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Down Under

Former Interior Minister Lobato Jailed

2007-03-07

Dili, 7 March (AKI) - East Timor's former interior minister and strongman Rogerio Lobato has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for his arming civilian hit squads during violent ethnic clashes last April and May that killed dozens and forced about 155,000 to flee their homes. Lobato was convicted of misappropriating firearms for unlawful use and four counts of manslaughter resulting from arming civilians to kill political rivals. The verdict was reached by a panel of three international jurists after a three-month trial. The judges said Lobato was responsible for much of last year's rioting and his conviction is reported to have eased political tensions in the tiny southeast Asian country where UN peacekeepers in the capital Dili have been struggling to control warrring political factions. Rebel leader Alfred Reinado, who is on the run from Australian peacekeeping troops, had threatened violence in the capital if Lobato was acquitted. No backlash reported from supporters of the ruling Fretilin party of which Lobato is deputy leader. East Timor's former prime minister Mari Alkatiri - who is still Fretilin's secretary general - was among those sitting in the front seat of the court during Lobato's conviction. Alkatiri stepped down as prime minister last June amid allegations he ordered a hit squad to kill political opponents. Lobato was sacked as interior minister last May. Last year's riots have left East Timor chronically unstable and divided.

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Down Under

Shoot To Kill 'The Only Way To Halt The Violence'

2006-10-25

Dili, 25 October (AKI) - Following the resurgence of gang violence in East Timor, a village leader has asked United Nations police deployed there to shoot to kill the troublemakers. "The situation is very complicated. The UNPOL (UN police) should shoot to kill the troublemakers at the scene so that the fighting can be avoided," Comoro Village chief, Lino Mesquita, told reporters at Dili International Airport on Wednesday. Works for me... The airport has been closed due the growing violence in the tiny southeast Asian countryEast Timor civil aviation and airport director, Romaldo da Silva, said that he could not risk the safety of his staff. "I do not want take any risks in this matter. There is no security for me and my staff. Even now, as we speak, I cannot go to my office because fighting is on going," da Silva told journalists. Violence broke out again when two men from the east of the tiny country were killed on Monday. This has continued through Wednesday, when one man from the west, Assis Hendrique da Silva, 25, was shot dead. According to analysts, the latest violence was triggered by the release of an 18 October report published by the UN Independent Special Commission of Inquiry for Timor-Leste. This said much of the violence could be attributed to the weakness of the rule of law in the country. Genius! How do they do it? The report recommended further investigation of allegations that former prime minister Mari Alkatiri knew about the setting up of an armed civilian militias but did nothing to stop them. It also urged legal action to be taken against powerful men such as former interior minister Rogerio Lobato, police commander Paulo Martins, former defence minister Roque Rodrigues and defence force chief Taur Matan Ruak. Dili National Hospital director, Antonio Caleres, confirmed that 47 people have been injured and four killed since the report was made public. "Thirteen of them are in a critical condition," he told reporters on Wednesday. East Timor's division along ethnic and geographic lines has been identified as one of the main causes of the riots which erupted in May. East Timorese from the east are known as 'lorosae', while those from the west are 'loromonu'. The former accused the latter of having collaborated with Indonesia during its occupation of the country. Alkatiri's sacking of 600 members of the 1,400-strong army - mainly lorosae who claimed they were discriminated against by the mostly loromonu officers - sparked protests that developed into widespread violence. The May riots led to the death of 37 people, the displacement of 155,000 and the fall of Alkatiri’s government. About 2,500 peacekeepers from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia were deployed to restore order.

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Southeast Asia

East Timor prepares for new government

2006-07-13

Which looks very much like the old government ... DILI - East Timor prepared on Wednesday for the swearing-in of a new government as the tiny nation looked for a return to political order after deadly violence in May left it in disarray. The new cabinet is to meet later the same day to discuss the 2006-7 budget. The last financial year ended on June 30 and lawmakers had already drafted a 315 million dollar budget -- the nation’s largest ever -- before Mari Alkatiri stepped down as premier last month. Ahead of Wednesday’s ceremony, President Xanana Gusmao met with political parties to discuss the agenda for the new government. Opposition lawmaker Antonius Ximenes said they also discussed the rebel troops, known as “petitioners”, whose desertion and subsequent sacking originally sparked the unrest, as well as a range of issues. “We have opinions about important issues such as the 2006-2007 budget, the election laws, the case of the petitioners, and how to look after the refugees,” Ximenes told reporters after the meeting. He said all of East Timor’s political leaders should accept responsibility for the failure to deal with the rebels. “The problem with the petitioners occured because of our arrogance,” Ximenes conceded. That twitched the surprise meter ... Ahead of the meeting, Fernando de Araujo, leader of the Democratic Party, the largest of the opposition parties, had said he would warn Gusmao that his lawmakers did not want a cabinet dominated by Alkatiri’s ruling Fretilin party. Ramos-Horta has said the new government would not be substantially different from the outgoing administration. Fretilin holds 55 of the 88 seats in the parliament.

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Southeast Asia

Ramos-Horta named as East Timor's new PM

2006-07-09

DILI: Nobel prize-winner Jose Ramos-Horta has been named as East Timor's new prime minister, President Xanana Gusmao announced Saturday, ending weeks of political uncertainty in the nation. The premier's position was left empty last month when Mari Alkatiri resigned. "We have agreed to declare as prime minister Jose Ramos-Horta, first deputy prime minister Estanislau da Silva and second deputy prime minister Rui Araujo," Gusmao said after meeting with leaders from the ruling party. Da Silva is currently agriculture minister while Araujo is health minister. Ramos-Horta, who was East Timor's international face during its years of fighting Indonesia's occupation and won the 1996 Nobel peace prize for his efforts, was foreign and defence minister in Alkatiri's government. He is not a member of the decades-old Fretilin party but helped found it.

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Southeast Asia

E.Timor violence erupts again

2006-06-28

RENEWED violence was sweeping East Timor's capital with sporadic shooting, hit-and-run arson raids and attacks on minority ethnic groups from its east. Around 26 buildings have been destroyed in Dili since last night. Stone-throwing mobs have also attacked with refugee camps sheltering easterners also being attacked. They also attacked the national television station but were quickly repelled by Australian and Portuguese peacekeepers. Anger at a television broadcast showing outgoing prime minister Mari Alkatiri meeting several thousand supporters yesterday at Hera, 10km east of Dili, sparked the attacks. He asked them to abandon immediate plans to enter the capital, where peacekeepers feared clashes with anti-Alkatiri forces, but told them to return in one or two days.

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Southeast Asia

East Timor PM Resigns Under Pressure

2006-06-26

Of course it's in the NYT so we'll need confirmation. DILI, East Timor, June 26 -- Bowing to intense pressure from his peers and from the streets, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri of East Timor resigned today, clearing the way for a resolution to the violence that has devastated this small, impoverished nation. Cheering crowds gathered at the main government building as word spread that President Xanana Gusmao, the charismatic leader who had pushed for Prime Minister Alkatiri's removal, had accepted the resignation. In a brief appearance, Mr. Alkairi told reporters that that he accepted his share of the responsibility for the crisis and that he was stepping down for the good of the nation. Earlier in the day, demonstrators wearing T-shirts emblazoned with images of President Gusmao packed into flatbed trucks outside the prime minister's home and taunted him by singing, "No one has a long life in this world." In a statement this evening, Mr. Gusmao said he would convene a meeting of the 12-member council of state on Tuesday to organize a transition government. A likely replacement for Mr. Alkatiri, a hard-line politician who has been accused in the last ten days of providing arms to hit squads, is the Nobel Peace Prize winner José Ramos-Horta, the foreign and defense minister. Mr. Ramos-Horta, a close friend of the president's, announced his own resignation Sunday as foreign and defense minister as part of the maneuvering to force Mr. Alkatiri's ouster, but in fact he was expected to remain in office. The announcement of Mr. Alkatiri's demise ushered in a particular sense of relief since the popular Mr. Gusmao had also threatened to resign three days ago in disgust over the prime minister's refusal to budge. Now, Mr. Gusmao not only remains in power but becomes something of a kingmaker in choosing the new prime minister.

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Southeast Asia

Gusmao acts on civilian gun fears

2006-06-25

AT his home yesterday, East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao accepted weapons handed over by civilians. Mr Gusmao said he expected more people to turn in their arms as the political crisis dragged on. The popular president, embroiled in a stand-off with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri over recent violence, was handed seven rifles by civilians. However, he declined to allow the civilians to be named or be photographed. "The priority of this government is to have all the weapons in the hands of civilians returned to government hands," he said.

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Southeast Asia

Australia accused of ETimor takeover

2006-06-23

Moonbat alert A RETIRED Portuguese general who once commanded a UN force in East Timor claimed that Australia had provoked the crisis there in order to take control of the fledgling country. "What interests the Australians most is oil and gas," Alfredo Assuncao said in an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Noticias. "So what better way to control these enormously rich resources than to be physically present and control the country's political system?" said Mr Assuncao, who was chief of staff of a UN peacekeeping force in East Timor in 2000-01. More than 2200 troops and police from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal are currently in the former Portuguese colony struggling to restore order after an explosion of violence triggered by East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's decision in March to sack 600 soldiers. Dr Alkatiri is locked in a power struggle with President Xanana Gusmao. Describing Australia as "the main enemy of the country," Mr Assuncao said the Australians had always wanted to "control everything and everyone" in East Timor and had been frustrated in this only because Mr Gusmao and Dr Alkatiri had previously shown a united front. "But the breakup of this union is opening the way for them to take control of the country," the newspaper quoted him as saying. Australia was trying to get rid of Dr Alkatiri "and anyone else putting East Timor interests above the ambitions of its neighbours," he said. After the departure of the Portuguese, East Timor was occupied by Indonesia between 1975 and 1999, then came under direct UN administration until independence in 2002. Though the poorest country of Southeast Asia, it has vast reserves of oil and gas beneath the Timor Sea. Last January, East Timor and Australia signed a deal to share development of these fields following years of negotiation. Also Friday, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs Fernando Neves said: "Australia should not get involved in the domestic affairs of East Timor. Neither Australia, nor Portugal. "Institutional questions in East Timor must be settled by the East Timorese," Mr Neves added. Canberra and Lisbon have disagreed previously over their presence in East Timor. Earlier this month Portugal initially refused to put members of its National Republican Guard under the command of Australian forces in the country until an agreement was reached. Meanwhile the Portuguese Communist Party in a statement released Friday accused Australia of being an "occupation force" in East Timor.

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Southeast Asia

East Timor president threatens to resign

2006-06-23

East Timor President Xanana Gusmao said on Thursday he would step down if the country's prime minister refused to take responsibility for a weeks-long crisis in which the country has been racked by violence. He spoke in a broadcast to the nation after a second day of tense meetings failed to bring the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, blamed by thousands of protesters for the violence in which at least 20 were killed, widespread looting and arson. "I ask the responsibility of Mari Alkatiri over this major crisis that we are going through to maintain the government and the state's democracy," Gusmao said. If Alkatiri failed to take responsibility, he said, "tomorrow I will send a letter to the national parliament to inform them that I will resign from the presidency of this republic. I am ashamed of the bad deeds that the government is doing to the people." Alkatiri told Portugal's Lusa news agency in a telephone interview that he would not resign.

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Southeast Asia

East Timor president asks PM to resign

2006-06-23

East Timor President Xanana Gusmao has asked Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to resign, government sources said yesterday. Officials including Alkatiri met at the presidential office to discuss the demand, but the meeting ended inconclusively in the afternoon and will resume today, the sources said. The request to Alkatiri was contained in a letter sent on Tuesday night, East Timor's ambassador in Indonesia Arlindo Marcal told Reuters. “The letter asked the prime minister to resign because the president does not trust the prime minister any more,” Marcal said. “The deadline was actually at 5pm, but the prime minister wants to consult this with his party first. We don't know the follow up yet,” he added.

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Southeast Asia

Timor's president defends rebel leader

2006-06-18

East Timor's president on Saturday defended the leader of a band of renegade troops who have clashed with loyalist forces, saying he was not the cause of the unrest and political tension plaguing the tiny nation. Xanana Gusmao said Alfredo Reinado, who is also demanding that East Timor's politically powerful prime minister step down, "was not a rebel" despite the fact he took up arms against other government forces. "He's something else." "Like what?" "Something. Else." Maj. Alfredo is not the one who initiated the problem, we have many other issues to think about," Gusmao said. He did not elaborate. Gusmao's remarks, made on a trip to neighbouring Indonesia, appeared to be part of an attempt to defuse tensions in East Timor, but will likely concern supporters of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and underline the complex political backdrop to the unrest.

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Southeast Asia

East Timor rebels get 48-hour deadline

2006-06-06

REBEL soldiers in East Timor had 48 hours to hand in their weapons, the head of the country's Parliament said today. "For those who left their barracks, they must hand in all the guns they have within 48 hours," Fransisco Guterres, who holds a post similar to parliamentary speaker, said in the legislature. However, an assistant to Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, who assumed the defence portfolio last Friday, said he had not heard of the time limit. Mr Ramos Horta had been seeking to meet the rebel soldiers but ministry spokesman Chris Santos would not give details of developments, citing the sensitive nature of discussions. "He is meeting with everybody as the days go by," Santos said. East Timor plunged into chaos when Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri in April fired 600 soldiers, nearly half the tiny nation's army, after they complained of discrimination because they came from the west of the country. Twenty-one people died last month as sporadic battles between rival soldiers descended into gang clashes and led the government to appeal for foreign help. More than 2000 combat-ready foreign peacekeepers, chiefly from Australia, have deployed in Dili. Major Alfredo Reinado, who says he is in command of the 600 sacked soldiers, is holed up in the mountain town of Maubisse. He could not be immediately reached for comment. Some police also joined Major Reinado, who has said he remains loyal to President Xanana Gusmao but wants Mr Alkatiri to resign.

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