Dili riots

East Timor pledges more jobs for young after deadly riots

Agence France Presse - December 10, 2002

Dili -- East Timor's government promised Tuesday to tackle the fledgling state's chronic youth unemployment but warned that a repeat of last week's deadly and destructive riots would only drive foreign investors away.

"The priority is now on education and health and how to help market the produce of the people ... and also open employment for the youth," said Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri after a two-day meeting of the new country's leading foreign donors.

He urged young people to halt destructive actions, otherwise "investors will leave."

Hundreds of people rampaged across the city last Wednesday, burning buildings and vehicles and looting shops in unrest that was triggered by the arrest of a student. Two people were killed and 25 injured.

Analysts have blamed widespread unemployment and unmet expectations since independence in May. But some also said that unidentified provocateurs, possibly with a political agenda, had stirred up and organised the unrest.

The donors' conference, jointly organised by the government and the World Bank, was the first since independence on May 20 and the sixth in a series since 1999, when the country was still under United Nations tutelage.

At the previous meeting on May 15 international donors pledged some 360 million dollars over three years in new aid for East Timor, Asia's poorest nation.

Alkatiri told a press conference that no new pledges were made at this meeting which he called an "evaluation" session.

World Bank vice president Jemaluddin Kassum said that despite the many challenges faced by the young nation, donors pledged continuing commitment to help it develop.

The head of the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor, Kamalesh Sharma, had told the donors' meeting on Monday that unemployment in urban areas remained high, particularly among young poeple.

Unemployment is estimated at 43 per cent in Dili and Baucau, the second largest town.

Sharma said 41 percent of East Timor's 800,000 people are living below the poverty line. Three-quarters of the people depend on agriculture for a living

Nearly half the adult population has difficulty in reading and writing, he said.

Despite these sobering figures, Sharma said the government and people have made significant progress in economic and social terms.

He said agricultural production and gross doemstic product had recovered to pre-1999 levels and primary school enrolment has reached 95 per cent.

East Timor at flashpoint as disillusionment sets in

Sydney Morning Herald - December 14 2002

Mark Baker, Dili -- It is a simple but splendid house with whitewashed walls and a high-pitched roof of traditional timber and thatch. It sits beside a village on the eastern outskirts of Dili with a view that sweeps across the harbour.

This is the place Jose Ramos Horta dreamt of in the long and lonely years in exile. Its construction was a cherished ambition that would become the measure of a job done, a homecoming that would mean East Timor was at last independent and free.

On Wednesday last week, the house of East Timor's new Foreign Minister almost became another casualty of the worst violence to shake the country since 1999, when the Indonesian military laid waste to the territory in a desperate effort to avert the inevitable end of Jakarta's brutal colonial adventure.

This time it was Timorese turning on their own and, as hundreds of rioters smashed, burned and looted their way through the capital, word spread that a section of the mob was heading for the Foreign Minister's house. Local villagers armed themselves with knives, machetes and sticks and took positions along the main road, prepared to confront any attackers. In the end, the rioters were halted a couple of kilometres away as Bishop Carlos Belo -- the man who shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Ramos Horta -- stepped out alone and turned them back..

Others were not so lucky. The homes of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, his mother and another owned by the family were razed.

Scores of terrified worshippers cowered in a mosque as the attackers tried to set it alight after burning eight houses within the grounds.

Earlier, at the parliament, MPs fled over a back fence as the mob smashed windows and vandalised cars. Along nearby streets dozens of shops, offices and restaurants were set upon.

By next morning, two young rioters were dead and 16 were in hospital with bullet wounds, two of them critically injured.

Most, according to witnesses, were hit when panicked Timorese police opened fire after the mob broke through their lines into the grounds of the police headquarters. But at least five claim they were wounded when police drove through the streets late in the afternoon firing at suspects.

Ramos Horta was in Madrid at the time. "I was very shocked when they told me what had happened," he said. "I didn't fight for 24 years for the independence of this country to see this happen ... It has certainly set back our efforts to promote a new era of peace and stability."

Eight months after East Timor toasted the end of a quarter- century of Indonesian occupation the mood of celebration has largely disappeared, replaced by rising disillusionment, frustration and anger.

Triggered by the arrest a day earlier of a student suspected of involvement in a murder, the violence quickly became the focus for a range of long-simmering economic and political tensions that some senior members of the government believe could lead to more serious upheavals unless these grievances are answered.

Underpinning last week's violence is the grinding poverty and lack of opportunity confronting most rural and urban Timorese. Unemployment is estimated to be as high as 65 per cent. More than 40 per cent of East Timor's 800,000 people live below the poverty line, earning less than $1 a day, with average life expectancy at 56 years. Half the adult population is illiterate.

Already ranked among the poorest nations in the world, East Timor's GDP is forecast to contract by 1.1 per cent this year. A severe drought has compounded problems in the provinces, where the effective collapse of export markets for lower-grade Timorese coffee has left tens of thousands of farmers vulnerable. Vital revenues from the rich oil and gas reserves of the Timor Sea may still be years away -- further delayed by Australia's failure to keep its promise to ratify the enabling Timor Gap treaty by the end of this year.

A temporary economic boom in Dili, built on the influx of UN personnel, which created thousands of service sector jobs is collapsing. The UN interim administration is gone and most of the remaining UN personnel are due to pull out over the next 18 months.

But poverty is nothing new in East Timor, and it is growing disenchantment with Alkatiri's administration that critics inside and outside the Fretilin Government say is providing a powder keg for further civil unrest. "Fretilin is failing to answer the people's aspirations and they have lost the confidence of the people," says Fernando de Araujo, leader of the Democrat Party, the largest opposition group, a former deputy foreign minister and one of many to accuse the Government of arrogance, nepotism and incompetence. "I'm sure that this is not the last demonstration. There will be more. The situation is very fragile."

Opposition MPs contest the legitimacy of a government which was shoehorned into power by a UN administration determined to force a rapid political transition after the historic 1999 referendum voted overwhelmingly for the country to break away from Indonesia.

They say that the 88-member assembly elected in August 2001 was chosen only to draft a new constitution and that Fretilin used its numbers to extend its rule for five years -- while reneging, with the UN's acquiescence, on a pledge to form a national unity government.

Critics say Alkatiri has lost legitimacy and support by failing to address the humanitarian crisis in rural areas, tolerating corruption within his Cabinet and politicising the courts by overruling decisions. More seriously, he has challenged the authority of President Xanana Gusmao, the former guerilla commander. Though his post is largely ceremonial he is still revered by the vast majority of Timorese.

In an extraordinary speech on November 28, Xanana -- long estranged from the political party whose small but determined military wing he led for more than ten years before being captured and jailed by the Indonesians -- denounced the failings of the Government and called for the deeply unpopular Internal Administration Minister, Rogerio Lobato, to be sacked.

Alkatiri brushed aside the criticism and refused to dismiss the minister, steeling a public confrontation with Xanana that many believe added fuel to the anti-government anger of last week's violence.

But the conflict between the President and the Prime Minister is only one symptom of deep and more dangerous divisions within the ruling party.

"Last week's violence shows there is deep resentment towards the Prime Minister, and we cannot just dismiss it," says a senior government official. "If the Prime Minister insists on staying, I don't think this is going to stop."

There are fears that disgruntled veterans, with restive students and the growing ranks of the urban and rural unemployed, are ripe for exploitation in further unrest, either by elements within the Government seeking to foment violence to advance their own political ambitions or by leaders of the old Indonesian-backed militias living in refugee camps across the border in Indonesian West Timor.

There is substantial evidence that powerful Fretilin officials from within the Interior Ministry were involved in trucking in protesters from rural areas to join last week's unrest and then inciting the rioters once the violence began. Indonesian military officials also confirmed this week that they had identified a number of militia supporters who were in Dili last week and fled back across the border after the violence.

"We were united against the Indonesians, now we are divided. That is the responsibility of those who are in power and the dangers are great if we don't recognise where this could be leading," says Mario Carrascalao, who was governor of East Timor for 10 years under the Indonesians and is now an opposition leader.

Anger at poverty and corruption sparks unrest

Green Left Weekly - December 11, 2002

Jon Land -- Dili, the capital of East Timor, was hit by a wave of protests and riots on December 3-4. The unrest culminated in at least two deaths and scores of injured, when police fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse angry crowds of students and youth.

The police crackdown signalled an alarming change in the East Timorese government's approach in dealing with discontent over its failure to address a range of social and economic problems.

According to Avelino da Silva, secretary general of the Socialist Party of Timor, the actions of the police and the government are a disturbing attack on human rights and democracy.

"It is a very tense and serious situation at the moment... the government is manipulating the situation as a means to silence all political opposition", da Silva told Green Left Weekly.

There is widespread anger at continuing high levels of unemployment, poverty and the lack of infrastructure to meet the basic needs of East Timor's people. Added to this, there have been increasing allegations of corruption and lack of transparency within the government.

In a highly critical speech at the November 28 Independence Day commemorations, President Xanana Gusmao castigated the government for being "dazzled with power". "The notion that the legitimacy to govern Timor Leste [free Timor] only belongs to some, not only reveals arrogance but also a lack of political maturity and a complete lack of understanding of the difficulties our country is facing." Gusmao called on the government to dismiss the Minister for internal affairs, Rogerio Lobato, who is responsible for the police, for "incompetence and neglect".

Da Silva told GLW that the immediate trigger for the students and youth to take to the streets was an attempt by police to arrest a student at the November 28 High School on December 3.

"The police turned up to arrest a student that they claimed had been involved in a stabbing incident. The teacher would not allow the police to take the student, so they beat the teacher, provoking a confrontation with the students", da Silva said.

Students then engaged in running street battles with the police, resulting in two police scooters being burnt. There were several injuries inflicted on both police and students. GLW received unconfirmed reports that at least one student had been shot.

On December 4, 500 high school and university students gathered to meet with representatives from parliament to express their concern over the police actions. Two people were shot dead as police fired into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators. Many more were injured when police attacked the demonstration with batons and tear gas as it approached police headquarters.

Several eyewitnesses and media reports noted that the shots were fired from the police lines by men who were not wearing police uniforms. There are reports that as many as four people were shot dead.

Da Silva and Gusmao intervened to try and prevent further shootings and calm the crowd, which had begun to stone the parliament building and government vehicles. Others attacked symbols of wealth and Western influence, such as the ANZ bank and the "Hello Mister" supermarket. The homes of East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and some of his relatives were also torched.

The police shootings came on the heels of similar confrontations in East Timor's second largest city, Baucau. On November 25, police killed a man who had been taking part in a 3000-strong demonstration as it headed towards the city's police headquarters.

The role and composition of the East Timorese police force is a major source of contention. There is considerable anger among the East Timorese people over the significant number of police who have links with the former Indonesian regime, including police commissioner Paulo Martins. Many are angry that former Falintil (Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor) fighters -- many of whom are unemployed and without skills or qualifications -- do not constitute a larger component of the police force.

On December 5, Alkatiri announced that two inquiries would be instituted to find out the cause of the riots. Both he and other government representatives have claimed that "political" forces had used the students and youth to create a confrontation.

Chief of the United Nations mission in East Timor, Kamalesh Sharma, has chimed in with claims of political manipulation of the protest, stating that the riots were a "planned attack against selective targets".

In an interview with Lusa news service, Bishop Ximenese Belo said that "behind these actions are groups interested in knocking down some government members" but noted that the confrontation "is the result of great dissatisfaction among the population, which took the opportunity to let everything out, all the rage over the lack of norms and regulations in employment, society, politics and the economy".

At least 80 people have been detained by police. They have been taken to police headquarters and a special detention centre on the outskirts of Dili.

Da Silva told GLW that he believes the government's inquiries into the riots are "just a cover for the police", whose actions were an "attack on democratic rights, supported by the media". He called for an international campaign by progressive and solidarity organisations "to defend human rights and democracy" in East Timor.

"We have heard of beatings by people [after they were] arrested... There are also rumours that members of opposition political parties will be detained", da Silva reported. "The situation now is much like it was under the Suharto regime... It is similar to 1996 when the dictatorship launched an attack on the pro-democracy movement in Indonesia and arrested the leaders of the People's Democratic Party." The latest developments in East Timor highlight the country's chronic underdevelopment. Yet, this has not stopped the Australian government from attempting to steal much needed income from oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea. By ignoring international covenants, Canberra is trying to grab tens of billions of dollars in royalties through the Timor Sea Agreement, royalties that East Timor desperately needs.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced on December 5 that Australia would provide more aid to the East Timorese police force.

As if to add insult to injury, the Howard government is currently trying to deport 1600 East Timorese refugees who have established their lives in Australia.

UN fears militias behind East Timor riots

Reuters - December 11, 2002

United Nations -- A preliminary inquiry into last week's riots in East Timor has found that some of the people behind the violence fled afterwards to neighboring Indonesia, the tiny new nation's UN ambassador says.

Some of those behind the riots "sought refuge in west Timor," a province of Indonesia, Ambassador Jose Luis Guterres told reporters, Tuesday, adding he hoped Indonesia would seek to arrest them once the inquiry was completed. "The situation is now calm," in the capital Dili, he said.

The violence last Tuesday in Dili -- which killed two people and injured 25 others -- was the worst since East Timor became independent in May and has raised fears that outside investment and foreign aid could dry up just when the struggling new nation most needs help. Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN high commissioner for human rights, blamed the riots on outside instigators who had infiltrated bands of youths.

"Stones were thrown, not by students but by agents provocateurs," said de Mello, who joined Guterres at a news conference on a day the United Nations was observing International Human Rights Day.

The UN Security Council marked the day with an extended debate on "the protection of civilians in armed conflict," chaired by Foreign Minister Carolina Barco of Colombia, the council president for the month of December.

The eastern part of Timor island voted overwhelmingly for independence in 1999 after 24 years of often harsh rule by Indonesia in a referendum that was followed by a bloody backlash in which over 1,000 people died.

The architects of that violence, Indonesian-backed militias, have since drifted across the border to West Timor or melted back into the general population.

But government officials fear they see the hand of re-emergent militias in Tuesday's riots.

A mob of between 600 and 800 youths went on the rampage, briefly besieging parliament before torching the residence of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, a house belonging to his brother, and another property he rents to the Australia New Zealand Bank.

The mob also looted and torched an Australian-owned guest house and supermarket before finally being dispersed by UN peacekeepers and police.

Guterres said the investigation had established that the youths killed in the rioting had not been shot by police.

Guterres also announced East Timor had decided to ratify this week all of the major UN human rights treaties and related accords.

East Timor: Going up in smoke

Time Asia - December 16, 2002

Phil Zabriskie -- When East Timor formally celebrated its independence in May, it closed the chapter on four centuries of stern Portuguese colonization and 24 years of brutal Indonesian occupation. The mood was finally one of hope for the future, of anticipation of a peace dividend. Some commentators even spoke of the fledgling country as a template for nation building in Afghanistan.

But last week East Timor got a reality check. A protest that turned ugly resulted in the worst violence since the 1999 vote for independence, when the Indonesian military and its local militia henchmen killed up to 2,000 East Timorese and destroyed some 80% of the territory's infrastructure. More importantly, say some observers, the rioting reflects growing public frustration and anger with the many problems plaguing East Timor and the government's seeming inability to tackle them. "The people took the opportunity to let everything out-all their rage over the lack of noorms and regulations in their society," says Bishop Carlos Belo, one of East Timor's most respected leaders.

The fuse was lit last Tuesday when police in the capital, Dili, barged into a high school to seize a student over a homicide stemming from a gang fight. Outraged over the manner of the arrest by what is an unpopular force, hundreds of fellow students took to the streets and set fire to a pair of police motorcycles before being repelled by tear gas. They regrouped the next day and, armed with rocks and slingshots, marched toward police headquarters.

The police fired warning shots in the air, then apparently aimed lower, killing a 14-year-old and fatally wounding an 18-year-old. The mob erupted in fury. President Xanana Gusmao, widely revered for his role in bringing freedom to East Timor, tried in vain to calm the enraged youths. They smashed windows in the parliamentary offices, looted a hotel, destroyed an Australian- owned supermarket that had been among the first foreign businesses to open in independent East Timor and torched several other buildings, including two houses belonging to the family of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

By nightfall, a semblance of order had been restored, and the next day some 80 people were detained.

Even as the authorities announced an inquiry, theories were quickly floated as to the causes of the unrest. Without specifying by whom, Gusmao, Alkatiri and the UN, which maintains peacekeepers in East Timor, all declared that the students had been provoked to riot. That's possible. East Timor's diverse ex-guerrilla groups used to be united in the fight against Indonesia's military. But now they are falling out over who should run the country and how, not least because many former rebels are jobless and disenfranchised, and feel cheated by the new government. Recent weeks have seen a bomb threat on a Dili hotel, a mob attack on a police station in the eastern town of Baucau, and a brawl between army cadets and policemen. "There was a political group behind this incident," Alkatiri aide Ricardo Robeiro said of last week's riots.

But East Timor's problems go beyond insider intrigues. The biggest burden is the economy, the poorest in Asia. Unemployment is estimated to be between 50% and 65%. According to the UN, nearly half the population earns less than 55 cents a day. Despite a preponderance of farmers, East Timor still imports rice and other staples. Meanwhile, an offshore oil drilling agreement with Australia is bogged down in negotiations. Riots are the last thing a nation desperate for foreign investment needs. "If you burn people's houses and steal their possessions," said Gusmao in a national radio broadcast, "they will leave. Then we will be alone with our poverty, without help, forgotten."

Another issue is the state of the government. Many officials are either former rebel fighters with no experience building a stable society, or members of East Timor's Elite. Prime Minister Alkatiri-who led the eeffort to make Portuguese the national language even though only a fraction of Timorese speak it-belongs to this class, and his ministers have come under atttack from less privileged compatriots who think their lifestyle too lavish. A few days before the riots, Gusmao himself launched a withering attack on the administration, calling it incompetent and uncaring. "We cannot justify our situation simply because we are a new government," he told TIME. "We must be more responsible, and show people we are doing something."

Many East Timorese are now calling for Gusmao to play a bigger part in government beyond his largely ceremonial role as President. At the very least, his character is above reproach. A realist, Gusmao also recognized earlier than most that independence would be no picnic. During the May celebrations, he warned people not to get carried away, telling them patience would be needed. If last week's unrest is any indicator, East Timorese are already running out of it.

Timor riot inevitable, says Aussie first lady

The Australian - December 9, 2002

Paul Toohey -- The Timorese woman with the seen-it-all face, owner of a street stall in Dili, is joined by other local women as she demands in a maternal way that Kirsty Sword Gusmao hand over her baby boy.

Sword Gusmao obliges and passes four-month-old Kay Olok to the woman, who suddenly beams with pride at the opportunity to cradle the President's son.

The woman also uses the moment well, complaining to the President's wife that since the violent riots of last Wednesday, business has been slow, with empty streets and a sense of fear.

The Australian-born First Lady, new mother to Xanana Gusmao's children, listens and responds in Portuguese with sympathy.

The people know her, of course, but more than that, they seem to like her. A small crowd quickly gathers, but the three plain- clothes bodyguards nowadays assigned to protect Sword Gusmao full-time detect nothing from the group except delight.

"Yes, I do feel they have warmed to me," says the former Melbourne University student who became interested in the East Timorese struggle while studying Indonesian language in the 1980s.

"Someone in my position is going to have detractors, but on the whole I feel very much welcomed in spite of my background as an Australian. People appreciate I've been involved in the struggle for many years and continue to be interested in the well-being of East Timorese people."

Sword Gusmao believes Wednesday's riots, in which two men were shot dead and 16 wounded, were inevitable. With representatives of the 17 main donor countries meeting in Dili today to discuss and pledge ongoing aid commitments, she says now is not the time for the international community to judge the East Timorese.

Having visited East Timor in the bad days of early 1990s, she moved to Jakarta to immerse herself in the cause by secretly helping activist East Timorese students. From there she began communicating with her future husband in his Jakarta prison.

"I don't think [the donor countries] would have any reason to spit the dummy [over the riots]," Sword Gusmao says. "Which country in the world, with such levels of poverty and unemployment, would you not expect this to happen in? I don't think anyone will wag the finger at the Timorese."

Sword Gusmao says there is room for improvement in the conduct of the police, who appear to have badly overreacted to protests. "But we have to remember that they're learning too," she says.

Room for improvement with the conduct of the rioters, as well. Sword Gusmao agrees, but says the population is largely unimpressed with their efforts.

"My colleagues saw truckloads of many who had just finished looting shops, who had armfuls of cigarette cartons and other goods they'd stolen. They were showing huge largesse, offering cigarettes to people in the streets below.

"They were amazed by the number of people who turned away and refused to take what they were offering, because they realised it was ill-gotten gain and they didn't agree at all with what these guys had done. That speaks volumes with the fact people really are fed-up with violence."

Sword Gusmao, 36, seems disarmingly unaffected. She is using her considerable influence to tackle violence against women in Timor, which she says is under-reported.

"It is an irony," she says, "that the emerging empowerment of women in free East Timor has caused men with very traditional ideas to lash out at them." She says prostitution is now entrenched in the capital, but it is the women who have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Indonesians, including those who remain in West Timorese camps, who she is particularly trying to draw out.

Her Alola Foundation, run from a small office in central Dili, is named after Juliana dos Santos -- a young woman known to most by her nickname, Allola. "She was taken by a militia leader as a kind of war prize over the border to west Timor from Suai in September, 1999," Sword Gusmao says.

"She remains in West Timor today. Her case, when I came to know about it, particularly touched me and I went about actually lobbying the Indonesian Government and UN agencies to have something done about having her repatriated and reunited with her family.

"But she's since had a child and I think is suffering from Stockholm syndrome, where she is really no longer able to think freely enough about what she wants for herself and her child."

Sword Gusmao is also working on maternal and child health. "Given my new role both as First Lady and mother of two small children [the other child is Alexandre, 2], I'm kind of the ideal role model if you like in terms of promoting campaigns like breast- feeding and immunisation, she says.

Keeping a sense of reality is important for Sword Gusmao, who lives outside Dili in a mountainside home. She was stabbed in the leg in April last year while visiting an isolated beach with her mother. She was not badly hurt and believes the incident had nothing to do with who she was -- the attackers were simply a couple of crooks wanting money.

She says she was stabbed because "when the guy came at me in a threatening manner, I lashed out. I aimed a kick at his chest and he didn't take to kindly to it".

With her home and life in Dili, she did not consider fleeing, as some other international citizens did on Wednesday. "There's no way I would've done that. I'm not suggesting that those that have evacuated are cowards by any means. Obviously this is my home, where I am oriented.

"I don't think there's any sense that this is the start of something that will be ongoing. The situation got out of control the other day and there are reasons for that. I think it was also possibly politicised by some groups, but I don't want to presuppose who they are."

Sword Gusmao saw footage of her husband caught up in the riots, but firmly believes none of the anger was directed at him. "I think they didn't realise he was there among the crowd in the chaos and confusion. I don't think there was any deliberate targeting of him. He's always been looked to as a mediator, someone who can intervene in conflicts and help to broker solutions."

The First Lady insists she is no pillow-talker who secretly rules the country. "I often share my opinions, particularly on the role of women in the process of nation building. Xanana does listen, but ultimately his word is what sticks.

"He knows these people better than anybody else could ever pretend to, including myself. I could never hope or desire to influence him in his decision-making. I have absolute faith in him, as the people do. I really believe he has their best interests at heart."

Gusmao must take control

Australian Fincancial Review - December 9, 2002

Geoffrey Barker -- Prime Minister John Howard's offer of extra aid to East Timor's police and judicial services was a necessary but hardly sufficient response to last week's violence in Dili.

Australia has a vital security interest in a stable East Timor and a neighbourly obligation to help the fledgling democracy entrench the rule of law after years of violence, and Howard was right to offer Australian help.

But the causes of the rampage during which dozens of buildings were burnt and looted only seven months after East Timor celebrated its hard-won independence will not be addressed only by more Australian aid for the country's inadequate police and legal services.

Those causes are deeply embedded in economic, political and social conditions which Australia has little, if any, capacity to address, and which East Timor's Fretilin government shows little inclination to address. The riots had been waiting to happen, and they are unlikely to be the last, unless things change.

The fact that the rioters burnt three houses owned by the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, is a strong indication of how comprehensively Alkatiri has failed to communicate and to build public support since he became Prime Minister. It is also an indication of how quickly and how conspicuously East Timor's leaders have moved to hog the spoils of power.

East Timorese public affection is reserved mainly for President Xanana Gusmao, a political independent, who Alkatiri has tried to reduce to a figurehead.

There is widespread disillusion at the performance of Alkatiri and his clique of old Fretilin leftists, who have learned nothing and forgotten nothing since their days in Mozambique's failed socialist state more than 30 years ago.

The background to last week's riots was obviously rising frustration with increasing poverty since the withdrawal of the main UN interim administration, lack of economic progress and opportunity, government incompetence and corruption, and the country's long history of violence -- a history that predates the bloody Indonesian era. Other issues included the drought affecting eastern East Timor and the imposition of the Portuguese language of the old gang from Mozambique.

No less significant was the immediate lead-up to last Wednesday's riots. Five days earlier, on November 28, the government trucked hundreds of Fretilin veterans into Dili from rural areas to celebrate Fretilin Day. Many were bitter that police and army jobs had been given to younger men and women rather than to veterans of the "liberation struggle".

Last Tuesday demonstrations occurred when -- outside the main government and parliament buildings and opposite a high school where hundreds of students were sitting exams -- Dili police charged in and arrested a student suspected of a crime. Protesting students were joined by other demonstrators hostile to the police, especially the police chief, Paulo Martins, a hold- over from the Indonesian era.

On Wednesday, as burning and looting intensified, Gusmao made a surprise speech accusing Alkatiri's government of laziness and calling for Martins' resignation.

In the aftermath of the riots, Alkatiri and Gusmao voiced their concerns at the events, called for order and pledged to investigate the causes. But their remarks demonstrated, above all, the fragility of their relationship.

There seems little doubt that UN peacekeepers and civil police were slow to respond to the riots and that underlying resentment towards the large (and significantly Australian) foreign population led to the destruction of the Australian-owned Hello Mister supermarket, where foreigners buy goods far beyond the means of the impoverished locals.

For Australia, as opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd noted last week, the riots are a sharp reminder of the endemic instability across Australia's near-neighbourhood. They are a reminder of what could happen in Papua New Guinea if efforts to revive the deeply depressed economy do not quickly show results.

It is, of course, too soon to write off East Timor as a failed state, doomed to aid dependency and the political corruption of power and clan loyalties.

But last week's riots will shake what little international confidence there might have been in East Timor, and set back the country's hopes for progress.

So what to do? If Alkatiri cannot lift his game and manage East Timor effectively, he should make way for somebody who can.

The President is a national hero, a modest and decent man, who communicates effectively with East Timorese and international figures. Xanana Gusmao should be more than a national figurehead in these critical circumstances.

West Timor/refugees

8,000 East Timor families opt to stay in Indonesia

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2002

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang -- At least 8,000 East Timorese families seeking refuge in West Timor had decided to stay in Indonesia, a local military commander said Thursday.

The government was now preparing a transmigration scheme and developing housing complexes for them, Kupang military chief Col. Moeswarno Moesanip said.

The housing complexes are located on several islands, including Sumba, Flores, Timor and Alor. "Once the construction of the houses is completed the refugees will be asked to move to their new locations."

Some 250,000 East Timorese fled to Indonesia's West Timor in September 1999 after pro-Jakarta militias went on bloody rampage in the former Portuguese colony, killing hundreds of pro- independence supporters and destroyed almost 80 percent of infrastructure there. Most refugees have returned to East Timor.

Moeswarno called on the families to register for either resettlement or transmigration programs immediately. He warned the refugees that facilities such as water, electricity and health services would end on December 31 due to financial constraints.

He said there were currently around 10,000 East Timorese families in Indonesia's West Timor.

Moeswarno said that of the 8,000 families opting to stay in Indonesia, 6,000 were military, police and civil servant families, while the remaining 2,000 families were former members of pro-Jakarta militias. "At least 8,000 families have opted to be Indonesian citizens and they will not return to East Timor."

Meanwhile, hundreds of refugees went to the office of East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet Tallo on Thursday to urge the provincial administration to relocate them soon.

Separately, the former chief of the pro-Jakarta Makiki militia, Lavaek, said all civilian refugees and ex-militiamen were ready to join resettlement programs. He said the ex-militiamen from Viqueque district had opted to move to Sumba island.

Most of the refugees are currently living in the regencies of Belu, Kupang and North Timor Tengah.

In a related development, Moeswarno said Indonesian security officers and the United Peace Keeping Force (UNPKF) had agreed to improve border security after learning that hundreds of East Timorese had entered Indonesia illegally. "Since there is an increase of intruders, both sides agreed to improve monitoring."

The military chief also denied accusations by East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta that the deadly riot in Dili last week was provoked by former pro-Jakarta militia members.

He said the Indonesian military had received an explanation from UNPKF officials who said the riot was accidental and would not expand to other locations. "That accusation is baseless," Moeswarno added.

Australia determined to deport East Timorese refugees

World Socialist Web Site - December 10, 2002

Jake Skeers -- Despite considerable opposition from ordinary people, particularly in the northern city of Darwin, the Australian government has resumed the process of deporting about 1,800 East Timorese who fled Indonesian rule during the 1980s and 1990s.

Most of the East Timorese have lived in Australia for up to 13 years, found jobs, undertaken studies and begun to raise families, earning the respect and affection of other working class people. Yet successive governments, Labor and Liberal, have kept them in legal limbo for more than a decade, refusing to finalise their claims for asylum.

After militarily intervening in East Timor in 1999 on the pretext of protecting Timor's people from Indonesian-backed militias, the Howard government suspended moves to remove the refugees, concerned that the deportations would undercut its claims to have sent in troops for humanitarian reasons.

Howard's expressions of concern for the East Timorese were always completely cynical. Even at the height of the pro-Indonesian rampages, the government allowed only about 200 Timorese UN staff and their immediate families to flee to nearby Darwin, on three- month "safe haven" visas. When their visas expired, they were forced to return to the war-torn island.

Now, three years later, Canberra has determined that sufficient time has elapsed to allow it to ignore humanitarian considerations altogether and to push for immediate departure of long-term asylum seekers.

Eighty four Timorese living in Darwin, the Northern Territory capital, last month received Immigration Department letters, formally rejecting their refugee claims and giving them 28 days to leave Australia or appeal to the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT). Since September, the department has processed 564 applications, rejecting all of them, while another 1,070 people are awaiting decisions.

If their RRT applications fail, they will face fees of $1,000 each. Under new laws, introduced last year following the Tampa affair, no appeal can be made to the courts. Asylum seekers can make pleas to Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock for compassionate consideration but, in the meantime, they will lose the right to work and all social entitlements, including Medicare health coverage.

Many of the asylum seekers live in Darwin, but hundreds have moved to other cities, including Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. All have chosen to remain permanently. Most of their children cannot speak Portuguese, the official language adopted by the East Timor government, or even the more commonly used languages in Timor, Tetum and Indonesian.

Domingos De Silva arrived in Darwin in 1994 with his wife and four children. A fifth child was born in Australia. De Silva was on an Indonesian army hit list because of his links to the East Timorese resistance movement. "The only way I had to save my family and myself was to run away," he told the Northern Territory News. "I consider Darwin my home now, I've made a new life here with my family ... None of my children, except my oldest one, know any other language but English. My oldest child is studying IT at the university here. If we went back, we'd be going back to nothing."

Elizabeth Lay who works as a kitchen hand in Sydney and Kian Ting Jong, who is a factory worker, both face deportation. Married seven months ago, they are expecting their first baby. "It would be very hard for me to raise a baby in East Timor," Elizabeth Lay told the Sun-Herald. "There are not enough doctors and not much of a future. Australia has become our home."

Most of the refugees suffered physical violence or detention under the Suharto dictatorship. An analysis of 147 cases by the Victorian Refugee Advice and Casework Service in 1997 found that 46 percent of all applicants had suffered serious assault, 33 percent had been tortured and 39 percent had family members killed by Indonesian security forces. In addition, 55 percent had a close family member arrested, 32 percent had been detained for long periods of time and 19 percent had been sexually assaulted (43 percent of all women applicants).

Many of the East Timorese fled their homeland in the wake of the 1991 Dili massacre, when Indonesian troops killed more than 200 people after opening fire on a funeral procession for a pro- independence demonstrator. The Keating Labor government prevented them from gaining protection visas, beginning a series of legal manoeuvres against the families that were continued by the Howard government.

Having deliberately stalled the refugees' applications since 1996, the Liberal government now claims it is safe for them to return. But this assessment flies in the face of all available evidence. East Timor is the poorest country in Asia with unemployment estimated at 80-90 percent. Health and education facilities are minimal and diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and tuberculosis are common. Forty percent of people live below the poverty line of 55 US cents per day, 50 percent are illiterate and average life expectancy is only 56 years. These conditions are creating enormous social tensions, giving rise to severe unrest and disturbances, including last week's clashes with police and UN troops.

The refugees have received significant public backing in Australia. The conservative Northern Territory News has published letters and an editorial supporting the Timorese. "I read the article on the Timorese refugees with a mixture of sorrow and disgust," one woman wrote. "These are people who have integrated into society, had children and raised their families here for nearly 10 years ... How unfair, un-Australian and inhumane of our government."

Another asked Ruddock: "How much more uncaring can you get? ... Don't you have any feelings for the poor little children who were born here and don't know any other place other than Australia, which they call 'home'? Do you want to uproot them and traumatise them and leave a permanent scar in their hearts and in their minds?"

Unmoved, Ruddock has publicly accused the Timorese and their supporters of delaying their applications and appeals for 10 years in order to "outwit" authorities and play upon public sympathy. But his accusations conflict with documents showing that in 1995 the Keating government issued a secret directive to immigration officials to impose a moratorium on Timorese refugee applications, a freeze that was then extended by the Howard government.

While the minister has promised to give the applicants due consideration on compassionate grounds if the RRT rejects their appeals, his comments indicate the likely outcome.

The situation facing the Timorese refugees highlights the duplicity and hypocrisy that has driven Australian policy for the past three decades.

Suharto's regime invaded East Timor in 1975 with the backing of the United States and Australia. More than 200,000 Timorese died as a result. But in return for access to the lucrative oil and gas deposits under the Timor Sea, in 1978 Australia became the only country to formally recognise the Indonesian annexation, a deal that was sealed with the signing of the Timor Gap Treaty in 1989.

So as not to compromise its relations with Jakarta, the Labor government held the Timorese refugees on temporary visas, rather than allowing them refugee status. In 1993 and 1994 the Immigration Department rejected the cases of a number of applicants, including Lay Kon Tji, claiming that they did not have a well founded fear of persecution if forced to return to Timor.

When the RRT finally heard Lay's appeal, it accepted that he would face detention and torture because of his ethnic Chinese background and his pro-independence political views, but still rejected his application. Despite its recognition of Indonesian rule, the government cynically argued that because East Timor remained under Portuguese sovereignty according to the UN, Lay could seek refuge in Portugal.

On three occasions, in 1997, 1998 and 2000, the Federal Court ruled against the government's argument, ordering the RRT to reconsider the applications. But the government continued to block the cases, only dropping its litigation in 2000. Finally, in March 2002, it sent letters to the Timorese informing them that their applications would be re-considered in the light of the changed political situation in East Timor.

Today's assault on the basic democratic rights of long-term Timorese residents is entirely in line with the record of successive governments on East Timor over the last three decades. The overriding consideration dictating official policy has been to obtain the lion's share of Timor oil and gas wealth and to advance Australia's strategic and economic interests in the region, regardless of the consequences for the Timorese people.

Timor Gap

Impasse over Timor oil and gas reserves

Melbourne Age - December 14, 2002

Mark Baker, Dili -- The Federal Government is locked in a bitter dispute with East Timor over control of multi-billion-dollar oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea that is threatening to delay desperately needed revenues to the newly independent country.

Senior Timorese officials say Canberra is refusing to ratify a treaty enabling joint development of reserves within the Timor Gap resources zone unless East Timor gives up its claim to other substantial deposits lying outside the treaty area.

The officials said the dispute sparked an angry outburst by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer during a meeting in Dili last month with East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and senior Timorese negotiators.

Ratification of the treaty is essential before development of the Bayu-Undan field, which will deliver an estimated $US3 billion in revenue to East Timor in its 20-year life.

The treaty was signed by Prime Minister John Howard when he attended East Timorese independence celebrations in May. Australian officials said it would be ratified by Federal Parliament by the end of this year.

With parliament now adjourned for the year, there are fears in East Timor that the project could unravel. An agreement under which Japanese companies would buy the entire production of Bayu-Undan from project operators ConocoPhillips, expires in March.

Last week's riots in Dili, fuelled by public anger over worsening poverty in East Timor, have underscored the importance of Timor Sea oil and gas revenues to rebuild the country's crippled economy and infrastructure.

The dispute with Australia centres on plans to develop a second, larger field, Greater Sunrise.

Australia had proposed that East Timor receive 90 per cent of revenue from the 20 per cent of the Sunrise field that lies within the Timor Gap, the same sharing formula as for Bayu-Undan. The Federal Government insists that all the reserves lying outside the zone belong to Australia.

Negotiators for the two governments are to meet again next week, but Timorese officials believe Australia is determined to withhold ratification of the Timor Gap treaty until East Timor agrees to drop claims to any resources lying outside the zone.

Australia has rejected the Timorese position that its economic rights under international law extend 200 nautical miles from the Timorese coast.

"Australia is refusing to budge on its continental-shelf claims and it doesn't want to touch on maritime boundary issues because it is afraid of the implications for its boundaries with Indonesia, " a Timorese minister said.

"But we can't run an economy on development assistance. This revenue is vital for our future and we can't afford any delays to Bayu-Undan."

The Bayu-Undan project, which involves building a pipeline to Darwin, is expected to bring revenue of $US40 million to East Timor in its first year.

Officials estimate production could begin within 18 months of the treaty being ratified.

Human rights trials

Victims tell of Dili police shootings

Melbourne Age - December 14, 2002

Jill Jolliffe, Dili -- Five gunshot victims interviewed by The Age in the Dili hospital yesterday say they were shot by roaming groups of special police in the capital's outer suburbs after the main rioting last week had subsided.

Their claims contradict the widely held view at the time that all shootings occurred when police allegedly fired on demonstrators from their Dili compound around 9.30am as it was stormed by stone-throwing students. Eighteen people were shot during the disturbances, two of them fatally.

"They drove by the [Dili] suburb of Colmera, got out and started shooting," said student Jose Luis Soares, 21. "There were seven or eight of them, facing me from about 50 metres ... I was shot with a pistol, directly, without warning shots." He said his foot wound had been inflicted by agents of the elite special police unit (SPU).

Mr Soares said he had been shot five hours after the compound shootings, which allegedly involved Timor-Leste Police Service regulars. TLPS officers were not seen again on Dili streets that day, leaving rioters to burn and loot at will.

The new testimony of the gunshot victims spoken to by The Age provides prima facie evidence that SPU agents followed rioters to outer suburbs, opening fire without warning.

Brick maker Alarico da Costa, 21, was shot in the buttocks around 2pm, also in Colmera. "The police got out of the car and shot at me and other people," he said. "They all shot simultaneously, with no warning."

Secondary student Jose dos Santos maintained he had not gone to school that day but stayed home until midday, then went to the suburb of Bairro Pite to buy a card he needed to sit his exams. He said he had been shot in the thigh around 2pm when several police opened fire on a crowd running towards him.

Some victims may have tailored evidence to conceal involvement in the disturbances, but two gave credible testimony that they were mere bystanders.

Marcel Ximenes, 23, and Hermenegildo Correia, 30, are stallholders at Comoro market, near Dili airport, and were shot after 5pm. "There were demonstrators on the road and they ran into the marketplace with SPU police chasing them," Mr Ximenes said. "They got out of the car and began shooting. I wasn't in the demonstration. My life is just working to get enough to eat."

Mr Correia said he had been tidying his cigarette stall at the end of the day when "four or five" police arrived and started shooting.

The claims by the gunshot victims emerged as East Timor's UN administrator, Kamalesh Sharma, yesterday announced that six East Timorese police officers had been suspended for alleged discipline problems.

Mr Sharma said: "Some discipline problems were evident within the Timor-Leste Police Service during fourth of December."

This had resulted in the "suspension, pending investigation of conduct" of six officers. SPU officers are not among the six people suspended.

Mr Sharma also said UN police had arrested seven suspects in the burning of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's residence during last week's riots in Dili. Another seven people have already been remanded for 30 days for looting during last week's riots.

Army officer faces 10 years jail for Timor crimes

Associated Press - December 12, 2002

Jakarta -- Indonesian prosecutors on Thursday demanded a 10-year jail term for a senior army intelligence officer, the minimum sentence by law if he is found guilty as charged of crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999. Lt. Col. Yayat Sudradjat is accused of failing to stop his subordinates joining an attack on a church packed with pro-independence supporters in Liquica on April 6, 1999, in which 22 people were killed.

"The defendant failed to prevent gross human rights violation happening ... and could not control his subordinates effectively," state prosecutor Jefrin told Indonesia's human rights court.

Sudradjat is one of 18 Indonesian officials charged over the violence that swept across East Timor before and after the territory broke from Indonesia in August 1999 in United Nations- sponsored ballot.

So far, seven Indonesian officers have been cleared of all charges. Only two of the accused, the province's former governor and a notorious militia leader sentenced to 10 years in prison, have been found guilty. Both are East Timorese civilians.

Local and international human rights groups have described the trials as a sham.

Nearly 2,000 civilians were believed killed and 250,000 forced to flee their homes when Indonesian troops and their militia proxies launched a campaign of terror aimed at forcing people to vote for continued integration with Jakarta.

East Timor gained full independence in May, after a period of transitional rule by the United Nations following Indonesia's brutal 24-year occupation.

International scrutiny looms over rights trial

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2002

Debbie A. Lubis and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta -- The country's failure to conduct a fair and impartial human rights trial will become the subject of an international discourse next year, including at the International Human Rights Commission in Geneva, a rights activist warned on Tuesday.

Asmara Nababan, former secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights, said that such discourse would take place as the country had shown irregularities and deviations in its court system.

"We cannot predict how the conclusion of the discourse might affect us. But one thing is certain: the latest trial over violations of human rights in East Timor has proven that impunity still exists in the country," he said.

Asmara was commenting on the poor performance of the country's ad hoc tribunal trying the gross human rights violations that took place in East Timor following a vote of independence on Aug. 30, 1999.

Many believe that the Military, as well as the National Police, were involved in the violence that claimed hundreds of innocent lives. But the Court has failed to send any security officer to jail.

Only civilians -- former East Timor governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares and former commander of pro-Jakarta militia Aitarak Eurico Guterres -- have been declared guilty over the violence.

Asmara said that the international court was the only option if the national court mechanism did not uphold justice.

"We used to believe that impunity would be abolished through the human rights trials, which are part of the national court mechanism. But we have seen the trial of East Timor cases and will also see the same thing happen again in the Tanjung Priok trials next year," he said.

Agung Yudha Wiranata of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsham) criticized the rights tribunal for not sending Eurico to jail immediately.

"The Court has sentenced Eurico to 10 years' imprisonment. Even though it is a minimum jail term it shows the seriousness of the crimes committed by Eurico," Agung told The Jakarta Post.

Asmara then urged the public and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to demand that the government take firm measures to protect and promote human rights in the country.

"A failure to maintain human rights would be a black mark on the record on the current government and discredit the country before the international community," he said.

International relations

Downer accused of abusing Timor Prime Minister

The Australian - December 13, 2002

Nigel Wilson -- Australia's relations with East Timor have been tested by claims Foreign Minister Alexander Downer verbally abused Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

The Australian has learnt that at a meeting in Dili on November 27, Mr Downer was strongly critical of Dr Alkatiri and his officials.

Highly placed East Timorese sources said last night that at the meeting, called to discuss the so-called international unitisation agreement on the Sunrise gas reservoirs, Mr Downer was "belligerent and aggressive".

He is reported to have banged the table as he criticised advice Dr Alkatiri was receiving from UN officials.

After the meeting, the Australian Government reneged on an understanding with East Timor that it would ratify the Timor Sea Treaty by the end of the year.

The treaty signed in Dili on May 2O covers the sharing of revenues from oil and gas developments in the Timor Sea, jointly administered by the two countries.

The treaty left open final details of how revenues from the Greater Sunrise deposits, which lie 20.1 per cent in East Timor- controlled waters and 79.9 per cent in a jointly administered area, would be treated.

East Timor sees its share of revenues from the development of the Sunrise deposits as essential to its aim of being independent of international aid donations.

Australian officials said talks on the unitisation agreement would resume in Dili on Monday. A spokesman for Mr Downer said last night: "Idle gossip is not worthwhile commenting on."

It is not the first time Mr Downer has been criticised for his approach to East Timor. During negotiations leading to the signing of the Timor Sea Treaty, UN Minister in Dili Peter Galbraith accused Mr Downer of paternalism in his dealings with the East Timor leaders.

East Timor press reviews

East Timor Press Review

December 12, 2002

Suara Timor Lorosae reported on Thursday that FDTL Colonel, Lere Anan Timor rejected an invitation by TNI to travel to Atambua in regards to the arrest of a East Timorese soldier in Atambua, West Timor on December 2. Lere argued that the soldier entered Atambua on his own initiative and was off duty at the time of his arrest said the newspaper. The Coronel stressed that FDTL has never instructed any of its members to enter another country without the proper procedures and the illegal of the soldier was not under FDTL instructions.(STL) The team established by the Parliament to investigate December 4 incidents will interview 18 Members of Parliament, reported STL. (STL) MP Gregorio Saldanda (Fretilin) said on Wednesday that FDTL and the Police should re- establish informants intelligent to help conducive security reported the media. Saldanha stressed that security is a very important matter, and therefore FDTL and the Police should appoint intelligence officers to pass information to security in order to avoid incidents similar to the ones which took place last week. Meanwhile MPs agreed on a proposed security system for the Parliament. (STL, TP) Bishop Belo appealed to population to work together to maintain stability and security. Belo said a healthy democracy means a healthy country and to achieve peace, all citizens must respect the law. He said problems currently faced by the country can only be addressed through dialogue. STL reported the bishop speaking at the opening of a Portuguese school in Dili on Wednesday.(STL) Seven suspects involved in Wailili incident on November 18 were presented to Dili District Court on Wednesday. Baucau District prosecutor, Domingos Barreto said that the police did not arrest the seven suspects. Barreto said the group decided to surrender to Baucau District Administrator on December 8 after the head of the sub-district approached them. STL reported that two suspects, including the one who snatched the police gun, surrendered on December 10 with the pistol. (STL) STL reported Thursday that the relatives of Calisto Soares, the 27-year-old man wounded by a shotgun during the attack at Baucau police station demanded a judicial enquiry into his death. They accused the Government of being responsible by the incident and said that those guilty (including police) must be tried said the newspaper.

In a 2-part series interview with Timor Post, Bishop Basilio do Nascimento said Security and Justice are the two main pillars of the country at present. The bishop said all the Timorese dreamed of independence but the country still lacks intellectual and economy capacity.(TP) The Principal of 28 November school, Jaime Soares told the media on Wednesday that he is not responsible to the riot that took place on December 3 and 4. Soares said the school has been running under the supervision of priests and nuns. He said reports about the school are incorrect and the investigation team must investigate the case including the police.

December 11, 2002

Timor-Leste Immigration department informed that the attack on the building last week did not destroy foreign passports held by the office says STL. It is reported that the only documents destroyed were that of the Timorese seeking temporally travel documents and some damages done to the building. (STL)

TLPS and UNPOL have established a team to investigate last week riots. The team comprises of 16 personnel from both units. Speaking to the media during a press conference at UNPOL Headquarters in Dili on Tuesday, TLPS Chief Investigation officer, Gorge Monteiro said the suspects and victims have been reported to the TLPS Commissioner Paulo Martins. (STL) Timor Post reported that around 7000 villagers in Lolotoi, Bobonaro sub- district are facing hunger due to the long dry season. The head of that district, Nicolao Moniz informed during a meeting held in Maliana for all Bobonaro heads of districts said the newspaper.

The Timorese police have been presented with a Portuguese language manual on Tuesday at the Police Academy in Dili to assist the officers in learning of the language. The book has been considered by Timor-Leste authorities as an example to apply to other sectors of the administration. Using images, picture and games, the manual exemplify what to say and how to respond if the officers are being solicited about information as well as in cases of incidents of transit and thefts. The terminologist of the manual is specific to the police.

December 10, 2002

Grover Joseph Rees III on Monday presented his credential to President Gusmao. "I am happy (...) with Grover Rees nomination as ambassador, given his knowledge about our nation", said Xanana Gusmao during the ceremony. " I believe that ambassador Rees will hold an important role in the development of future cooperation between United of America and Timor-Leste", added the President. In a press release President's Gusmao office recalled that Washington government has been supporting Timor-Leste since 1999 through USAid with various program in support of the civil society. Speaking to the media Grover Joseph Rees III said that his country is proud of the freedom and democracy achieved by RDTL. He added that the United States of America would like to see the involvement of the Timorese people in supporting their government to maintain security, democracy and stability in order to attract foreign investors. (TP, STL, Lusa)

Suara Timor Lorosae reported that the majority of Timorese parliamentarians allege that there may be a group in the country instigating riots with the aim of discrediting the government. According to the daily damages to the National Parliament building from last week riots would cost millions of dollars. (STL)

The attacks to shops, hotels and offices in Dili last week forced business people to flee the country including Australians said Minister of Finance Madalena Boavida. (STL)

Timor Post reported that 65 people out of 75 detained in connection to last Wednesday riot have been released. The paper says that the remaining suspects are now in Becora prison awaiting further investigation This daily reported Timorese businessman Oscar Lima as saying that last week's riot left 500 people without jobs. (TP)

Seventeen Timorese non-government organization (NGO) on Monday condemned last week's violence in a joint statement describing "four types of intervenients", many openly involved in the disturbance planning, reported Lusa. The document said it was clear that various individuals were responsible "in inciting the mass and direct them to the destruction of certain targets", carrying with them "petrol" to set fire. The document also said that some individuals 'carried sword hidden under their clothes' incited and ordered the youths and adolescents to pelt and set fire to some buildings said the newsagency. (Lusa)

December 9, 2002

Dili Tribunal ordered on the weekend 30 days temporary detention for 10 people detained in connection to last Wednesday's riots which caused the death of 2 people and 25 people injured, said a police source. The same source told Lusa that members of the tribunal visited the suspects in a police compound and ordered their temporary detention in Becora prison in Dili. The prison is also detaining 2 captives involved in a homicide whose detention led to last week's' confrontations. (Lusa)

MP and President of PSD party, Mario Carrascalao rejects accusations that his party was involved in last Wednesday's riots. Carrascalao stressed that his party is against violence and dialogue is the solution reported STL newspaper. (STL)

STL reported that the students protest last Wednesday was infiltrated by a group of people, which led to the riot. According to the director of 28 November secondary school in Dili, the students' plan was to protest in front of the National Parliament against TLPS attitude. But he said the protest was infiltrated by another group of people who interrupted their program said the newspaper. (STL)

Suara Timor Lorosae reported that according to their observations the Australian owned supermarket, "Hello Mr." Employees were back at work on Sunday fixing the shelves, in preparation to re-open the shop after it was burned during last Wednesday's riot. (STL)

On Saturday President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri presided a ceremony to mark the 27th anniversary of the Indonesian invasion. SRSG Kamalesh Sharma attended the ceremony. LUSA reported that although Prime Minister Alkatiri had invited the population to follow the ceremony, only members of the Government, some MPs and representatives of the diplomatic corps were present. In a separate event on Saturday morning, around150 local and international organizations commemorated this date with prayers conducted by NGO Forum coordinator Filomeno Barros dos Reis before flowers were dropped at the ocean in memory of those that died during the invasion reported Suara Timor Lorosae. (Lusa, STL)

The Timor-Leste Government and the World Bank will host two-day donors'conference starting this Monday in a Dili, which continues to remain calm after last Wednesday's violence. The "Timor-Leste and Development Partners Meeting", as it is formally called, will be held 09 to 10 December at the Hotel Timor and will be chaired by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Welcoming remarks at the Monday afternoon opening session of the conference will be made by President Xanana Gusmao and by the Special Representative to the Secretary-General (SRSG) Kamalesh Sharma. Some 200 representatives of the international donor community and of missions and agencies based in Timor-Leste are expected to attend, including World Bank Vice-

President Jemal-ud-din Kassum who, along with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, will deliver opening statements on Monday morning.

This is the first "Timor-Leste and Development Partners Meeting" to be organised since the country gained independence on 20 May of this year. According to Lusa newsagency, the Timorese government managed to accomplish 52 per cent of its proposed objectives for the country's development having concluded 40 per of the task.

(UNMISET, Lusa)

Muslim residents in Kampung Alor, Dili celebrated this year Idul Fitri in a tense situation reported STL. The head of East Timor United Islamic Center (UNICEF), Zainul Husni said "this year Idul Fitri was celebrated in a tense situation because of the condition faced by mosque. We could not perform our prayers very well because of last week's attack to the mosque said Husni. (STL)

President Xanana Gusmao last Friday received the credentials for France's Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Haver Ladsous. Speaking to journalist Ladsous said France will soon open an embassy in Dili which will enable the two countries to coordinate work in various sectors of the country. (STL)

Prime Minister Alkatiri joined Belo at the Al Munawaroh Mosque in Dili last Friday to take part in prayer services celebrating Eid al-Fir, the holiday ending the holy month of Ramadan. Bishop Belo apologized in general for the violence against Muslims last Wednesday reported Timor Post. (TP)

FRETILIN, which holds the majority in Timor-Leste's Parliament, on Saturday condemned the "manipulation" behind the recent riots in Dili, criticized "the delay" the UN reacted and reaffirmed its "total support" to the Government. A three-page statement issued by the party's Central Committee was read to the media on Saturday by Francisco Guterres. The document says that UNMISET delayed "in the reposition of law and order" and in regaining "control of the situation". The Timorese police forces, says the document, still under the command of international police, "should see in it an example of competence and professionalism, which are required in such situations, and not an example of inefficiency and incapability". (LUSA)

A news analysis distributed on Saturday by the Portuguese news agency LUSA states that several diplomatic and Government sources affirm that last week's Timorese crisis allowed the UN and Portugal to begin a "long-time waited" revision of their relations. The central point in this reevaluation process was brought to public attention when the Portuguese authorities decided to call to their direct command the Portuguese troops integrated into the UN PKF, "in defense of Portuguese nationals and interests, and maintaining a visible presence in the capital", said the news agency. LUSA argues that Portugal did the same thing as Australia, which, last September -- without previous consultation with UN and Timorese authorities -- put Dili under "state of siege, based in information received about terrorist threats". The current situation allowed Portugal to tell the UN "if you do not do it, we'll do, and whatever is not done multilaterally can de performed in a bilateral way", a diplomat told the news agency.

Lusa recalled that Foreign Minister Ramos Horta had said that the intervention of the Portuguese soldiers "had saved the situation". The news agency goes on to say that question like difficulties to the placement of Portuguese consultants in the UN mission, the role of the Portuguese language "and the obstacles frequently raised by the UN" are among the issues raised by the present situation. (LUSA)

Vieira de Mello commented incidents In Oporto (Portugal), where he has been attending a conference of the European Security and Cooperation Organization, the former UN administrator for Timor- Leste told the media on Saturday that he was convinced that groups of organized agitators were responsible for the recent riots in Dili. Mello said, "We know who they are". He recognized that the Timorese anti-riot forces had been prepared "in haste" and that the UN should keep committed in their training. (LUSA)

The majority of the 12 members of Portuguese GNR expected in Dili before the end of December have no anti-riot preparation, for they were trained to be simple "observers", reported LUSA on Saturday. According to the news agency, both Portuguese authorities and the Timorese Government had stated that the arrival of the GNR soldiers would represent a "positive contribution" for the organization of an anti-riot force in Timor-Leste. The arrival of the group will not solve any problem, reported the news agency, citing a source of the "international police" in Dili. (LUSA)

Interviewed by LUSA, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said that he wants to leave his Ministry and that he is "not interested" in being appointed Prime Minister. His statement was made following a story carried by Lisbon's weekly Expresso on Saturday. According to Expresso, Ramos Horta would replace Alkatiri as Timor-Leste's Prime Minister. Ramos Horta said that it is understandable "and normal" that Mari Alkatiri would not follow President Gusmao's suggestion for replacing Ministers. He added "it is essential to find a solution which contemplates the authority of the Government, of the President and also of the member of the Government". (LUSA)

The Indonesian news agency ANTARA reported on Saturday that the administration chief of Belu district, which directly borders on Timor-Leste, said the number of illegal entrants into Indonesian territory from the newly independent State had increased lately. "There has been an increase in the number of illegal border crossers from East Timor. Some of them are now undergoing the necessary legal processes", the administrator told ANTARA. He said he had given full authority to local security agencies to take determined measures against the illegal border crossers. (ANTARA)