que poderá ser inferido por qualquer timorense ou internacional que conheça a realidade dos factos e não seja faccioso ou tendencioso. Importa lembrar, que a versão original terá sido submetida a “censura” por parte do lobby australiano e americano, de acordo com algumas fontes a que também não é estranho a intervenção dos lideres do ICG (Gareth Evans antigo MNE da Austrália e Thomas Pickering, antigo embaixador dos EUA na ONU com interessantes ligações, que não nos deixam ver aquela organização sendo independente tal como é apresentada pelos seus dirigentes), cujo relatório foi estrategicamente publicado imediatamente antes deste - perguntem ao chefe de gabinete do PR e seus amigos, José Luís Guterres (dá sempre jeito os seus conhecimentos das NU), assim como ao Ramos Horta qual o nível do seu envolvimento neste processo nas últimas semanas. Já agora, seria interessante a 1ª dama explicar com quem tem andado a falar nos últimos tempos na AUST e nos EUA. A globalização e a tecnologia também têm coisas boas!!! Claro que o PR tem um staff que lhe facilita a vida e não só…. Façam pesquisa na NET e noutras fontes que é muito interessante! A Informação de Timor não está só neste Blog.

Sobre o nível de envolvimento do PR não deixa de ser interessante (triste e dramático) verificar, que aquele relatório não é conclusivo como seria desejável, pois “contra factos não há argumentos” e por isso seria importante esclarecer o seu envolvimento no Golpe de Estado (institucional). Assim, julga-se pertinente apresentar as seguintes questões ao nível político, institucional e moral, que não estão devidamente referidas apesar dos testemunhos e provas obtidas:
- Ao nível político porque razão não são referidas as violações grosseiras da Constituição e as manipulações internas, através do seu grande amigo Lassama (os australianos nem querem ouvir falar em tal e estão a preparar terreno para que seja alterada à sua medida, ou seja mudarem ou influenciarem a mudança de governo quando assim o entendem). A comissão tem factos e documentos do envolvimento de diversos actores;
- Ao nível institucional e moral apesar de não restar dúvidas que houve falta da tal solidariedade, estranhamente não é criticado e culpabilizado o envolvimento do PR no seu apoio (aqui já solidário) aos desertores e dissidentes como o Reinado e Railos, que pelos vistos são indiciados de terem cometido crimes e por isso é recomendado que sejam processados judicialmente. Pois é, como resolvem este beco sem saída? Se o PR publicamente os incentivou e apoiou. Importa lembrar, que Reinado afirmou publicamente, só receber ordens do PR e ser toda a sua actividade do seu conhecimento; Por outro lado, o mais alto representante do Estado também publicamente, na sua presença e do Director-Geral da PNTL (Paulo Fátima Martins), junto à residência presidencial (TVTL), assumiu, que tinha conhecimento de toda a actividade de Reinado e seus homens, que apenas garantiam a segurança das populações em determinadas áreas!! De facto não será verosímil que o PR tenha dado ordens específicas para atacar posições das F-FDTL, mas não é possível vir agora dizer que o PR não tinha conhecimento dos crimes que foram cometidos e, isto é suficientemente grave para um órgão de soberania com a responsabilidade do PR, que mostrou total solidariedade para com os desertores e não fez nada para impedir a sua acção e actividade criminosa (lembram-se da cumplicidade evidenciada na manifestação logo a seguir à queda de Mari Alkatiri, onde são feitas trocas de grandes afectos com Tara e Railos- está gravado na TVTL e em outros órgãos de comunicação social), será que não deve ser compelido a assumir as suas responsabilidades, pelo menos, ao nível moral? O relatório, em certa medida, procura “branquear” as intervenções do PR, no sentido de evitar a sua impunidade!!! pois essa situação deixaria por certo os australianos sem o apoio institucional que precisam
- Ainda ao nível institucional e constitucional, julga-se que num relatório deste tipo deviam ser referidos em detalhe os diversos atropelos do PR, pois o país tem uma Constituição que ele jurou defender. Também não são referidas, lamentavelmente, as intervenções directas do PR em algumas instituições, como por exemplo, no âmbito do sistema judicial ao dar ordem directa (bilhete por si assinado) para ser libertado um indivíduo indiciado de ter cometido graves crimes em Becora (Jacinto Kulau), que chegou a estar no centro de detenção e após um telefonema de um procurador português para a presidência acabou por ser libertado em condições, que outro procurador considerou inaceitáveis. Onde anda aquele indivíduo? A comissão teve conhecimento deste e de outros factos? Simplesmente incrível e preocupante pelo que se pode inferir que existem questões importantes, que foram deliberadamente e cuidadosamente omitidas.

Sempre disse, que as missões das NU, têm sido responsáveis directa ou indirectamente por quase toda a instabilidade que se tem vivido nos últimos 5 anos (quer por omissão ou falta de acção). A comissão vai apontar alguns dos responsáveis (arraia miúda) mas os principais, VÃO FICAR IMPUNES!!!!! Como é que já sabia disto? Descansem que não sou bruxo. Como já tinha referido o Reinado e companhia foram utilizados e, parece ter chegado o momento de serem descartados. Talvez tenha chegado a hora de Reinado começar a falar! Porque será que o PR nunca deu instruções aos australianos para deterem o Reinado e os restantes desertores? Obviamente, que o relatório devia ter investigado e chegado a conclusões! Para o PR e seus amigos (ou inimigos?) o grande tribunal será a sua própria consciência e o povo timorense.

Em relação a outras imprecisões ou omissões, julga-se importante referir o seguinte:
 No âmbito do mandato deste relatório e, tendo em conta o teor das conclusões, seria muito importante ter sido investigado com seriedade o motivo e âmbito das acções de subversão identificadas na PNTL e F-FDTL, desde 2004, e a quem interessava a fragilidade das Forças de Segurança, especialmente das F-FDTL e quem se aproveitou desse facto para criar a instabilidade política, militar e sócio-económica, que levou à grave crise politico-militar. Neste contexto, importa acentuar que o anteriormente referido está directamente relacionado com uma das importantes conclusões do relatório, sendo possível inferir, que a frágil estrutura do Estado e as dissenções latentes numa sociedade onde a organização e o funcionamento das instituições se situam ainda muito aquém do desejável, como é o caso das F-FDTL e PNTL potenciam a eclosão, limitada mas recorrente, de conflitos cujos contornos nem sempre se conhecem, mas que constituem uma preocupação pelo facto de se prestarem às mais diversas formas de manipulação ao nível interno e externo;
 Em relação à actuação das F-FDTL em 28/29ABR06, poderão de facto não ter sido utilizados todos os mecanismos previstos na lei, mas devia ter ficado clarificado, que no âmbito do Gabinete Crise do governo, o PM convocou as F-FDTL para colaborar com PNTL (elementos da UIR) no restabelecimento ordem e lei, de acordo e nos termos do artigo 18º Dec-Lei nº07/05MAIO04 –Lei Orgânica das F-FDTL, tendo sido claramente definida a MISSÃO/ÁREA ACTUAÇÃO através de documento escrito próprio (Despacho nº 05-A/2006 PM);
 Não é apresentada uma explicação credível em relação a um problema institucional ter sido rapidamente projectado para o plano político, com o consequente aproveitamento e manipulação, por parte de diversos intervenientes, no sentido de interromper o processo político em curso (Não esquecer que o protesto começou por 159 militares e acabou com 594 a abandonarem as F-FDTL);
 Não existe referência à contradição nas declarações do PR (estão gravadas e escritas na comunicação social), ao pretender (forçar/impor), que os militares em protesto fossem reintegrados nas F-FDTL, quando na concentração dos militares no Palácio da Presidência (cerca de 400 militares, ou seja um acréscimo demais do dobro) lhes disse claramente que se não regressassem às unidades deixavam de ser militares;
 Em relação à entrega de armas a civis os factos apresentados podem induzir a perigosos equívocos e contribuir para as campanhas de desinformação, que foram fomentadas por Reinado, partidos da oposição e australianos, no sentido de desacreditar as F-FDTL e facilitar o seu desarmamento (o grande sonho do Comando das Forças australianas em Timor-Leste). Assim, considerando que as circunstâncias e objectivos foram completamente diferentes, importa esclarecer que:
- Na PNTL (URP), desde OUT/NOV05 que vinham sendo recrutados e armados civis, que realizaram operações reais, designadas por Rogério Lobato de operações de contra-guerrilha, onde foram mortos indivíduos referenciados como ex-milicias que se verificou serem apenas elementos ligados ao contrabando. Para além disso, antes da desintegração da PNTL foram armados outros grupos de civis como já ficou suficientemente provado com conhecimento ou não do antigo PM;
- Nas F-FDTL a situação é significativamente diferente, pois na sequências dos confrontos armados e estando as F-FDTL em posições defensivas não tinham efectivos suficientes (menos 600 militares que foram desligados da instituição) para garantirem capacidade de resposta aos ataques que estavam eminentes por parte dos desertores e dissidentes da PNTL e daí ter sido convocada a Reserva, que é constituída por antigos combatentes. Importa lembrar que a Reserva está prevista na lei, mas nunca foi devidamente regulamentada. O procedimento poderá ser questionável, mas o armamento esteve sempre devidamente controlado dentro das unidades;
- A existência de armamento na posse de civis não teve a sua origem na F-FDTL, como se pode constatar da inspecção/verificação efectuada, em JUN06, efectuada por representantes da comunidade internacional; Esta situação dá suporte a algumas notícias, que se têm vindo a registar, desde 2003, relativamente ao processo de aquisição e entrada ilegal de armamento em Timor-Leste, assim como o seu deficiente controlo por parte dos responsáveis da PNTL. Neste contexto, julga-se que a análise detalhada no relatório da CEII devia ter sido feita a três níveis: O aspecto legal, as questões relacionadas com a segurança e o controlo do armamento e os critérios que devem ser seguidos no processo de aquisição.
- O Comando das F-FDTL solicitou em 17MAI06 uma inspecção/verificação de armamento, através de oficio dirigido aos diversos órgãos de soberania, antes da ocorrência dos confrontos armados, tendo em conta os indícios e factos que existiam sobre a aquisição ilegal e falta de controlo do armamento por parte da PNTL. No entanto aquela inspecção só foi efectuada em 08 e 09JUN06 e apenas às F-FDTL (por pressão do Comando das Forças australianas estacionadas para ocupação? em Timor-Leste). A PNTL solicitou mais 07 (sete) dias para se aprontar, cujo prazo expirou sem ter existido nenhuma informação oficial sobre a estranha e preocupante situação, que poderá constituir um indicio de estar em curso uma campanha apoiada pela AUST, tendo em vista a impunidade dos responsáveis. O facto de não ter sido efectuada a inspecção de armamento solicitada pelo General Ruak com carácter urgente, constitui um indício muito forte de envolvimento do poder político a diversos níveis.
- Considerando que a CEII tem cópia daquele ofício, no mínimo, é de estranhar não haver uma abordagem diferenciada deste problema relacionado com o armamento de civis, que deveria constituir uma das principais vulnerabilidades do governo e restantes órgão de soberania no âmbito da investigação internacional, pois, caso tivesse sido efectuada a referida inspecção, poderiam ter sido evitados ou mitigados os confrontos armados. Porque não foi efectuada a referida inspecção/verificação de armamento? Quem assume a responsabilidade desta grave situação? Lendo o relatório com atenção, verifica-se, que, este facto, foi habilmente contornado, porque punha em causa diversos órgãos de soberania e deixa a posição das F-FDTL vulnerável em relação ao armamento atribuído a civis (argumento sempre utilizado pelo Comando da Força australiana) o que acaba por, injustamente, afectar a sua credibilidade – ou seja, é uma forma de “agradar a gregos e troianos”. Assim, face ao anteriormente exposto o relatório não foi isento e, de alguma forma, foi injusto para com o Comandante das F-FDTL, quando refere nas constatações: “…O Chefe da Força de defesa não esgotou todas as vias quer para evitar quer para pôr fim ao confronto entre as F-FDTL e a PNTL…”

Finalmente, para terminar este comentário, julga-se que seria importante o relatório apontar alguns dos factores de que depende a estabilização e consolidação da situação de segurança:
 Resolução das questões ao nível político, que têm estado a interferir directa ou indirectamente com o empenhamento operacional da Força Internacional de Intervenção;
 Coordenação mais efectiva das Forças Internacionais de Intervenção, tendo em vista os seguintes aspectos:
– Deter e desarmar todos os militares e elementos da PNTL, que são considerados desertores, que se encontra fora da cidade de Dili (Ermera, Aileu, Ainaro e Bobonaro) e que atacaram as posições das F-FDTL, flagelando com armas de fogo outros locais na cidade de Dili; Em qualquer país normal o facto de ser desertor, só por si é crime punido pela lei; (em Timor-Leste preferem a reconciliação e esquecer a legislação, depois admiram-se de o Estado de direito ser posto em causa);
– Impedir a liberdade de movimentos, deter e desarmar os grupos de elementos da PNTL, que se encontram referenciados desde 16MAI06 e de outros grupos de actividade criminal apoiados por elementos da PNTL desertores e ex-militares (peticionários), que são responsáveis pela destruição de casas e bens de civis conotados como sendo de Lorosae; Neste contexto, os elementos da PNTL referenciados como desertores/dissidentes não devem continuar a servir oficiais de ligação com a Força australiana;
– Garantir segurança efectiva aos locais que foram alvo de actos de vandalismo, permitindo assim o regresso da população refugiada, que continua a sentir-se insegura, ameaçada e intimidada.
 Coordenação efectiva de todos os intervenientes no sistema judicial, tendo em vista a eficácia das investigações e, consequentemente, evitar a impunidade dos responsáveis (autores) materiais e morais dos crimes que têm vindo a ser cometidos e a destruição de provas ou a sua fuga para fora do país.
 Reorganização, consolidação e desenvolvimento harmonioso, equilibrado e sustentado das Forças de Segurança, uma vez que a sua fragilidade constitui terreno propício às manipulações internas/externas, que interessam objectivamente a determinados sectores da sociedade timorense e vão ao encontro dos objectivos estratégicos de alguns países da região, que não querem ou têm receio do desenvolvimento sustentado das Forças Armadas de Timor-Leste, que é a única instituição capaz de garantir a unidade e soberania nacional, que actualmente já foi hipotecada à AUST. Neste âmbito sabe-se que existe um Estudo estratégico (“Força 2020”), que visa, precisamente, o desenvolvimento das F-FDTL para os próximos 20 anos. No entanto, o país dos cangurus não deve estar muito interessado e tudo fará para bloquear ou impedir esse desenvolvimento, pois as F-FDTL são a única instituição que poderá garantir a unidade nacional dos timorenses e soberania do país.

From JACO ASWAN regarding the UN's report

2006-10-18T12:03:00.000+09:00

CHACAL: Comentário em resposta ao relatório do ICG.

2006-10-17T07:16:00.000+09:00

International Crises Group (ICG) poderá ser uma organização muito responsável e respeitável, mas o seu recente relatório sobre a resolução da crise de Timor-Leste não é esclarecedor (intencionalmente, é tendencioso e não estando devidamente sustentado em factos e conhecimento da realidade timorense não merece grande (nenhuma) credibilidade. Existem timorenses com capacidade de fazer bem melhor. Neste contexto e sem pretensiosismo, mas para que todos os digníssimos leitores possam perceber melhor a actual crise politica-militar e, não se deixarem intoxicar, importa concentrarmo-nos nos factos para a partir deles poder analisar as origens, motivações, consequências e extensão desta grave crise que afecta a dignidade do povo timorense. (Seria importante estes comentários serem publicados na integra e não inventarem cortes que interferem com a percepção dos acontecimentos.)
Independentemente de quem elaborou o referido relatório não deixa de ser curioso que os principais responsáveis daquela ONG, porque é disso que se trata (está escrito no Apêndice C do documento “…..The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation…”, sejam Gareth Evans (antigo MNE da Austrália com um lindo passado !!) e Thomas Pickering (antigo embaixador dos EUA na ONU com umas interessantes ligações, que não nos deixam ver aquela organização como independente). Enfim, façam um pouco de pesquisa sobre aquelas duas personalidades e facilmente perceberam porque o relatório foi feito naqueles termos e saiu antes do relatório da comissão de inquérito das NU (são só coincidências ou ……). Vamos aos factos que se apresentam de forma sistematizada e que alguns deles já apareceram nos órgãos de comunicação social nacionais e internacionais.

INTRODUÇÃO
Na sequência da crise político-militar ocorreram confrontos armados e acções de flagelação acompanhadas por vagas de destruição de alvos seleccionados (bens e pessoas de Lorosae) entre 23 e 29MAI06 na região de DILI, dos quais resultaram 21 mortos e 120 feridos (dados oficiais dos quais 03 mortos e 11 feridos das F-FDTL), tendo sido destruídas, cerca de 500 casas na cidade de Dili perante a impotência e inoperância dos militares da Força australiana (até à data já terão sido destruídas cerca de 2000 casas, ou seja 4 vezes mais do que durante o período dos confrontos armados).
A mencionada crise teve origem numa Estratégia, cuidadosamente arquitectada e multifacetada, promovendo a desestabilização política, militar, social e cultural, através de acções de carácter subversivo identificadas, desde JUN/AGO 2004 (talvez um dia possam vir a saber os detalhes). Em relação à origem da crise politico-militar importa acentuar os seguintes aspectos:
-Tentativa de divisão das F-FDTL, através de acções de subversão e a instabilidade provocada por 591 militares, através do pretexto argumento artificial e falacioso “Lorosae” V “Loromonu”;
-Recusa em colaborar com a Comissão de Investigação (abandono das F-FDTL), acabando por conseguir a projecção da crise militar para o plano político;
-“Peticionistas” são desvinculados da instituição desde 01MAR06, depois dos militares dissidentes se terem recusado a regressar às suas unidades;
-PR não concordou e contestou publicamente, tendo considerado a decisão errada e injusta (discursos em 23 e 28MAR06). No entanto, convém salientar, que o próprio PR tinha alertado os contestatários, quando se apresentaram junto ao Palácio da presidência (08FEV06), que se abandonassem os quartéis deixavam de ser militares (já se deve ter esquecido do que disse);
-Na Sequência da mensagem do PR (23MAR06) verificaram-se incidentes Dili (Manleuana, Comoro, Raikotu, Bécora e Taibesse). Danos cerca de 20 casas, 07 feridos e 01 ferido grave UIR. Identificado envolvimento de alguns ex-militares;
-Intervenção PR e MNEC em 28MAR06 apelando à população o termo de acções de violência e intimidação e unidade nacional;
-A crise foi agudizada pelos graves incidentes ocorridos durante a realização da MANIF (28/29ABR06) em Dili convocada pelos líderes dos 591 ex-militares contestatários e autorizada pelo governo;
-Cerca de 200 ex-militares apoiados por outros grupos de motivação política ou criminal e posteriormente parte do efectivo da Polícia Militar e da PNTL (elementos da UIR/URP e de outras unidades) reorganizaram-se em alguns distritos Ocidentais (Aileu, Ermera, Maliana e Liquiça) tendo em vista a criação de um ambiente de instabilidade politico-militar;
-Em 05MAI06, Gastão Salsinha constitui o Movimento Armado (MAEN-TL). Em 06MAI06 juntam-se aos revoltosos 02 militares do QG das F-FDTL – (Maj Tara e Maj Tilman);
-A Situação de instabilidade e tensão degenerou em confrontos armados com o principal OBJECTIVO de fragilizar as instituições e desacreditar o governo com o consequente impacto negativo na situação de segurança e na imagem do país perante a Comunidade Internacional.

ANTECEDENTES
Os antecedentes da actual crise politico-militar podem ser considerados remotos e recentes e têm os seguintes níveis:
Criação das Forças de Segurança e Defesa
-Constituição das FALINTIL-FDTL (Existiu falta consenso nível interno/doadores, sendo de salientar que a Austrália não queria que Timor-Leste tivesse Forças Armadas);
-A Resolução do problema dos Veteranos foi avaliada como sendo necessária e urgente antes de constituir as FA’s (Estudo King’s College– 2001);
-FALINTIL – É efectivamente a única Instituição com capacidade de representação em todo território (Elevado prestigio, que advém do RESPEITO dos timorenses e da comunidade internacional e dos valores da instituição, desde o período da resistência. Respeito pelo direito do povo de viver em liberdade, sem medo ou intimidação, e com o compromisso de defendê-lo a todo o custo);
-Criação, Selecção e Formação PNTL (Apoio Austrália e NU, através de 157 assessores tendo sido gastos milhões USD) – Importa ter presente que nunca existiu um Plano Estratégico desenvolvimento PNTL;
-Conceito inicial da PNTL foi adulterado – Polícia comunitária e sem capacidade militar (factores influenciaram outro conceito – Necessidade de patrulhamento e controlo da fronteira e aproveitamento e/ou manipulação dos incidentes ATSABE, que levaram ao aparecimento de uma Unidade especial da PNTL – URP, cuja missão atribuída é claramente do âmbito da missão das F-FDTL)
-Provocada Divisão na PNTL (2004) – Surgimento do Movimento da Polícia Nacionalista (cerca 40% dos efectivos totais da PNTL);
-Diferenças substanciais entre PNTL/F-FDTL (organização, equipamento, financiamento, qualificação RH, vencimentos, alimentação e fardamento). Esta situação foi referida em documentos oficiais (Relatório da CII -2004) e intervenções do PR no Parlamento Nacional (leiam os jornais timorenses com atenção).
Acções de âmbito subversivo
-Identificados indícios de divisões e acções de carácter subversivo nas F-FDTL com tentativas externas de provocar a falência da hierarquia (desde JUL/AGO04 – existem factos e nomes);
-Tentativas sistemáticas exterior – No sentido de fragilizar e desacreditar a instituição (Promoção de conflitos entre F-FDTL/PNTL desde 2003; Os órgão de soberania não quiseram ou não souberam ler os sinais daquilo que sempre foi considerado grave, mas que alguns sectores insistiam em desvalorizar);
-Acções desestabilização e manipulação internas/externas (aliciamento militares/antigos militares expulsos por parte de políticos, elementos PNTL e Internacionais – 2005/2006);
-Referência à existência Inimigo Interno (Relatório da Comissão de Inquérito Independente criada em 2004 na sequência dos graves incidentes de Los Palos, cujo principal interveniente/responsável foi o Maj Tara);
-Promoção de acções por parte do antigo Ministro do Interior (Rogério Lobato), no sentido de justificar o argumento da falência da hierarquia das F-FDTL e, assim, conseguir fundamentar a necessidade de reforçar a PNTL, através da aquisição de mais meios, pessoal, equipamento e armamento.
-Recrutamento/armamento ilegal de civis por parte da PNTL e incidentes graves com uma das suas Unidades especiais - URP (NOV/DEZ2005);
Carta dos militares contestatários (designados como “Peticionários”
-Petição dirigida PR, MNEC, MI, MD, Embaixadas, CEMGFA, CEM, Director PNTL, Bispos, Partidos (excepto UDT/PNT). Curiosamente não foi enviada ao PM e Presidente do Parlamento;
-Origem e Conteúdo da Carta (Petição assinada 159 militares datada 09JAN06, foi entregue CEMGFA sob forma anonimato;
-Questão “Loromonu V “Lorosae” (argumento artificial e falacioso utilizado para dividir os timorenses. Infelizmente muitos ainda não perceberam as verdadeiras intenções e a extensão deste fenómeno que poderá vir a constituir um factor de fragmentação e desagregação do país, sendo por isso um problema grave para identidade e unidade nacional);
-Intervenção CEMGFA em 03FEV06 (1º BIL/Baucau), na tentativa de encontrar solução, não tendo os militares contestatários evidenciado vontade em discutir o conteúdo da carta com o CEMGFA;
-Identificadas manipulações (nível político e militar – existem factos, datas e nomes);
-Em relação à descriminação apresentada na carta, o levantamento efectuado acaba por contrariar os argumentos dos contestatários, evidenciando claramente, que não existiu a referida descriminação, através dos seguintes dados objectivos: Promoções desde 2002 (Aileu) Lorosae (512) Loromonu (965) - (65%); Cursos no Estrangeiro (Of/Sar/Sold) Lorosae (08) Loromonu (20) - (71%). Os números são claramente a favor de Loromonu e o argumento de descriminação não tem sustentação.
Manifestação dos militares desligados da instituição (24/28ABR06)
-Autorização de Manifestação de ex-militares fardados e com a participação de elementos de grupos identificados ligados à actividade criminal (Kolimau e Orsenaco) (cerca 1300/1500 indivíduos);
-Carta entregue órgãos soberania (exigência queda do governo, demissão CEMGFA, criação Comissão e Ameaças). Verifica-se a reacção negativa à criação Comissão acordada, através de Declarações do líder da manifestação (ex-Ten Salsinha);
-Mediatização e erros avaliação (ao nível político evidenciando grande irresponsabilidade);
-Incidentes em algumas áreas Dili. A população conotada com Lorosae começa abandonar Dili;
-Verifica-se diferenciação da atribuição de armamento aos agentes da PNTL, nomeadamente entre elementos conotados com Lorosae e Loromonu;
-Ordens dadas pelo PM para activar dispositivo PNTL pro-activo (antes da ordem de dispersar 28ABR06), não foram cumpridas, com intervenção directa do Comando da PNTL (Paulo Fátima Martins e Inspector Ismael Babo);
-Incidentes graves no assalto Palácio GRDTL e cidade Dili, provocados por cerca 200 manifestantes (são utilizadas granadas e armas Fogo);
-Troca tiros com elementos da PNTL e rasto de destruição na retirada para Tasi Tolu (34 feridos e 02 mortos);
-Verifica-se a falência da hierarquia da PNTL e total incapacidade controlar situação no âmbito da Lei e Ordem;
-No âmbito do Gabinete Crise do governo – PM convoca as F-FDTL para colaborar com PNTL (elementos da UIR) no restabelecimento ordem e lei (artigo 18º Dec-Lei nº07/05MAIO04 –Lei Orgânica das F-FDTL);
-Foi claramente definida a MISSÃO/ÁREA ACTUAÇÃO (Despacho nº 05-A/2006 PM);
-Ataque com armas fogo a elementos F-FDTL (CEM) – as F-FDTL têm duas baixas (02 feridos)
-Operação das F-FDTL “Rain Lakan” (281500ABR06/291400ABR06), cuja Missão foi superiormente definida – Controlar grupo de manifestantes, deter responsáveis e garantir liberdade movimentos eixo Dili/Tibar (05 mortos e 82 feridos). Verifica-se que os manifestantes se põem em fuga para Distritos Oeste (Aileu, Ermera e Bobonaro), mas rapidamente se reorganizam com lideranças perfeitamente assumidas e identificadas;
-Em 02MAI06 a PNTL ocupa posições na cidade por intervenção do CEMGFA, tendo sido iniciada a retirada das F-FDTL para as Unidades respectivas.

FORÇAS EM OPOSIÇÃO E MOTIVAÇÕES
As Forças envolvidas nos confrontos armadas podem ser caracterizadas da seguinte forma:
Grupos armados heterogéneos controlados por desertores (militares e PNTL/ex-militares);
Grupos actividade criminal (Kolimau 2000, Kulau Amaco e elementos pertencentes a grupos de artes marciais controlados por ex-militares e desertores. Curiosamente parece que, um dos principais responsáveis pelos incidentes em Bécora (Jacinto Kulau), depois de ter sido detido, acabou por ser libertado por ordem do…… (não vale a pena referir aqui);
Os grupos referidos anteriormente tinham visibilidade, assim como liberdade de movimentos e estavam na posse de armas de fogo (espingardas/granadas) e armas brancas.
As principais motivações podem ser configuradas como sendo: Políticas, Militares e Sócio-culturais
A caracterização da forma de actuação (“modus operandi”) foi identificada em três fases distintas:
- 1ª Fase (23 a 25MAI06) Ataques posições F-FDTL: Militares/PNTL (desertores e dissidentes) na 1ª Linha apoiam civis armados na coordenação dos ataques e emboscadas;
- 2ª Fase (26 a 29MAI6) Flagelação armas fogo DILI: Dois Grupos elementos PNTL liderados (Abílio Mesquita/Ângelo Quelo) com total liberdade movimentos (fardados ou à civil) provocam incidentes e destruição apoiando grupos marginais em acções de vandalismo contra alvos seleccionados (Pessoas/Bens Lorosae) perante passividade das Forças Internacionais, nomeadamente dos australianos;
- 3ª Fase (desde 29MAI06) Acções de vandalismo e roubos DILI: Elementos PNTL dissidentes (sem uniforme), continuam com liberdade movimentos e alguns deles como OF LIG Força AUST. Algumas acções daqueles elementos e apoio aos grupos marginais, que continuam em acções de vandalismo e intimidação, mas com acção mais efectiva e interventiva das Forças Internacionais.

ANÁLISE E AVALIAÇÃO DA SITUAÇÃO
Enquadramento
Antes de apresentar os principais aspectos da análise da crise, importa acentuar, que a decisão do CEMGFA de expulsar os militares contestatários apesar de ter gerado alguma controvérsia, foi firme e adequada no sentido de preservar a instituição, tendo também sido evitada a falência da hierarquia das F-FDTL, que era pretendida/desejada pelo antigo Ministro do Interior (Rogério Lobato), desde 2004, e só não foi conseguida, porque o núcleo dos veteranos se manteve coeso.
Por outro lado, considera-se ter havido aproveitamento dos militares expulsos, que passaram a ser um alvo fácil e apetecível por parte da oposição ou de elementos da Igreja e as ligações perigosas identificadas na luta pelo poder potenciaram significativamente a instabilidade política e militar com impacto negativo na situação de segurança. Os factores referidos são de avaliação complexa, e estão associados à instabilidade das Forças de Segurança e à situação que se tem verificado na fronteira nos últimos meses, podendo estar em curso o ressurgimento de uma estratégia pró-integracionista. Por isso, a situação geral tem sido caracterizada como sendo de grande instabilidade, muito frágil e potencialmente perigosa.
A principal finalidade das diversas acções que foram desencadeadas (ex: manifestação da Igreja em 2005) seria o de derrubar o Governo aproveitando o descontentamento da população. Não tendo conseguido por essa via, os diversos intervenientes, ao nível interno/externo, acabaram por tentar alcançar os mesmos objectivos, através de um Golpe de Estado (institucional ou inconstitucional…).
Para tal foi criado, de forma artificial a argumentação falaciosa, através do conflito Loromonu/Lorosae entre militares para provocar a cisão dentro das F-FDTL com a consequente falência da sua hierarquia, tendo, inclusive, sido tentado o aliciamento de alguns comandantes.
O CEMGFA deixou sempre, bem claro, por diversas ocasiões, que só apoiaria mudanças políticas através de um processo eleitoral e nunca por um Golpe de Estado. Como os militares dissidentes não conseguiram os seus intentos através das F-FDTL, tentaram obter o apoio da PNTL, tendo o conflito entre as duas instituições sido agudizado. Assim, a PNTL não actua sobre a manifestação dos militares contestatários (peticionários), pois o próprio Director Nacional terá recebido instruções do antigo Ministro do Interior nesse sentido por estarem do mesmo lado, obrigando assim à intervenção das F-FDTL para ser reposta a legalidade e a ordem pública. Em todas as acções subsequentes contra as F-FDTL estão envolvidos elementos da PNTL com militares desertores e ex-militares. A caracterização e ligações do Reinado, Tara, Tilman, Salsinha (envolvido em actividades ilegais identificada e confirmada pela PNTL, mas sem consequências criminais) e outros mais, são, por demais, bem conhecidas. Só não vê quem é cego (Mais cego que o cego é o que não quer ver).
A análise da crise político-militar deverá ser efectuada, tendo em conta os seguintes aspectos: Objectivos, estratégia, planos, forma de actuação, avaliação da extensão dos danos e evolução futuro próximo.

Estratégia (Identificação linhas de acção)
Entendimento claro factores estiveram na origem crise, que são de diversa ordem e envolvem alguma complexidade; e uma Estratégia cuidadosamente arquitectada e multifacetada com Objectivos (Global/Parcial) bem definidos:
- Promover desestabilização política, militar, social e cultural através de acções carácter subversivas Provocar a divisão da sociedade timorense duas etnias, através da argumentação artificial Loromonu V Lorosae, no sentido de impedir normal funcionamento instituições;
- Promover a descredibilização ao nível interno e externo do Estado Direito com a finalidade de interromper processo político em curso.
Plano Estratégico
Estratégia enquadrada por PLANO para dividir sociedade timorense, através das Forças de Segurança (F-FDTL/PNTL), no sentido de provocar a interrupção do processo político em curso (Golpe de Estado), tendo sido utilizados os seguintes meios:
 Criar insegurança constante com a finalidade de provocar saída população Dili ou obrigá-los a refugiarem-se em áreas específicas;
 Promoção de conflitos entre elementos das instituições;
 Pretexto e argumento falacioso “Loromonu V Lorosae” e promover falência da hierarquia;
 Campanha orientada para conotar F-FDTL com o PR e PNTL com o governo (antes da crise) e F-FDTL com o governo e PNTL com o PR (depois da crise);
 F-FDTL - identificadas tentativas manipulação desde 2003; O Principal alvo pode ser configurado como tendo sido os veteranos, mas felizmente mantiveram a sua coesão. Esta crise poderia ter sido muito mais grave se tal não tivesse acontecido. Foi provocada a divisão em cerca de 40% do efectivo das F-FDTL (591 miliares) continuando a existir pressão (ameaças/intimidação) para os restantes militares de Loromonu abandonarem a instituição;
PNTL - aparecimento facção Polícia Nacionalista (2004) sequência descriminação e divisões internas entre pessoal Loromonu V Lorosae. Verificou-se a falência da sua hierarquia (28ABR06) e a desintegração com elementos conotados com Loromonu associados a desertores a atacarem posições das F-FDTL.
Níveis de manipulação
Nas acções subversivas que as F-FDTL foram alvo, identificaram-se dois níveis de manipulação (interno e externo), tendo posteriormente sido iniciado o aproveitamento político por parte de alguns partidos políticos da oposição ao governo com a concordância do PR (estão todos suficientemente identificados), existindo indícios de nível de envolvimento por parte de alguns elementos da Igreja.
Os elementos de informação disponíveis permitiram concluir, que a manipulação dos ex-militares teve dois planos diferentes: plano interno (Rogério Lobato) e plano externo (os tais países dos principais responsáveis do ICG), com a mesma finalidade (manter a instabilidade controlada), mas com objectivos diferentes: Rogério Lobato (interesses pessoais tendo em vista a luta pelo poder) e daqueles países (o dos cangurus e aquele que deseja o mundo unipolar para o controlar), não deixarem desenvolver as Forças Armadas do país e, se necessário, promover a queda do governo por se encontrar numa esfera geoestratégica (aproximação à China e Cuba) diferente das dos interesses daqueles países. Por este motivo se entende o apoio privilegiado da AUST à PNTL como aliás tem acontecido na região.
Neste contexto, importa ter presente o factores relacionados directa ou indirectamente com os níveis de manipulação referidos anteriormente:
Vector externo
- Dificuldades alguns países controlarem/influenciarem PM matérias sensíveis/importantes para soberania Timor-Leste (Mar Timor, endividamento externo e área da Defesa e Segurança – Desenvolvimento F-FDTL);
- Em relação aos recursos naturais são manifestos os interesses externos (…….) em não deixar desenvolver País de forma sustentada para que mais facilmente possam provocar aquilo que se designa por “Failed State” e assim seja possível o controlo da sua soberania (principal objectivo estratégico da AUST);
- Influência geoestratégica e geopolítica (interesses antagónicos aos daqueles países, nomeadamente a aproximação à China e a Cuba por parte de Timor-Leste).
Vector Interno
- Essencialmente relacionado com a luta pelo poder a vários níveis (é preciso perceber as roturas criadas na sociedade timorense desde os anos 80), assim como a postura e personalidade do PM (Mari Alkatiri), que dificultou a sua aceitação social, tendo entrado em rota de colisão com a Igreja (2005),
- Falta capacidade instituições/Quadros reflecte-se negativamente acção governativa com impacto social negativo, o que potencializou divergências e conflitos internos.
Intervenientes/actores
Foram identificados actores activos e passivos (intervenção directa e indirecta) ao nível interno e externo, através do seu envolvimento na crise político-militar, com objectivos bem definidos, nomeadamente: PR e o seu núcleo forte de apoio directo (um dia poderá ser explicado), dentro próprio Governo, Partidos Políticos, Elementos Igreja, Comando e outros elementos PNTL, elementos das F-FDTL e indivíduos internacionais (existem nomes concretos mas não são aqui divulgados);
Resolução da crise e evolução da situação
A resolução da crise e a sua evolução para a estabilização, normalização e consolidação da situação de segurança, depende essencialmente dos seguintes aspectos:
 Entendimento claro factores estiveram origem da crise
 Resolução das questões e divergências ao nível político, que têm vindo a dividir sistematicamente a sociedade timorense; (as profundas divisões provocadas na FRETILIN e na sociedade timorense nos anos 80 ainda não foram resolvidas, mesmo com relatórios de intenções duvidosas como o CAVR; Enfim, só conversa para enganar o próximo)
 Articulação/coordenação mais eficaz do empenhamento das Forças Internacionais;
 Deter/desarmar todos militares e elementos PNTL (desertores);
 Impedir liberdade movimentos, deter/desarmar elementos PNTL referenciados desde 16MAI06 e outros grupos actividade criminal apoiados por elementos PNTL desertores e ex-militares (peticionários) responsáveis destruição/vandalismo em Dili;
A inexistência de listagens de armamento apreendido/pessoal detido impede avaliação do risco relacionado com AMEAÇA identificada (o processo não tem sido minimamente transparente). Quais serão os objectivos subjacentes?
Garantir segurança efectiva dos locais, que têm sido alvo de actos vandalismo, permitindo o regresso da população refugiada (insegura, ameaçada e intimidada);
Coordenação efectiva todos intervenientes sistema judicial, tendo em vista eficácia investigações e evitar IMPUNIDADE (autores materiais e morais);
A resolução e reorganização da PNTL de forma consensual e SEM IMPUNIDADE. O Processo administrativo em curso não pode nem deve substituir os Tribunais. Os elementos que a constituem têm de ser desarmados e só depois poderá ser reorganizada, pois a crise evidenciou claramente que o problema reside na PNTL e não nas F-FDTL.
Neste contexto, importa referir, que existem indícios claros de, mais uma vez, estar em curso uma campanha, apoiada por alguns elementos da Força australiana, com orientações específicas para “branquear” o envolvimento dos elementos da PNTL, que estão referenciados, pois caso contrário implicaria assumirem o seu enormíssimo falhanço e o das NU no apoio directo àquela instituição que, após a falência da sua hierarquia, ficou completamente desmembrada e onde foram consumidos milhões de dólares.
Assim, uma das grandes preocupações dos responsáveis da Força australiana passará por procurar deixar impunes os elementos da PNTL referenciados, de forma a que alguns dos factos não possam contrariar sua estratégia, continuando a ser referido que Timor-Leste necessita apenas de uma Polícia civil e não de Forças Armadas, que são as principais responsáveis pela actual grave crise na óptica de alguma imprensa australiana, que faz de eco de alguns políticos e das próprias linhas de acção do governo em que tem sido posto em causa o apoio que tem sido dado por Portugal, nomeadamente na Constituição, capacitação das Instituições e Língua.
Para além disso, importa ter presente os seguintes factores relacionados com o sistema judicial, que podem ter impacto negativo na actual crise:
Estão identificadas diversas tentativas da AUST para desacreditar o Estado de Direito e, consequentemente, o sistema judicial de Timor-Leste que tem sido apoiado por Portugal no âmbito das NU;
O Gabinete de Crise constituído durante a situação de crise não coordenou, de forma efectiva, os diversos intervenientes no sistema judicial, tendo sido verificadas sistemáticas interferências desarticuladas do poder político, do próprio gabinete do PR e do Procurador-geral (estão identificadas e sei que gostavam de saber, mas este não é o local próprio);
Logo após a entrada das Forças Internacionais, constatou-se ser necessário o reforço de especialistas em investigação criminal, nomeadamente de Portugal para apoiar a acção do contingente da GNR;
Verifica-se existirem indícios de tentativas de “branqueamento”, tendo em vista a impunidade dos implicados aos diferentes níveis, tornando-se importantes as investigações que se espera terem sido conduzidas de forma isenta pela Comissão de Investigação Internacional solicitada pelas autoridades timorenses.
Convém lembrar que o CEMGFA solicitou uma inspecção/verificação de armamento aos diversos órgãos de soberania, antes da ocorrência dos confrontos armados, tendo em conta os indícios e factos que existiam sobre a aquisição ilegal e falta de controlo do armamento por parte da PNTL. No entanto aquela inspecção só foi efectuada em 08 e 09JUN06 e apenas às F-FDTL (por pressão do Comando das Forças australianas estacionadas para ocupação? em Timor-Leste), pois a PNTL solicitou mais 07 (sete) dias para se aprontar, cujo prazo expirou sem ter existido nenhuma informação oficial sobre a estranha e preocupante situação, que poderá constituir um indicio de estar em curso uma campanha apoiada pela AUST, tendo em vista a impunidade dos responsáveis. O facto de não ter sido efectuada a inspecção de armamento solicitada pelo CEMGFA, com carácter urgente, constitui um indicio muito forte de envolvimento do poder político a diversos níveis e será por certo uma das principais vulnerabilidades do governo e restantes órgão de soberania no âmbito da investigação internacional, pois, caso tivesse sido efectuada a referida inspecção, poderiam ter sido evitados ou mitigados os confrontos armados.
Infelizmente o poder político timorense acabou por não valorizar nem teve capacidade ou não teve vontade de fazer a exploração de toda a extensa informação que existia sobre actos de carácter subversivo e eventuais aquisições de armamento ilegal, assim como a deficiência do seu controlo. Este facto está essencialmente relacionado com a falta dos necessários mecanismos que permitam a gestão adequada do fluxo de informação entre os órgãos próprios do Estado de direito; Por outro lado, a investigação criminal tem-se revelado ineficaz num sistema judicial cada vez mais vulnerável e limitado (problemática da Lei, Procuradores e Juízes de várias nacionalidades e com actuações descoordenadas e com demasiado protagonismo, problema da língua e corrupção ao mais alto nível, por não existir um polícia de investigação na dependência do ministério público (caso da Polícia Judiciária em muitos outros países).

SÍNTESE CONCLUSIVA
Tendo como referência a extensa informação existente é possível apresentar uma síntese com as principais conclusões, que resultam do processo de análise, ao nível político, militar, manifestação dos ex-militares, Forças de Segurança e controlo do armamento e avaliação da situação:
Ao nível político
A tensão que se vive em Timor-Leste teve a sua origem num problema disciplinar e actos de insubordinação e não em qualquer descriminação objectiva, como alguns dos líderes dos ex-militares têm feito constar e alguns políticos têm alimentado fazendo de caixa de ressonância. A situação foi manipulada ao nível político e aproveitada a diversos níveis (interno e externo), sendo progressivamente politizada para criar instabilidade e insegurança, tendo em vista interromper o processo político em curso, promovendo a queda do governo.
Os elementos de informação disponíveis até á data permitem aferir, que a manipulação dos ex-militares teve dois planos diferentes: plano interno (MI/RL) e plano externo (Aust/EUA), com a mesma finalidade (manter a instabilidade controlada), mas com objectivos diferentes.
O envolvimento do MI (RL) e de Partidos políticos da oposição (PD, PSD e ASDT….) na manipulação dos ex-militares em todo este processo foi identificado, e, portanto, não constituiu propriamente uma novidade. O débil sistema judicial e a falta de transparência, cuja independência é de carácter duvidoso e, infelizmente, não permite assumir, que irá haver investigação com rigor e isenção dos problemas relacionados com a organização e controlo da manifestação e dos ex-militares com ligações a grupos de actividade criminal. No entanto, julga-se que seria fundamental para a credibilização (ao nível interno e externo) de um Estado de direito obter respostas para as seguintes questões:
- Quem de facto organizou e apoiou a realização da MANIF?
- Porque foi autorizado os manifestantes utilizarem o fardamento das F-FDTL?
- Porque foi autorizada a participação do grupo de actividade criminal “Kolimau”, reconhecido publicamente como responsável pelos actos de violência?
- Porque foi mobilizado aquele mesmo grupo (liderado por Osório Leki) para uma manifestação de apoio ao Governo em SET04?
- Porque foi adquirido diverso tipo de armamento pela PNTL, desde a sua criação, sem a definição dos Conceitos de Emprego e Requisitos Operacionais?
- Porque tinham alguns manifestantes (ex-militares e civis) armamento?
- Porque actuou a PNTL de forma passiva e sem o dispositivo adequado, conforme ordens PM?
- Quem armou os civis e qual a verdadeira origem das armas de fogo?
- Quais as verdadeiras intenções e motivações dos diversos intervenientes?
- Porque existiu falta de solidariedade institucional em todo o processo?
- Porque não foi efectuada a inspecção/verificação armamento às F-FDTL/PNTL em simultâneo, conforme solicitação do CEMGFA em carta dirigida aos diversos órgãos de soberania?
Em todo o processo houve alguma falta de sensibilidade política e terão sido cometidos erros de avaliação, aos diferentes níveis, verificando-se também falta de solidariedade institucional, na resolução da crise político-militar, que ainda não terminou e cuja avaliação da extensão dos danos, sendo dificultada por vários factores, já permitiu identificar que deixou “feridas que irão ser difíceis de cicatrizar”.
Constatou-se, que nem sempre houve coesão entre o governo e órgãos de soberania e nem sempre têm demonstrado um discurso coerente, sendo mesmo, por vezes contraditório o que não deixa de ser preocupante para a comunidade timorense e internacional e, consequentemente, as suas intervenções não contribuem para clarificar e repor o ambiente de segurança necessário ao desenvolvimento do país.
A criação e activação, de forma efectiva, de um gabinete de crise, que permitisse a coordenação inter-ministerial, com todos os meios necessários de Comando e Controlo das Forças de Segurança, poderia ter tornado mais eficaz a acção do governo e das forças de Segurança. Numa situação com a caracterização daquela que se viveu e vive em Timor-Leste, seriam evitados vazios de poder, coordenando de forma eficaz a multiplicidade de tarefas e desdobramento constante, que é exigido aos diversos intervenientes e, consequentemente, seriam minimizados os aspectos que possam interferir de forma negativa na situação de segurança do país. Para além disso, aquele gabinete poderia garantir um discurso coeso por parte do governo e permitiria uma melhor coordenação entre os órgãos de soberania e a Comunidade Internacional, através de uma adequada política de informação pública com reflexos positivos na situação de segurança e, consequentemente, na recuperação da estabilidade do país.
O envio de mensagens de SMS de ONG com ligações directas ou indirectas à Embaixada da Austrália e dos EUA, para determinados indivíduos que trabalham para aquelas organizações, mas que, entretanto, foram reencaminhados para outros cidadãos nacionais e internacionais, deveria ser convenientemente analisado ao nível político; De alguma forma, contribuiu para a intranquilidade e insegurança sentida pela comunidade internacional, que recebeu e continua a receber informações sensíveis, em rede, de diversas proveniências e que se vê confrontada com deficiente ou inexistente informação pública por parte das entidades competentes. Os efeitos desta situação também podiam ter sido minimizados ou anulados, através do funcionamento efectivo do gabinete de crise referido anteriormente.
O apoio da missão das NU (UNOTIL) na resolução da crise político-militar, não foi muito visível, mesmo só ao nível das assessorias (muitos dos assessores quando a crise começou foram de férias até Bali!) e por isso, de certa forma é discutível o tipo de apoio que foi assegurado, que poderá ser questionado em dois níveis: falta de capacidade técnica dos assessores, nomeadamente da PNTL ou simplesmente omissão por instruções dos seus países ou por iniciativa individual.

Ao nível militar
A questão não é apenas de âmbito político, como alguns intervenientes quiseram fazer passar a mensagem, mas está essencialmente relacionada com tentativas sistemáticas do exterior para fragilizar a instituição, a falta de acção de comando e a inexistência de cultura de segurança militar evidenciada pela desvalorização dos indícios de acções de âmbito subversivo que tinham sido identificadas em 2004;
Desde 2004 estavam identificados os indícios de acções de carácter subversivo e de eventuais divisões nas F-FDTL, pelo que não deviam ter sido desvalorizados os indícios identificados.
Os níveis de manipulação podem evidenciar a tentativa de falência da hierarquia das F-FDTL (argumento que tem sido utilizado pelo MI para atingir o seu grande objectivo desde há 2 anos - reforçar em pessoal, meios e armamento a PNTL).
Sobre a situação das F-FDTL já tudo foi dito e não constitui novidade nem pode ser surpresa o que aconteceu, pois a instituição continua cada vez mais fragilizada (publicamente assumido nos discursos do PR) pela não resolução dos problemas prementes, que exigem uma intervenção urgente ao nível politico e da própria instituição (condições de alojamento, alimentação, fardamento, falta de empenhamento operacional e falta do enquadramento legislativo adequado), conforme foi identificado em 2004 pela Comissão de Inquérito Independente constituída por iniciativa presidencial na sequência dos graves incidentes de Los Palos. Como também já tem vindo a ser referido, a diversos níveis, a sua fragilidade constitui terreno propício às manipulações externas, que interessam objectivamente a determinados sectores da sociedade timorense e vão de encontro aos objectivos estratégicos de alguns países da região, que não querem ou têm receio do desenvolvimento sustentado das Forças Armadas de Timor-Leste.
Julga-se, oportuno acentuar e, apesar de já referido por diversas vezes, não será de mais lembrar, que a resolução dos graves problemas que afectam as F-FDTL (organização, equipamento, financiamento, qualificação de recursos humanos, diferenças de tratamento em relação à PNTL – vencimentos, alimentação e fardamento, com implicações na motivação e, obviamente nas limitações operacionais) atingem seriamente a responsabilidade e a dignidade do Estado de Timor-Leste e, só será possível, se houver vontade política e um esforço coordenado dos países envolvidos no apoio ao seu desenvolvimento, o que até á data não parece ter sido muito evidente.
Finalmente, valerá a pena ter presente, que as declarações do antigo MNEC e actual PM , num comunicado oficial (09MAI06), que poderá ser interpretado como discurso de auto-crítica, atribui a crise à “incapacidade do governo timorense para enfrentar atempadamente os problemas existentes nas F-FDTL”.
No âmbito da Manifestação dos ex-militares
Considera-se incompreensível, inaceitável e completamente irresponsável a autorização de utilização dos uniformes por parte dos manifestantes ex-militares, que foram desligados da instituição com o apoio do governo, só poderá ser explicada por interesses de alguns dos actores políticos intervenientes na manipulação daquele segmento com objectivos claros de atingir, fragilizar e desacreditar a única instituição que pode garantir a unidade nacional e consequentemente a soberania do país.
A inexistência de dispositivo adequado (pró-activo de acordo com intenção do PM) e atitude da PNTL relacionada com a sua passividade face aos incidentes, que se verificaram não deixa de constituir um factor de grande preocupação, que não pode nem deve ser explicado apenas pelas fracas capacidades daquela Força de Segurança (existem outras situações que servem como referência e termos de comparação da actuação da PNTL), mas que poderá ser explicado pelo nível de envolvimento do próprio antigo Ministro do Interior (Rogério Lobato) e Comando da PNTL (Paulo Fátima Martins e Inspector Babo) neste processo.
A autorização da MANIF com a participação do grupo KOLIMAU 2000 ligado à actividade criminal (reconhecido ao nível governamental e publicamente assumido pelo MNEC em comunicado oficial que se refere ao seu líder Osório Leki), devia ter sido devidamente avaliada, uma vez que, o governo dispunha de informação relacionada com a participação daquele grupo na MANIF. A influência e manipulação daquele grupo por parte de Rogério Lobato está suficientemente caracterizada na comunicação social no âmbito de uma MANIF promovida e organizada por ele próprio a favor do governo e que nesta MANIF dos ex-militares foram manipulados e utilizados numa acção especifica e organizada contra o governo.
Julga-se, que o aspecto referido anteriormente merece especial atenção, pois ainda não terá sido feita a necessária reflexão sobre o modelo dos Serviços de Informações em Timor-Leste e as disfunções já identificadas com o défice e gestão do fluxo de Informação, sendo importante ter presente o seguinte:
– Os Serviços de Informações em geral devem funcionar, quer em termos de órgãos de aviso remoto, quer como entidades de identificação, limitação, controlo e gestão de danos, quer como “descodificadores” para o poder político, da complexidade, diversidade, variedade de sinais do ambiente que nos rodeia, constituindo verdadeiros instrumentos de apoio à decisão.
– Não poderá haver esforço de defesa sem mobilização para a segurança e não haverá segurança sem Informações
No âmbito das Forças de Segurança
Apesar de estarem identificadas divisões dentro da PNTL, desde a sua constituição, o comportamento e atitude dos seus agentes perante a gravidade dos incidentes, pode ser considerado como muito estranho, evidenciando claramente divisões relacionadas com aqueles que pertencem aos distritos mais a Leste e os de Oeste e a sua passividade foi evidente, apesar das autoridades, estranhamente, referirem que a PNTL estava a controlar a situação e a monitorizar os movimentos dos elementos dissidentes.
Considerando o anteriormente exposto e, tendo em conta o que tem sido referido, ao nível interno e externo, relacionado com a existência de elementos armados (civis e ex-militares), não deixa de constituir um dos factores mais preocupantes da crise politico-militar. A avaliação dos factores referidos, anteriormente, permitem deduzir um risco elevado relacionado com a ameaça, que é real e não fictícia e portanto é compreensível que a população de Dili e muitos elementos da Comunidade Internacional tenham tomado as suas precauções, face à ausência de informação pública, que não distorcesse a realidade e que possa contribuir para o adequado esclarecimento da situação evitando o pânico e minimizando a instabilidade relacionada com a situação de segurança.
Importa ter presente a avaliação da situação efectuada por algumas agências internacionais (ABR/MAI06) não sofreu grande alteração (curiosamente o Bispo de Baucau refere em Portugal que está pior depois da demissão de Mari Alkatiri), sendo referido que a situação em Timor-Leste é de grande complexidade podendo assumir contornos de grande risco face aos movimentos de militares e civis armados, que estão referenciados em vários pontos do país e à ausência de forças de segurança em número compatível com a gravidade que a situação exige (não é um problema de efectivo, mas sim da sua distribuição e articulação no terreno e acima de tudo vontade em resolver os problemas de segurança), assim como ao registo de algumas deserções confirmadas de militares das F-FDTL, que se juntaram ao movimento de oposição ao governo (e que actualmente continuam a exigir a queda do governo). Neste contexto, julga-se importante acentuar, que numa sociedade aberta os órgãos de comunicação social rapidamente cobrem os acontecimentos e foi a própria TVTL a transmitir imagens da Policia Militar em Aileu e a entrevistar o seu Comandante (Maj Reinado) pelo que alguns políticos não deviam mostrar tanta indignação perante a Comunicação Social, procurando arranjar culpados onde não existem.
Escamotear, minimizar e adiar sistematicamente a resolução dos problemas das Forças de Segurança do país, que já estão perfeitamente identificados, não deixa de ser preocupante e pode afectar irremediavelmente a imagem e dignidade do Estado timorense.
Assim, importa acentuar que a frágil estrutura do Estado e as dissenções latentes numa sociedade onde a organização e o funcionamento das instituições se situam ainda muito aquém do desejável, como é o caso das F-FDTL e PNTL potenciam a eclosão, limitada mas recorrente, de conflitos cujos contornos nem sempre se conhecem, mas que constituem uma preocupação pelo facto de se prestarem às mais diversas formas de manipulação.
Controlo do armamento das Forças de Segurança
A existência de armamento na posse de civis não teve a sua origem na F-FDTL, como se pode constatar da inspecção/verificação efectuada, em JUN06, efectuada pela comunidade internacional;
Esta situação dá suporte a algumas notícias, que se têm vindo a registar, desde 2003, relativamente ao processo de aquisição e entrada ilegal de armamento em Timor-Leste, assim como o seu deficiente controlo por parte dos responsáveis da PNTL. Neste contexto, julga-se que a análise detalhada tem três níveis: O aspecto legal, as questões relacionadas com a segurança e o controlo do armamento e os critérios que devem ser seguidos no processo de aquisição.
Avaliação da situação de Segurança
As manipulações dos ex-militares e outros grupos de actividade criminal terão como principal motivação objectivos políticos relacionados com as divisões internas identificadas dentro da FRETILIN, que estão avaliadas, desde há muito tempo (2004), como sendo o principal factor de risco na ameaça interna relacionada com a luta pelo poder e tentativa de influência/controlo das Forças de Segurança por parte de alguns actores ou partidos políticos.
Assim, tendo em conta a análise efectuada poderá ser apresentada a seguinte avaliação:
Situação controlada mas ainda frágil, com tendência para normalizar, existindo indícios que confirmam a possibilidade de poderem ainda ocorrer situações, que tenham como objectivo criar grande instabilidade, tendo em vista objectivos políticos, que levem, eventualmente, a novas confrontações dos ex-militares, desertores, dissidentes da PNTL e outros grupos com as F-FDTL. Os grupos de actividade criminal poderão continuar com liberdade de movimentos para desenvolver actos de vandalismo e acções de intimidação, fomentando a divisão da sociedade timorense com consequente impacto negativo na estabilização e consolidação da situação de segurança em Timor-Leste.
A resolução da crise político-militar ainda não terminou e a avaliação da extensão dos danos, sendo dificultada por vários factores, já permitiu identificar que deixou “feridas que irão ser difíceis de cicatrizar”, que podem ser potencializadas pela eventual impunidade que se venha a registar, constituindo assim um factor a impedir a estabilização e consolidação da situação de segurança e potencializar a eclosão de novos conflitos que, normalmente, em Timor-Leste não têm escalada e por isso são de difícil previsão. Assim, o processo de desarmamento e reorganização da PNTL tem de ser transparente e elementos referenciados como dissidentes não poderão ser admitidos novamente na Instituição.
Finalmente, como síntese importa referir que a estabilização e consolidação da situação de segurança está essencialmente dependente dos seguintes factores:
Resolução das questões ao nível político, que têm estado a interferir directa ou indirectamente com o empenhamento operacional da Força Internacional de Intervenção;
Coordenação mais efectiva das Forças Internacionais de Intervenção, tendo em vista os seguintes aspectos:
– Deter e desarmar todos os militares e elementos da PNTL, que são considerados desertores, que se encontra fora da cidade de Dili (Ermera, Aileu, Ainaro e Bobonaro) e que atacaram as posições das F-FDTL, flagelando com armas de fogo outros locais na cidade de Dili; Em qualquer país normal o facto de ser desertor, só por si é crime punido pela lei; (em Timor-Leste preferem a reconciliação e apagar a legislação, depois admiram-se de o Estado de direito ser posto em causa);
– Impedir a liberdade de movimentos, deter e desarmar os grupos de elementos da PNTL, que se encontram referenciados desde 16MAI06 e de outros grupos de actividade criminal apoiados por elementos da PNTL desertores e ex-militares (peticionários), que são responsáveis pela destruição de casas e bens de civis conotados como sendo de Lorosae; Neste contexto, os elementos da PNTL referenciados como desertores/dissidentes não devem continuar a servir oficiais de ligação com a Força Australiana;
– Garantir segurança efectiva aos locais que foram alvo de actos de vandalismo, permitindo assim o regresso da população refugiada, que continua a sentir-se insegura, ameaçada e intimidada.
Coordenação efectiva de todos os intervenientes no sistema judicial, tendo em vista a eficácia das investigações e, consequentemente, evitar a impunidade dos responsáveis (autores) materiais e morais dos crimes que têm vindo a ser cometidos e a destruição de provas ou a sua fuga para fora do país.
Reorganização, consolidação e desenvolvimento harmonioso, equilibrado e sustentado das Forças de Segurança, uma vez que a sua fragilidade constitui terreno propício às manipulações externas, que interessam objectivamente a determinados sectores da sociedade timorense e vão ao encontro dos objectivos estratégicos de alguns países da região, que não querem ou têm receio do desenvolvimento sustentado das Forças Armadas de Timor-Leste, que é a única instutuição capaz de garantir a unidade e soberania nacional, que actualmente já foi hipotecada à AUST. Neste âmbito sabe-se que existe um Estudo estratégico (“Força 2020”), que visa, precisamente, o desenvolvimento das F-FDTL para os próximos 20 anos. No entanto, o país dos cangurus não deve estar muito interessado e tudo fará para bloquear ou impedir esse desenvolvimento, pois as F-FDTL são a única instituição que poderá garantir a unidade nacional dos timorenses e soberania do país. Não assino mas tenho identificação para ser apresentada em lugar próprio. CHACAL

A view from UK's ultra conservatist party on Timor-Leste crisis

2006-09-17T17:02:00.000+09:00

Benedict Rogers of Christian Solidariry Worldwide had this to say in regards to the latest revelation on an alleged involvement by President Gusmão in the mayhem that killed dozens of East Timorese in June:

"I find this extremely hard to believe. I expect it is a rumour being put out by Alkatiri and his supporters."

--------------------------------------------------
Benedict Rogers
Advocacy Officer, South Asia, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Deputy Chairman, Conservative Party Human Rights Commission
www.csw.org.uk
www.benrogers.org.uk
www.conservativehumanrights.com

----- Original Message -----
To:
Sent: Saturday, September 16, 2006 4:52 AM
Subject: Gusmao 'ordered Dili attack'

Claim That Gusmao Ordered Dili's Days of Rage

by John Martinkus

The Age (Melbourne)

Saturday, September 16, 2006

VIOLENCE that ran over four days in May in East Timor and led to the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was part of a plan instigated by the President Xanana Gusmao, according to new claims in Dili.

So Gusmao ordered Dili's days of rage -- what's new?

2006-09-16T11:15:00.000+09:00

Claim that Gusmao ordered Dili's days of rage

John Martinkus
September 16, 2006

VIOLENCE that ran over four days in May in East Timor and led to the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was part of a plan instigated by the President Xanana Gusmao, according to new claims in Dili.

A statement by the former vice-commander of Dili district police, Abilio "Mausoko" Mesquita, alleges that Mr Gusmao ordered him to carry out an attack on the house belonging to army Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak.

Mesquita was arrested by the Australian Federal Police on June 19 with several automatic rifles. He was filmed at the scene of the attack on the brigadier's house on May 25, which he was alleged to have led.

In his statement taken from Dili's Becora prison, Mesquita says: "During the confrontations between PNTL (the police) and FDTL (the army) and the shooting at the brigadier's house, the Supreme Commander, Mr Xanana, gave the command and ordered the shooting."

Mesquita says in the statement that he told his story to the UN head of mission in East Timor, Sukehiro Hasegawa, who visited him in the prison after his arrest.

He says that before carrying out the attack, he had notified Taur Matan Ruak and four senior commanders in the army of his orders from the President.

He repeatedly told Mr Hasegawa that Xanana was the author of the crisis.

Mesquita says he repeated these claims to Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta when he allegedly visited Mesquita in jail on August 13.

If true, the statement implicates the President in what was effectively an armed coup to create the conditions for the resignation of the legally elected Prime Minister.

Mr Gusmao could not be contacted last night for comment.

The statement also details the visit of two Australian army majors who questioned Mesquita on his role in the violence and about his political allegiances.

Mesquita is still in the Becora jail, from which rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado and 56 others walked out on August 30.

The statement was said to have been written in the prison and delivered to the US embassy in Dili as a means for Mesquita to secure his release.

The statement refers to a meeting at the President's office before the crisis, where, in the presence of local leaders, including chief of police Paulo Martins, Mr Ramos Horta and the Bishop of Baucau, it is alleged that the President discussed the need to get rid of the government of Mr Alkatiri because of its perceived "communist" sympathies.

Other sources within the veterans' organisation independently confirm that they were invited to a meeting with the President at his residence in the hills above Dili in March, where a plan to remove Mr Alkatiri was discussed.

Investigation of the individuals involved in the three main attacks on the East Timor Defence Force in May shows that every one of them was led by leaders who have since publicly acknowledged their allegiance to the President.

Those who led the other two major attacks on the army, namely Major Reinado and Vicente de Conceicao, have repeatedly declared their support for Mr Gusmao.

Xanana demands that the people choose between himself and FRETILIN

2006-06-23T14:02:00.000+09:00

Update from Timor-Leste, June 22, 2006

Today the FRETILIN National Political Commission with 15 members met in the morning at the Government Palace in Dili to develop a response to President Gusmao's demand yesterday and the day before for the Prime Minister to resign. A meeting scheduled for the afternoon, between Dr Alkatiri and Lu-Olo for FRETILIN and President Gusmao, was postponed until tomorrow morning, at the request of the President, to allow him more time to consider the FRETILIN proposal. This proposal was to adopt ideas put forward the previous day by Foreign Minister Horta to create two Deputy Prime Ministers, but for Mari Alkatiri to continue as Prime Minister, addressing concerns about maintaining a competent government.

There were two media conferences – one by FRETILIN at 4pm, and one by President Gusmao at 5pm, where the President spoke for 90 minutes in what was an address to the nation. The address completely changed the agenda for the three person meeting planned for tomorrow morning, and probably cancelled it.

FRETILIN's view

The FRETILIN NPC held a media conference at 4pm at its Comoro Headquarters, where Deputy General Secretary Jose Reis, Secretary of State for Region I, and Filomeno Aleixo, presented the broad views of FRETILIN on the crisis, but not the negotiating proposal put to the President.

The FRETILIN statement was a strong endorsement of Prime Minister Alkatiri and a strong call on President Gusmao to do more to unite the nation and support the government.

The statement began by asserting that Mari Alkatiri is the Prime Minister because he was elected to be FRETILIN General Secretary and because FRETILIN won a majority of votes and seats in the 2001 elections.

It asked all elements of Timor-Leste's sovereignty to uphold the sovereignty of Timor-Leste and its Constitution and to defend the dignity of the people of Timor-Leste, the 'Maubere people'.

It asserted that the institutions of sovereignty – the President, the Parliament, the Government and the Courts – have to resolve the crisis in a constitutional way.

FRETILIN asked the President as the Supreme Commander to guarantee the unity and stability of the nation through a constitutional solution that safeguards the fundamental democratic institutions of Timor-Leste.

FRETILIN said it would contribute to the solution by asking the President to work with them and all elements of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste and all political forces in the country to:

disarm all civilian groups that have guns
suspend demonstrations
stop all types of violence
give political support to the government to carry out all institutional activities to guarantee that the 2007 elections take place.

FRETILIN rejects all allegations that guns were distributed to its Congress delegates, or were given to FRETILIN members.

FRETILIN did not accept political persecution of activists as happened under the Indonesian regime and says that Rogerio Lobato is being persecuted, despite all the sacrifices of his family, including the recent burning of five family members. FRETILIN, with all the people, asked all component institutions of the state not to mix up legal and political processes, as happened under the Indonesian regime.

It noted that there are several armed civilian groups, but in the media they only hear about the Rai'los group.

FRETILIN committed to work fully with the international investigation team.

It appealed to all members not to listen to rumours that divide the people of Timor-Leste and can destroy the nation all have built on so much blood and bones. It asked people to remain calm in all Districts, Sub-Districts, Sucos and villages.

President Xanana Gusmao's view

At his media conference, President Gusmao made a very long speech about FRETILIN and its history, speaking like an all-wise grandfather scolding a naughty child and denouncing the naughty child to the world. He covered very many points in the history of FRETILIN, but the hard points were stories of FRETILIN leaders fighting each other for power in the liberation war, and fighting for power and money now. He said that the election at the FRETILIN Conference for the positions of General Secretary and President by show of hands, was illegal and therefore undemocratic. He accused Mari Alkatiri of buying votes at the Congress. He gave FRETILIN one week to hold a special conference to properly elect a new leadership. This shifts the ground for the resignation demand from the untenable arms distribution charges against the Prime Minister, and makes it into a demand to the people to choose between him as the personification of national independence, and FRETILIN.

In the concluding paragraphs of his speech President Gusmao said that if FRETILIN did not make Mari Alkitiri take responsibility for the huge crisis in the country, then tomorrow he would send his resignation letter to parliament. This contradicts the call for a special conference of FRETILIN within one week. Then he said with bitterness, that if he resigned then Lu-Olo would be president and sign the laws which he and FRETILIN would then break. He sarcastically said that the government would go on repairing the holes in Dili's streets, and the Members of Parliament would go on voting to feed their own families.

This speech is in many ways a tragic performance by a leader destroying the roots of his own leadership. In practical politics it is a major escalation of the political combat between the President and FRETILIN, following the President's failure to obtain the Prime Minister's resignation in the last two days.

FRETILIN now has to regroup to focus on this new line of criticism and attack and new level of demand, and devise a response that involves its large membership in a process which holds on to the fundamental gains of the Constitution and democratic practice. The expected schedule of Cabinet meeting and FRETILIN Central Committee meeting and ongoing talks with the President will be adjusted, but provide some process for the collective response and hard talking which the President's speech requires. The one week deadline for a special FRETILIN conference provides a timetable.

This stand-off is likely to cause even greater fear among the population, which has been reassured enough in recent days to begin to slowly return from displaced peoples centres to homes. This is a people who should not and cannot be asked to choose themselves or themselves – Xanana or FRETILIN. Where the President has so publicly rejected FRETILIN, there is a real need to find a way for FRETILIN to engage with and somehow unite with Xanana again, a way which upholds the basic values of the national liberation struggle in this phase of national construction.

Peter Murphy
Dili, June 22, 2006

John Martinkus: Of coup plots and shadowy foreigners

2006-06-23T13:52:00.000+09:00

The New Zealand Herald

June 22, 2006 Thursday

John Martinkus: Of coup plots and shadowy foreigners

The East Timorese Prime Minister has added to the murk surrounding the country's descent into violence by accusing opposition groups backed by foreigners of conspiring to overthrow his Government in anarmed coup.

And his claims have been backed by senior sources within the Defence Force, who say there have been three coup plots in the past 18 months.

Mari Alkatiri, himself accused of arranging a hit squad to eliminate his critics, has for the first time given his version of what led to the Dili chaos in late May.

The breakdown of law and order led to 130,000 internal refugees and the deployment of 2200 troops from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.

He accused opposition groups and their foreign supporters of repeatedly trying to convince prominent commanders in the East Timorese armed forces to overthrow his Government.

"They were always trying to get the command of [former guerrilla fighters] Falintil, F-FDTL [defence forces]. They tried to convince the command to order and participate in a coup. They failed."

He claimed his opponents then tried to weaken the influence of the military.

"They tried to break Falintil and they did it by bringing out of the barracks almost 600."

He says his political opponents exploited ethnic divisions within the police force (PNTL) to create unrest.

"They succeeded in dividing the people within the PNTL. This is the whole strategy. Then they put groups of [police] against groups of [soldiers] in confrontation. And they succeeded again. This is why I requested assistance from outside," he said.

Senior sources within the armed forces command confirmed that not one but three separate approaches had been made to its leadership to lead a coup against Alkatiri in the past 18 months.

I was able to confirm that following the weeks of mass demonstrations against Alkatiri's Government in April 2005 the Defence Force commander, Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak, was approached to lead a coup.

He rejected the offer. Again early this year he was approached and requested to lead a coup in a meeting with two prominent East Timorese leaders and two foreign nationals. Again he refused, reportedly telling them it was against the constitution and would set an unacceptable precedent.

One of his leading deputies, Lieutenant Colonel Falur Rate Laek, a former regional commander from Falintil and a veteran of the war against Indonesia, was also approached by the same two local leaders and foreign nationals. He also refused and reported the incident to his command.

Due to the sensitivity of the information and the implications for the current situation, the nationalities of the foreigners were not revealed.

The armed forces believe that last month's lawlessness was an attempt to divide and destroy them as retribution for the Army's command refusing to take part in a coup.

The Prime Minister was adamant the violence was orchestrated as a part of a programme to topple his Government.

"It has to be institutions, some organisations, inside assisted by others outside," he said. "I think there are outside groups from Australia maybe from Indonesia but not the Governments. I am not accusing the Government of Indonesia or the Government of Australia. But still I do believe there are outside groups. We need some time to investigate this but the whole plan was very well done and very well executed."

It's not the first time Alkatiri has called the attempts to oust him an attempted coup. He continued to deny the accusations of a hit squad against him and his Government and dismissed them as part of a misinformation campaign run by his opposition.

He said the campaign was being run by "conservative elements in institutions" in East Timor and abroad.

Allegations against the Government of Alkatiri proved difficult to verify. The claims that at least 60 people were killed by the Army following demonstrations in late April and buried in a mass grave to the west of the city could not be checked. The priest who had claimed to have a list with 67 names on it denied he had a list.

Then there was the allegation about Vincente "Rai Los" da Concecao, the leader of a group of armed resistance fighters, who says Alkatiri's orders were carried out by former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato, a close ally of the PM.

Da Concecao's 30 fighters were said to be based in the mountains above the town of Liquica and equipped with automatic rifles. He claimed to have received the rifles from Alkatiri and Lobato, who is now under house arrest.

Journalists who went to meet him were surprised to be directed to the house of the Carrascalao family in the hills above Liquica.

They said he had told them he was issued the weapons to kill opponents of Alkatiri's ruling Fretilin Party.

The Carrascalao family have a history of opposition to Fretilin going back to a leadership role in the UDT party which fought a civil war against Fretilin in 1975.

Alkatiri said that he knew three of the men involved in the "Rai Los" group as they had attended a Fretilin conference in May and he had briefly met them. He said he told them only to enforce security and not to kill opponents as they claimed.

Sources in the armed forces said the Rai Los men had participated in the attack on the Army base in Tacitolu. Soldiers said da Concecao was a former Falintil fighter who had been sacked in 2004 for embezzling pay cheques.

Before the allegations about supplying weapons to da Concecao were made public Alkatiri said he dismissed them as more opposition misinformation.

"The best way to overthrow somebody from power is to demonise them. That is exactly what they are trying to do and how to do it? [By] passing to media information like this that this man has a secret army with the objective to eliminate others ... instead of having killed someone from the opposition what they have done is really just to fight against the [Army].

"They fought against the [Army] on May 24 in Tacitolu. What kind of secret Fretilin group is this that they are also fighting against the [Army]. This is contradictory," said Alkatiri.

While frustrations within the Timorese armed forces ignited the latest crisis, it was preceded by riots against Alkatiri's leadership in December 2001 and a prolonged protest led by the church against his Government in April 2005.

Last February a group of soldiers from the country's west - which grew from 140 to 591 - signed a petition claiming discrimination inside the 1300-strong Army. In March they were dismissed from the armed forces.

However, as events began to unfold the dispute quickly became the start of a series of calls for Alkatiri to resign. The Prime Minister was in no doubt what had taken place. He kept referring to it as an attempted coup.

The petitioners' demonstration turned violent on April 28 when he ordered the Army to take control. Police officers ran away and in some cases joined the violence. The petitioners marched back to the west of Dili and were kept there by the Army. Three people were killed in fighting and the violence began to spread.

Last week, recalling his arrival in Dili, the commander of the Australian forces, Brigadier Mick Slater, said there were two types of gang violence.

"There were definitely the opportunistic gutless thugs ... I think they were probably the major source of violence in town. There were definitely groups, let's call them gangs, that were definitely being manipulated and co-ordinated by other people from outside that gang environment. I feel very, very strongly that that was the case."

Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta says Alkatiri's claims of a coup are "nonsense". "If there was a coup attempt the Prime Minister should elaborate. A coup attempt by who?"

That is a question that no one at the moment, from the military leadership, to the Prime Minister, to the commander of the Australian intervention force and the President himself, is willing to answer.

* Herald correspondent John Martinkus was in Dili last week.

From IPS...

2006-06-22T22:33:00.000+09:00

EAST TIMOR: Australia - Peackeeper or Petroleum Predator?

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY, Jun 22 (IPS) - A two month old rebellion by sacked army officials and police deserters in East Timor, one of the world's newest and poorest countries, has resulted in an Australian-led "peacekeeping" force arrival in its capital Dili, and a media-supported push for ‘regime change'.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, a Muslim leading a predominantly Catholic country, is the leader of the Fretilin Party which fought for independence from Indonesia for over two decades, and which won a landslide victory in the first legislative elections in 2001.

In Australian media reports, which in turn influence regional and international reporting of the issue, the crisis in East Timor is painted as an internal power struggle where an "unpopular" Prime Minister is opposed by a peoples' movement. The words "oil" and "gas" are hardly mentioned in these reports, even though this is at the heart of the Australian intervention.

The history of East Timor independence is also the history of Australian policy flip-flops and attempts to lay hands on the vast oil deposits in the surrounding seas, now valued at over 30 billion US dollars. Yet, Australia has always painted its support for East Timorese independence as a "human rights" or "humanitarian" mission. Even today the media reporting here reflects that.

Speaking on ABC Radio recently, James Dunn an advisor to the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNMET) in 1999, described Alkatiri as a "politician who had close relations with the people" and added that he is also an efficient worker and a good bureaucrat, but not an "easy person to deal with".

It is his tough stance negotiating East Timor's rights to its oil and gas reserves with Australia over the past 5 years which has earned him the wrath of the Australian government -- which has tried to bully its poor neighbour into submitting to Canberra's ambitions to control exploration and exploitation of these natural resources.

Rob Wesley-Smith, spokesman for a Free East Timor believes that Alkatiri has dictatorial tendencies and Fretilin has become corrupted, but, he blames the government of Australian Prime Minister John Howard for precipitating the crisis by "abrogating since 1999 all the disputed oil revenue of around 1.5 billion dollars to Australia".

"Despite this area being disputed, almost certainly under UNCLOS (UN Commission for the Law of the Sea) rules, it belongs to East Timor" he told IPS, adding that television images of Australian troops who arrived in Dili where they stood by watching as looting and burning went on made him wonder, if it was a part of a sinister plot by Canberra to declare East Timor a failed state "so that they could control the Timor Sea (oil) theft".

Wesley-Smith pointed out that while Australia took almost 1.5 billion dollars in royalties from the disputed oil fields in the Timor seas since 1999, they have given back approximately 300 million dollars in aid over the same period, thus making it dependent.

Australian academic Helen Hill, author of ‘Stirring of Nationalism in East Timor", argued in a recent newspaper article that the reason Alkatiri is hated by the Canberra establishment is because, while being the only East Timorese leader standing up to Australian government bullying tactics, he has also been building links with Asian countries like China and Malaysia, Cuba, Brazil and former colonial power Portugal to help diversify East Timor's economic ties.

"He is an economic nationalist," notes Hill. "He hopes a state-owned petroleum company assisted by China, Malaysia and Brazil will enable Timor to benefit from its own oil and gas, in addition to revenue it will raise from the areas shared with Australia"..

Alkatiri has also spoken out against privatisation of electricity and managed to set up a "single desk" pharmaceutical store, despite opposition from the World Bank. He has also refused to take conditional aid from the World Bank and the IMF, invited Cuban doctors to serve in rural health centres and help in setting up a new medical school, abolished primary school fees and introduced free mid-day meals for children. All these, and the fact that he was educated and spent 24 years in exile in Marxist Mozambique have been cited by opponents in Australia as hallmarks of a communist leader.

In contrast, the rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, a former exile in Australia is believed to have been trained at the national defence academy in Canberra, and Australia's preferred candidate for the prime ministership foreign minister Ramos Horta set up the diplomatic training programme in Sydney during his years of exile in Australia.

Speaking on ABC-TV this week, Horta argued that East Timor cannot "afford this increasing loss of credibility of the government and poor image of the country", thus Alkatiri should step aside in the interests of his own party. Dismissing allegations made in the same programme that he has armed Fretilin members to eliminate his opponents, Alkatiri said he is under no pressure to resign and he will not do so.

The current campaign against Alkatiri reeks of policy flip-flops of successive Australian governments on East Timor since 1975 attributed to its desire to control the Timor Gap oil and gas resources.

After supporting the Indonesian annexation of 1975, in 1989 Australia and Indonesia signed the Timor Gap Treaty (TGT) to share the resources in the area. The UN Transitional Authority in East Timor declared the TGT illegal and in 2001, Australia signed a MOU with the UN authority to allow continued oil exploration in the region.

But, just before East Timor became full a independent state in 2002, the Howard government announced that it would no longer submit to maritime border rulings by the World Court an act which Alkatiri described at the time as "unfriendly" and "tying the hands" of the incoming government.

Since then, Alkatiri has had a series of heated arguments with Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer over the issue. After bitter negotiations, in January Alkatiri was able to get Canberra to agree to a 90-10 share in East Timor's favour, of the proceeds from the Greater Sunrise field. That was after agreeing not to proceed for at least 40 years with East Timor's claim to the disputed sea under the UNCLOS convention, by which time most of the oil and gas in the area would be exhausted.

In 2005, the Alkatiri government was reported to have entered into negotiations with Petro China to build oil refining facitilies in East Timor, which would undermine Australian plans to build a refinery in the northern Australian city of Darwin to process all Timor Sea oil from both sides of the border. East Timor president Xanana Gusmao was to visit China this month to cement the deal, but this has been blocked by the Australian military.

Sydney University political scientist Tim Anderson believes that the Howard government plans to impose a "junta' on East Timor led by Horta and an ailing Gusmao, which would also include Catholic bishop nominees. "Presence of occupying (Australian) troops till next year's election might seriously undermine Fretilin's dominant position" he notes.
(END/2006)

Health workers rise to challenge of social crisis in Timor-Leste

2006-06-22T21:18:00.000+09:00

REPÚBLICA DEMOCRÁTICA DE TIMOR-LESTE

GABINETE DO PRIMEIRO-MINISTRO

PRESS RELEASE

Health workers rise to challenge of social crisis in Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste's Community Health Centres and local health posts remained fully operational from April 29 when the first internally displaced people appeared in the capital Dili, until today when over 148,000 people rely on health workers organized through the Ministry of Health. In Diliwith 69,000 people in 57 IDP centres, the Dili District Health Service at first provided mobile health clinics, then set up 24 hour health postsin 19 centres, each with doctors and nurses.

Health Ministry staff continued to work despite many of them also having to live in IDP centres because of threats to their homes. Since June 17,the case load at the IDP centres has declined and the service is now reverting to mobile clinics, with 24-hour posts continuing for the two largest IDP centres.

The health sector is one of Timor-Leste's many success stories, because it has succeeded in providing a basic level of service to all the people of the country, even in remote locations, and it is improving the quality and availability of these services. In the public sector, these midwives, nurses, GP and hospital visits, medicines and educational programs are free - aprimary reason why all people in this very poor country can use them.

Rui Maria de Araújo, a Timorese doctor who trained in Bali and then worked as a support surgeon at Dili Hospital, was head of the Health Department under the UN administration up to May20, 2002, and then the Health Minister in the first independent government. He says that success has been about being able to spend the available money effectively. “The issue has not been money, but having good health policies and good methods of implementation so that we achieve our targets,” he said.

Under the first National Health Policy Framework developed under UNTAET, the health sector has a focus on primary health care to help cure the most common diseases, to prevent illness and to provide community education. “We deliver our services through programs aimed at mothers and children, tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/Aids. The point of contact for people is a Community Health Centre in each Sub-District, or a Health Post in population centres isolated from the Community Health Centre,” said Minister Araújo.

Each of the 65 Community Health Centres has 6 –10 nurses or midwives, and 1 – 2 general practice doctors. Each of the 175 Health Posts has one nurse and/or one midwife. The Health Ministry and its 13 District Health Management Teams is fully managed by Timorese, and employs 1,700 people. However, there are only 55 trained Timorese doctors and under a formal aid program the Cuban government provides 220 Cuban doctors and 30 Cuban health technicians. Several of the Cuban doctors are teachers at the National Institute of Health.

Training doctors, nurses and technicians at the National Institute of Health is a major priorityto ensure that availability and quality of health services continues to improve. A one-year Nursing Diploma course is now provided in exchange for athree-year contract to work in a remote Health Post. “With our expanded budget next year, we will really improve facilities, equipment and communications at our Community Health Centres and Health Posts, and thus retain our staff and really improve our services,” concluded Minister Araújo.

Díli, June 22, 2006

For further information please contact the Media Advisor:
Miguel Sarmento/Rui Flores +670 723 01 40
Peter Murphy + 61 418 312 301
Efrem dos Anjos + 670 728 2076

Vicente Maubocy Ximenes fooled the media...

2006-06-22T20:50:00.000+09:00

REPÚBLICA DEMOCRÁTICA DE TIMOR-LESTE

GABINETE DO PRIMEIRO-MINISTRO

PRESS RELEASE

June 22, 2006

Attention: International Affairs Reporter

Chief of Staff

Vicente Maubocy Ximenes fools media

The international media was played for fools at a bogus media conference in the Hotel Timor yesterday, when suspended FRETILIN member Vicente Maubocy Ximenes had them believe they were attending a FRETILIN media conference.

Media outlets who reported the event as genuine included the Sydney Morning Herald and the BBC.

Vicente Ximenes was suspended from FRETILIN membership over a year ago, in March 2005, and this suspension was confirmed for another 12 months by an internal disciplinary panel of FRETILIN as recently as May this year.

This suspension was imposed because Mr Ximenes made public attacks on the FRETILIN leadership, and the charge was basic lack of party discipline.

Mr Ximenes had asked to be the Minister for Tourism in the first independent government of Timor-Leste, but was not appointed to this post. Since then he has made many public attacks on the FRETILIN leadership.

With Mr Ximenes at the bogus media conference was former Timor-Leste Ambassador to Australia, Jorge Teme, who, while being a FRETILIN member, holds no post in the party. Mr Teme was reported to say that the FRETILIN Central Committee had 594 members, when it actually has 80 members, with nine alternate members, making a total of 89.

“Mr Ximenes and Mr Teme were telling the media that a majority of FRETILIN members and the Central Committee wanted to remove Mr Alkatiri from the Prime Ministership. The truth is the opposite – Mr Ximenes and Mr Teme are not authorise to represent FRETILIN at all. The great majority of FRETILIN members see the endless demands for the Prime Minister to resign as an attack on the basic principles of FRETILIN, of democracy, national independence and upholding the rights of the poorest citizens of Timor-Leste,” said senior FRETILIN leader and Minister for Agriculture, Mr Estanislau da Silva.

For further comment:
Minister Estanislau da Silva +670 723 0018
Peter Murphy + 61 418 312 301
Efrem dos Anjos +670 728 2076

Comunicação Social enganada por Vicente Maubocy Ximenes

A Comunicação Social internacional caiu no engodo da conferência de imprensa promovida ontem no Hotel Timor, quando Vicente Maubocy Ximenes, membro suspenso da FRETILIN, a levou a acreditar tratar-se de uma Conferência de Imprensa promovida pelos Órgãos da FRETILIN.

Entre outros, o Sydney Morning Herald e a BBC referiram-se à conferência de imprensa como sendo da responsabilidade da FRETILIN.

Vivcente Ximenes foi suspenso da FRETILIN há mais de um ano, em Março de 2005, e viu esta suspensão confirmada por mais 12 meses por uma comissão disciplinar do Partido, em Março deste ano.

A suspensão foi-lhe aplicada por ter proferido ataques à liderança da FRETILIN e baseia-se no não respeito à disciplina interna do Partido.

Vicente Ximenes ofereceu-se para ser Ministro do Turismo no primeiro Governo após a independência, mas nunca foi nomeado para qualquer cargo governativo. Desde então, têm sido muitos os ataques públicos à liderança da FRETILIN.

Na encenada Conferência de Imprensa de ontem, estavam presentes o ex-Embaixador de Timor-Leste em Camberra, Jorge Teme, que não detém também não tem qualquer cargo nos órgãos do Partido, sendo no entanto seu militante.

Naquela ocasião, Jorge Teme referiu que o Comité Central da FRETILIN é composto por 594 membros, quando na verdade são 80 membros efectivos e 9 suplentes, fazendo um total de 89 membros.

“Vicente Ximenes e Jorge Teme disseram na encenada conferência de imprensa que a maioria da FRETILIN e do Comité Central queriam a demissão do primeiro-ministro, Mari Alkatiri. A verdade é exactamente oposta. Os Srs. Vicente Ximenes e Jorge Teme não estão, de todo, autorizados a representar a FRETILIN. A grande maioria dos membros da FRETILIN vêem nos continuados pedidos de demissão do primeiro-ministro uma violação aos mais básicos princípios da FRETILIN, da democracia, da independência nacional e um atentado aos direitos dos mais desfavorecidos cidadãos de Timor-Leste” disse Estalisnau da Silva, membro do Comité Central da FRETILIN e Ministro da Agricultura .

For further comment:
Minister Estanislau da Silva +670 723 0018
Peter Murphy + 61 418 312 301

The real Vicente Maubosy Ximenes...

2006-06-22T12:39:00.000+09:00

Vicente Maubosy Ximenes has been quoted disparagingly by the media as the spokesperson for FRETILIN, for example in Pravda, The Australian. He is even quoted on the BBC as a "law maker". Well, he is just a bum with a debt of over US$150,000 after unsuccessfully tried to open a cocconut oil factory in Viqueque. The money was a credit lent to him by the Portuguese BNU bank. His partner was Victor da Costa (see below).

But who is Vicente Ximenes?

Ximenes surrendered to the Indonesian army in the late 70s. Upon his surrender, he informed the Indonesian army of East Timorese anti-Indonesia activists who were arrested and subsequently disappeared. Ximenes continued to work closely with Indonesian military, but this time in the busineness sector. One day Ximenes had a fallout with the Indonesian military commanders with whom he has had business deals with and was forced to leave the country to Australia. He settled in Darwin.

In Darwin Vicente came face to face with the relatives of the East Timorese whom he had reported to the Indonesian army to be eliminated years earlier. These relatives assaulted him in Darwin forcing him to move to Brisbane where he completed some kind of degree.

Upon returning to Timor-Leste, Ximenes rejoined FRETILIN but with high ambitions. One of them being the post of minister for tourism. Nothing came to avail for Vicente as he soon had a fallout with Alkatiri and his faction. Ximenes then openly criticised the government and FRETILIN leadership to the point of joining the opposition groups in moves to unseat FRETILIN from government. Later on FRETILIN's Central Committee suspended Ximenes' membership of the organisation, if not expelled. In the recent Congress, Ximenes was finally expelled from any position within FRETILIN. He is now a "member" of FRETILIN and that is it. He does not represent FRETILIN in anyway.

George Teme (former Timor-Leste ambassador to Australia, removed from this post after a woman in Canberra filed a sexual harrassment suit against him), Victor Costa (fired from a senior government position after showing up to work under influence of alcohol) and Egidio de Jesus (Secretary of Region 3, unsuccessfully launched a challenge to replace Francisco Guterres LuOlo as President of FRETILIN) are part of the Ximenes clique.

These people DO NOT represent FRETILIN. If the media needs to hear FRETILIN's point of view, the only place to visit is the BP7, FRETILIN's HQ in Comoro.

President Gusmão's indecision and rush to decision make him the biggest fool...

2006-06-22T12:17:00.000+09:00

Prime Minister Alkatiri makes President Gusmao think twice

Today began looking very bad. The news was that on Tuesday June 20, the President sent an envelope to the Prime Minister containing a video tape of the June 19 4 Corners program from ABC TV in Australia, and a letter reaquiring him to resign by 5pm or he would be sacked. This amounts to a threat to breach of the Constitution. The 4 Corners program alleges that Fretilin created hit squads on the orders of Mari Alkatiri the Prime Minister and party general secretary.

Perhaps fortunately, the Prime Minister did not open the envelope until later that night, well after 5pm. However, the President had taken no action at the deadline.

A meeting of the Council of State was convened at about 10.30 am on June 21 - it is a 15 person adivsory council for the President and makes no decision. At the meeting, the President repeated his request for the Prime Minister to resign. The Prime Minister declined the request.

The President then said that if the Prime Minister would not resign, then he would resign. But the Prime Minister told him not to do that by any means, and that he would resign first. The Foreign Minister proposed that Alkatiri hand over to two Vice Prime Ministers.

The Prime Minister told that they had to realise that if he resigned under these circumstances that his whole government would resign, and the FRETILIN members would be antagonised, the Budget may not pass through the Parliament and the Electoral Law will be dealyed, and all in all this would not be good for the country or make things any better.

That prospect surprised both the President and the Foreign Minister.

The Prime Minister said that it was not up to him alone to decide whether to resign, and he had to consult with FRETILIN and with the Cabinet (Council of Ministers).

The meeting ended with the Prime Minister undertaking to inform the President of the decision after these consultations. The FRETILIN National Political Commission will meet on June 22 in the morning, and in the afternoon the Prime Minister and the President of the Parliament will inform the President of their views of the NPC. On Friday morning the Cabinet will meet. On Saturday the FRETILIN Central Committee will meet. So perhaps on Sunday or Monday there will be an announcement of the outcome of this process.

However, the psychology of the day went against the President. He has demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister two days in a row and he has not received it. Neither the President nor Foreign Minister were talking to the media or the Australian Embassy after the Council of State meeting today.

The Australian military has been more and more aggressive in telling people that Alkatiri is the 'ex-Prime Minister' or demanding that people tell them who they support. They raised the Australian Flag at the Non-Formal Education building at Vilaverde today, after stopping the Timorese flag from being raised. This compound is being used by the Education Ministry, and also used as a dormitory for some Australian soldiers.

On June 9 two Australian helicopters flew to Lospalos at the eastern end of the island to tell people there to support the President and oppose the Prime Minister. They were surprised by a very angry reaction and had to make a hasty departure.

The resigned Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato has been questioned by the police about the secret death squad allegations, but has not been arrested. He is at his home and has visited other homes in the area today, but he has Australian soldiers at his house. The Prosecutor-General said on TV on the night news on Juen 21 that there was an arrest warrant for Lobato but it had not been implemented. Lobato did not try to leave the country and was not stopped at the airport - all rumours.

At about 6pm on June 21, some people tried to burn down the Prosecutor-General's home, but the fire brigade put out the fire in time. There was a threat to burn his house on June 20. There is anger at him for not arresting the Prime Minister and not arresting Lobato. There were many homes burnt in Dili again this evening.

As far as I can tell from FRETILIN people, there is very strong support for Mari Alkatiri, and there is a determination to resolve the current tension with the President in a way which will uphold the Constitution, respect the position of FRETILIN, help to end the sustained period of crisis in the country, and really enable the 2007 elections to take place.

The danger is that the forces that want to change the government will not give up, especially now that they have pushed the President to the very brink of breaking the Constitution.

Peter Murphy
Dili, June 21, 2006

President Gusmão asks PM Alkatiri to resign, but...

2006-06-21T21:30:00.000+09:00

Yep. It finally came down to a TV program and you guessed it, it's the good old Aussie TV, the ABC. ABC's 4 Corners aired a report containing damaging allegations against the former minister of interior and the prime minister. The program showed "hit squads" who claimed that they were given weapons by Rogerio Lobato (ex MoI) under orders from the PM to eliminate government and FRETILIN opposition. President Gusmão was handed a copy of the program, he watched and then wrote a letter to the PM asking him to resign. For Liz Jackson, the journalist who made the 4 Corners program, this must be the highlight of her carreer as her work could spell the ddownfall of a democratically elected government. For President Gusmão, basing a decision on a TV program is a joke and laughable. Even his own General Prossecutor has denied that there is any evidence that links the PM to the gun distribution. Well, actually there is an investigation happening you know. I thought everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Or maybe the president reckons that a TV journalist does a better work in investigations compared to his own General Prossecutor? This is where the joke is...

I think the President rushed to decision and ended up making the wrong one, again, just like his address to the nation which sent mixed messages and put a lot of people into panic that there was to be a conflict between the "10" loromonu districts and the "3" lorosae districts...

Talk Of 'Failed States' Unhelpful When Discussing East Timor

2006-06-21T00:03:00.000+09:00

COMMENTARY: Talk Of 'Failed States' Unhelpful When Discussing East Timor

From Pacific Magazine Tuesday: June 20, 2006

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following commentary was written by Minh Nguyen who is a researcher at Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre and has authored several reports on the human rights situation in the Asia Pacific region. Minh Nguyen explains why Australians should be sceptical every time politicians talk about failed or failing states.)

Following a period of relative quiet, the notion of failed or failing states is again making headlines in Australia as its troops struggle to disarm warring gangs in East Timor. While such talk is designed to harvest support for the troops’ presence in the country, the “failed state” label for East Timor is neither accurate nor helpful as a way forward for the new nation.

In recent weeks, key government ministers have warned that East Timor risks becoming a failed state unless the situation quickly stabilises. The government says that Australia cannot afford to have the country turn into a failed state and, as Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson puts it, to have it “become a haven, perhaps, for transnational crime, for terrorism, and indeed humanitarian disasters and injustice.”

The last time a government minister spoke so passionately about failing states in Australia’s region was in mid-2003 when discussions pre-empted and explained Australia’s intervention to restore law and order in the Solomon Islands.

The successful intervention in the Solomons was quickly heralded as a model for humanitarian involvement in conflict situations around the world. With support secured for Australia’s involvement, the term “failing states” dropped out of vogue. Even the government’s major aid policy White Paper, released last month and composed in the months before violence broke out in East Timor and the Solomons, opted for the euphemistic “fragile states” to describe these nations.

An analysis by the Uniya research centre last year of the government’s use of the failed states label revealed a highly nuanced term; applied only in situations in which the Government intended to intervene militarily or had already intervened in a particular state. It comes as no surprise, then, that the term has only been used against Afghanistan, Iraq, the Solomon Islands and now East Timor.

The Government seems to think the only way of boosting domestic and international support for its overseas operations is to call forth the spectre of an “arc of instability” in the region, complete with unsubstantiated claims about a link between failed states and international terrorism and crime.

Even if it is to convince other states of the worthiness of intervention, politicising the idea of state failure – an idea that once served as a useful description for states where human rights were abused – is not only inaccurate but counter-productive. For East Timor, an already difficult situation could be made worse by implicitly taking sides in the conflict; or worse still, by implying that the East Timorese would have fared better under Indonesian occupation.

In the latest issue of The Monthly, Paul Keating’s former speechwriter Don Watson suggests what the thinking was behind Australia’s previous support for Indonesian occupation: “Life under a murderous occupation … might be better than life in a failed state, albeit one perennially dependent on Australian aid and Australian policy. What is more, in an imperfect world Suharto’s Indonesia was a lot better than its critics were willing to concede.”

Australia cannot afford a return to such thinking. The idea that independence was a mistake will not sit well with the families of the victims of former dictator Suharto’s brutal occupation, an occupation that resulted in the death of more than 100,000 people, of whom approximately 18,600 died directly at the hands of the Indonesian military, according to California-based Benetech’s statistical analysis.

The East Timorese desire for self-determination – as shown at the 1999 ballot in which 78.5 per cent voted for independence despite possible violent reprisals – cannot be so easily dismissed. While there may be truth in Gerard Henderson’s claims in a recent Herald column that clan-based division is rife in the tiny country, there are no suggestions that the Kaladis (westerners) see themselves as a nation separate to that of the Firakus (easterners).

Most keen observers will say there are many factors contributing to the present crisis. Obvious is Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri’s failure to accommodate the Kaladi soldiers’ concerns over alleged discrimination. Others would argue that Australia’s precipitous withdrawal from East Timor laid the foundation for the current conflict. Beyond this, Australia must also assess how its own “rumours” are being played out in East Timor.

Labelling East Timor as a “poorly governed” or “failing” state sends a wrong message to the East Timorese rebel leaders and could be seen to imply that Australia is keen on regime change. Such talk offers little hope for a solution that does not involve the removal of the democratically elected Prime Minister and his Fretilin party.

East Timor’s political complexities cannot be reduced to simple slogans. A United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report published in January highlighted the country’s shortcomings but also the positive steps it has taken in recent years. While noting its low human development index and the fact that people are still “chained by poverty”, the report praised the nation’s democracy as being “in the vanguard of popular participation” – hardly the sort of observations one would make of a failing state.

Robert Johnson, an occasional United Nations advisor who lives Dili, says that the blueprint for Timor’s achievements is in its National Development Plan – a “roadmap” for development established through a process of national popular consultation under the leadership of the now embattled Alkatiri. With all the talk about failing states, one might be surprise to learn that Australia’s aid agency has described East Timor’s advancement in implementing the Plan as “impressive”.

But a greater surprise comes from the World Bank. It has throughout the crisis stood by Alkatiri, the man accused by one Jakarta-based Australian journalist of being a “1960s Marxist-style ‘Che Guevara’ figure”. The Bank director Paul Wolfowitz, a staunch “neoconservative” and former mover and shaker in the Bush administration, said last month, “Timor-Leste has achieved much, thanks to the country’s sensible leadership and sound decision-making, which have helped put in place the building blocks for a stable peace and a growing economy.”

Such support paints a more complex picture of an East Timor with mixed achievements and highlights the unavoidable fact that nation-building is an ongoing, long-term process. As the UNDP report prophetically concludes, the East Timorese people will face “many painful decisions” in realising where they want to go as a nation. Their journey could be made less painful through continued practical assistance from Australia. It could be made better with moral support and well-informed and robust debates. As the latest crisis approaches its second month, the last thing the East Timorese need is more rumours about a failed or failing state.

Around 100 people participated in anti government demonstration... pfff.....

2006-06-20T23:37:00.000+09:00

The demo was organised by one Augusto Trindade Junior, supposedly represents the National Youth Forum. Initially it was promissed to gather at least a few thousands of people. But between 100 to 200 people showed up. The organisers also promissed to stay put until the government is dismissed. But as the day wore on, most of the protesters abandoned the site. Australian media (eg. ABC), reported that the protesters were "massing outside the government palace." When I read it I imagined masses of people, possibly in their tens of thousands. But Aussie journos apparently have a different definition of what "mass of people" is. Maybe it Aussie English? TVNZ was more restraining placing the number of "masses" at 300. Aussie journos chose to report instead the demands made by the protesters, and as one would know it, it includes Alkatiri's resignation, etc. A pamphlet was also distributed denouncing Mari Alkatiri as a communist, a muslim -- apparently a crime according to the protest organisers.

Anyway, Timor-Leste has a national youth forum. If I recall correctly it the forum is called Presidium Juventude Loriku Aswain de Timor-Leste, or something like it. Its membership includes some of the biggest youth organisations in Timor-Leste (RENETIL, OJETIL, FITUN, IMPETTU, etc.), with history of active participation in the clandestine movement against Indonesian occupation.

Augusto Trindade's group sounds like an ad-hoc group set up to agitate the peace rather than for a clear focus on democracy, peace and the rule of law.

I certainly encourage the youth movements in Timor-Leste to take more active role to resolve the current crisis. For youth groups like RENETIL and OJETIL, this is the time when they can stand up and make a difference.

In the meantime, I look forward to the many tens of thousands of demonstrators promissed by the anti-government camp to descend on Dili in the next few days... Will this be the make or break demonstration? Will we see FRETILIN supporters raise up?

We'll see...

Meanwhile, the Public Prossecutor has issued arrest warrant against Rogerio Lobato...

2006-06-20T20:39:00.000+09:00

U N I T E D N A T I O N S N A T I O N S U N I E S

UNOTIL

United Nations Office in Timor-Leste

Public Information Office

Arrest Warrant Issued Against Former Minister Lobato

The Timorese Prosecutor-General’s office todayissued an arrest warrant against former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato for distribution of arms to a civilian group.

Lobato was accused of distributing arms to Vicente da Conceição, known as "Rai Los” with the intent to “alter the public order and the democratic rule of law,” according to the arrest warrant.

Sukehiro Hasegawa, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Timor-Leste, said “the action taken by the Office of theProsecutor-General to Timor-Leste is a clear sign that the Timorese can carry out effectively their constitutionally mandated responsibility.

The independence of the judiciary branch is key tore-asserting the rule of law in Timor-Leste.” Hasegawa added, “The international community hasthe responsibility not only to protect the peoplea gainst acts of violence but also to help heal the spirit of society affected by violence, first by finding out what had really happened and then establishing the accountability for the acts of violence. It is also incumbent on the international community to help rebuild the sovereign State institutions, particularly the judiciary to exercise their independent authority and perform their functions to administer justice and to preserve the integrity of the State.”

The warrant was signed by UN-recruitedinternational prosecutors who are working forTimorese Prosecutor-General Longuinhos Monteiro.

For additional information, please contact:
Donna Cusumano, Chief, Public Information Office, UNOTIL; +670 723 0749 or Spokesperson Robert Sullivan at 670 331-2210, extension 5165

A side note: earlier this year, Rogerio Lobato while Minister of Interior, accused the foreign prossecurots of acting like neo-colonials, and enjoying a life of luxury at the expense of the East Timroese -- they often go to Bali for weekends, ant that. Well, revenge is sweet I suppose....

Former police commissioner distances himself from the rebel groups

2006-06-20T20:31:00.000+09:00

From Diário de Notícias

The former police commissioner has been in hiding in Aileu but he maintains that he continues to command the police force by having regular meetings with district police commanders. He told reporters that he has never contacted Reinado and his groups nor does he have any opinion on the push to remove Mari Alkatiri from government. He insits, "I am a police officer, not a politician."

Read here for more.

“We will never let the people down, we are here”

2006-06-20T18:31:00.000+09:00

REPÚBLICA DEMOCRÁTICA DE TIMOR-LESTE

GABINETE DO PRIMEIRO-MINISTRO

PRESS RELEASE

June 20, 2006

Attention: International Affairs Reporter Chief of Staff

“We will never let the people down, we are here” - Timor-Leste government coordinates emergency assistance program

For 51 days, the staff of the Timor-Leste Ministry of Labor and Community Reinsertion has responded to the waves of community fear and surges of people into safe areas in Dili and in other districts. They have ensured that people have basic needs and know they have not been abandoned. Today over 148,000 people rely on the coordination by this Ministry, the MTRC.

“Our staff, whether they come from east or west, have continued to work together to serve the people,” said Minister Arsénio Bano . “Despite the shooting, we have always had about 90% of our staff on duty, even though many of us also have to live in the Internally Displaced Persons centres too”. As of June 17, there were 57 such IDP centres in Dili, helping over 69,000 people, and there are more than 78,000 in IDP centres or with other families in the Districts and Sub-Districts.

After the first impact of the political crisis hit the community on April 28, the international community responded as if Timor-Leste was a 'failed state', with no capacity of its own to make an organised response. However, the MTRC quickly demonstrated its capacity to coordinate with UN agencies and NGO aid agencies to provide food, water, sanitation, shelter and health services to the IDP centres. MTRC had consistent backup from other Ministries, such as Health, Water, Public Works, Transport and Communications, Agriculture, Finance and State Administration.

“It was very important on the human level that we helped everyone in need, and it was also important because otherwise the political conflict may have escalated,” said Minister Bano. “With the UN's Flash Appeal for US$16 million, we need to ensure the programs are implemented effectively and transparently, using all the lessons we learned from the UNTAET period”.

The Inter-Agency Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Group started operating on May 1 with two basic mechanisms – a General Coordinating Meeting three times per week at 9.30 am, and a Sectoral Coordination Working Group which works in seven sectors – water and sanitation, health, food, shelter, District Teams, Protection Group. Assessment and Information Teams - based on all agencies and NGOs - ensure good information on the changing conditions of displaced people and enable good planning and use of warehousing and distribution. There is a daily radio program, and a media conference every second day at 2.30pm.

IDP centres are managed by nuns and priests. UNFPA, and the NGOs Concern, Care, CVTL (Red Cross Timor-Leste), HAI, ICRC (International Red Cross), Plan, Christian Relief Service, Caritas Australia and Austcare provide focal points in the IDP Centres. These agencies and organisations link the Coordination Group and the people in the centres.

The MRTC has distributed rice, and the World Food Program has distributed supplementary food items, to all IDP centres and to vulnerable people still in their homes, and government institutions. The Timor-Leste government has spent over US$1 million to buy 5000 tonnes of rice, of which the New Zealand government paid for 1000 tonnes. Ships have been sent to Atauro Island and to Oecusse, and trucks to all Districts.

For further comment:
Minister Arsénio Bano +670 723 0023
Carmen da Cruz +670 727 1516
Ursula de Almeida +670 725 1383
Peter Murphy + 61 418 312 301
Efrem dos Anjos +670 728 2076

PM Mari Alkatiri rejects Railos 'hit squad' allegations

2006-06-20T18:06:00.000+09:00

REPÚBLICA DEMOCRÁTICA DE TIMOR-LESTE

GABINETE DO PRIMEIRO-MINISTRO

PRESS RELEASE

Alkatiri rejects Railos 'hit squad' allegations

Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Mari Alkatiri, today totally rejected allegations by Commander Vicente Railos made on RTTL TV the previous day, that he had armed Railos and asked him to kill oppositionists as well as opponents inside FRETILIN, and that delegates to the FRETILIN Congress had been given arms to kill opponents before the 2007 elections. The Prime Minister presented his response to journalists from RTTL just before noon at the Government Palace.

He also rejected Commander Railos' opening political statement on the TV news, that the Prime Minister symbolised foreign ideas that would divide and destroy the country. “This kind of statement has been used against me ever since I became Prime Minister in May 2002,” he said, condemning Railos for appearing armed, with other armed men, in the uniform of the Police Reserve Unit (URP), and for attacking the headquarters of the national army (F-FDTL) on May 24.

Railos offers to disarm

During questioning, the Prime Minister reported that Railos had telephoned him this morning, to say he wanted to hand in his guns to President Xanana Gusmão. “I told him to give his weapons to the police or the Australian army, and asked him not to be used by people who want to destroy FRETILIN,” said Mr. Alkatiri. “I took his call because he is a FRETILIN member and because a lack of communication is behind many of our problems”.

The Prime Minister said he spoke to Railos two or three times during the 3-day FRETILIN Congress, and certainly never told him to form an armed group. “I myself have called for independent, international investigations of all these incidents and allegations,” he said. “Police have interrogated FRETILIN Congress delegates from Maliana about the alleged arms they received, and nothing was found”.

The Prime Minister put the Railos allegations into the context of previous failed efforts to smear his name with the aim of forcing the resignation of his government. He noted the alleged bribe from the oil company ConnocoPhilips, which could not be substantiated in court, or the misleading statements in 2005 that he was against religion., and this year, the allegations that he was the cause of the trouble with the petitioning soldiers. “They were calling for my resignation before the F-FDTL was deployed after the violence on April 28. They don't want to highlight the attack by Major Reinado on the army and the home of Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak on May 23, or his attack on the F-FDTL HQ the next day. They only focus on what can damage the Prime Minister,” concluded Mr. Alkatiri.

Dili, June 20, 2006

For further information please contact the Media Advisor:
Miguel Sarmento/Rui Flores — Tel. +670 723 01 40 ou rui.flores@gmail.com
Peter Murphy — Tel. + 61 418 312 301
Efrem dos Anjos — Tel. + 670 728 2076