News & issues

UN turns blind eye to use of Timor brothels

Melbourne Age - May 7, 2007

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – United Nations police and civilian staff are openly violating what the UN promised would be a zero- tolerance policy towards sexual abuse and misconduct in deeply religious East Timor.

Expatriates in Dili say a dozen brothels have recently opened in the city, with UN vehicles parked outside most nights. Teenage Timorese prostitutes gather just before dusk opposite a hotel on Dili's waterfront, where UN vehicles can be seen picking them up.

"It's disgusting ... these people who have supposedly come here to help the Timorese are abusing these poor girls," says an Australian mechanic drinking in the hotel's second-floor bar, where he observes the scene every night.

One of the brothels is employing a dozen ethnic-Chinese prostitutes, expatriates say.

A UN employee told The Age that the world body was turning a blind eye to prostitution by its employees. "The so-called zero tolerance policy includes prostitution, but nothing is being done stop it," she said.

UN employees, who come from 40 countries, have also brought dangerous driving to East Timor as it struggles to recover from last year's violent upheaval. UN vehicles have been involved in 80 single-vehicle accidents since March, some of them apparently involving drink-driving.

Atul Khare, an Indian diplomat heading the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste told UN staff last week that he was "shocked and distressed" by UN drivers' behaviour. "We are guests in this country, and we are present here to help the people recover from the trauma of conflict and not to perpetuate it," he said.

When the UN Security Council established the mission in August last year, Sukehiro Hasegawa, then the top UN official in Dili, promised a crackdown on behaviour of UN personnel.

In New York, the UN had just received an internal report exposing a culture that had covered up perverted and outrageous behaviour by UN staff in East Timor over years.

The report revealed peacekeepers left behind at least 20 babies they had fathered to poverty-stricken Timorese women. Those women are now stigmatised and in some cases ostracised by their communities.

It also revealed sexual abuse of children and bestiality. Since 1999, when UN personnel first arrived in East Timor, not one employee has been charged with a serious offence.

Allison Cooper, the UN spokeswoman in Dili, told The Age that the mission was strictly enforcing the zero-tolerance policy towards any misconduct and had set up a special internal investigation unit.

The unit had received two reports of sexual abuse by UN employees but had closed investigations because of a lack of evidence, Ms Cooper said. UN police have begun setting up alcohol breath- testing checkpoints around Dili.

Of 26 UN members breath-tested at a checkpoint last week near a nightclub, four tested positive. Three vehicles and two weapons were impounded.

Ms Cooper said those who tested positive had been suspended from driving UN vehicles pending final investigations. More than 1600 UN police and about 500 civilian UN employees serve in the mission.

About 1000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers in an Australian- commanded International Security Force are not permitted to drink alcohol or to socialise outside their barracks.

East Timor troops find gun, cash in Fretilin cars: Ramos-Horta

Agence France Presse - May 2, 2007

Dili – Foreign troops securing East Timor found a gun, other weapons and cash in a convoy of cars carrying ruling Fretilin party officials Wednesday, presidential candidate Jose Ramos- Horta claimed.

Ramos-Horta made the comments as the campaign intensified between the Nobel laureate and his opponent, Fretilin candidate Francisco Guterres, ahead of a second round of voting next week for president of the troubled country.

Ramos-Horta, currently the prime minister, said he had been briefed on the discovery by Brigadier Mal Rerden, the head of the Australian-led peacekeeping force that has been restoring security in East Timor for almost a year.

He told reporters that Justice Minister Dominggos Sarmento was in one of the cars, which were all heading to a Fretilin campaign rally.

"The ISF (International Stability Force) was doing their job, manning a checkpoint before a Fretilin rally, and in one of the cars an automatic firearm was found," Ramos-Horta said.

Another car was found with 5,000 dollars in cash, he said, adding that arrows and slingshots were also found. He said Sarmento told the troops that the money was to be used for ministerial projects. Sarmento and Brigadier Rerden could not immediately be contacted for comment on the claims.

Neither Ramos-Horta or Guterres won an absolute majority in the April 9 election for president, prompting the runoff next Wednesday.

The election is the first since impoverished East Timor won independence in 2002, following a bloody split from occupying Indonesian forces.

Several thousand peacekeepers have been patrolling the streets since unrest last year descended into gang violence that left 37 people dead and forced 150,000 more to flee their homes.

Ramos-Horta said he would seek clarification of the incident, in his capacity as prime minister, when official campaigning ended on May 7.

Political/social crisis

Timor rebel taunts Diggers in pursuit

The Australian - May 23, 2007

Stephen Fitzpatrick – East Timorese renegade soldier Alfredo Reinado has delivered yet another slap in the face to Australian troops hunting him, appearing on Indonesian television to taunt his pursuers.

In an interview on the Kick Andy chat show to be broadcast tomorrow, Reinado accuses former president Kay Rala "Xanana" Gusmao of leading him into a trap when he was arrested in Dili last June.

The broadcast, taped in a secret location, is Reinado's first public response to recent calls by Mr Gusmao, and his successor, Jose Ramos Horta, to give himself up.

In the interview, Reinado sneers at the two men, describing them as wanting to introduce communism to the small country and as having lost their way in steering East Timor out of trouble.

"Xanana is no longer the Xanana he used to be," Reinado says, accusing his former military commander of betraying him at the height of the nation's problems last year, when dozens of people died and hundreds of thousands were made homeless.

He claims he was prepared to give himself up peacefully to Australian troops after a gun battle involving opposing soldiers from East Timor's armed forces, in which Reinado is believed to have killed at least one person.

He says he was "simply fulfilling the orders of the president as my supreme military commander", by returning to Dili from his base in the mountains to the south of the East Timor capital.

Reinado claims to have been preparing to hand in his weapons – on Mr Gusmao's orders – to Australian troops when he was arrested and thrown in jail on murder and illegal arms possession charges.

Clashes in East Timor leave one dead

Reuters - May 16, 2007

Political clashes and street fights between machete-wielding rival gangs in East Timor have left one person dead and injured more than 20 people less than a week after a presidential run- off, officials said on Wednesday.

One East Timorese was killed and two were injured in clashes involving political supporters in Ermera district on Monday, Antonio Caleres Junior, director of the national hospital in the capital, Dili, told Reuters by telephone.

But it was not clear if they were linked to the two candidates contesting last week's second round of presidential elections. Ermera district is about six hours' drive west from Dili.

Violence erupts sporadically in the tiny nation, but the run-off between Nobel peace prize winner and current prime minister Jose Ramos Horta and parliament chief Francisco Guterres, president of the dominant Fretilin party, was peaceful.

Ramos Horta swept the run-off with nearly 70 per cent of the votes, raising hopes of greater stability in a nation still struggling to heal divisions five years after it won independence from Indonesia. Guterres conceded defeat and urged his supporters to accept the result.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, gang clashes involving martial arts groups left 19 people injured, but the fighting did not appear to be related to the elections, Junior said.

East Timor's police operations commander, Mateus Fernandes, said rival political supporters also clashed in Liquica district late on Tuesday, but there were no casualties. "There was fighting among supporters of presidential candidates Jose Ramos Horta and Francisco Guterres... but no one was injured," Fernandes said.

Fernandes said local and UN police had stepped up patrols in and outside Dili to prevent further violence.

International observers said the presidential run-off was conducted freely and fairly, after the first round a month ago was marred by complaints of widespread irregularities.

East Timor voted for independence from Indonesian rule in a violence-marred referendum in 1999. It became fully independent in 2002 after a period of UN administration.

Outgoing President Xanana Gusmao will now run for the more hands-on post of prime minister in parliamentary polls on June 30.

I'm ready to surrender: Timor army rebel

Reuters - May 14, 2007

Fugitive army rebel Alfredo Reinado says he is ready to give himself up to East Timor authorities after deciding he could get a fair trial.

Last August, Reinado and 50 other inmates escaped from a prison where he was being held on charges of involvement in a wave of violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes last year.

"I see in Rogerio Lobato's case no interference of certain leaders in the justice process," he said. "And now I have contacted my lawyers and sent a letter to our president, Xanana Gusmao, for a peaceful surrender to justice and returning the weapons to the authorities," Reinado, East Timor's former military police commander, told Reuters by mobile phone.

East Timor's court of appeal last week upheld a seven and a half year jail sentence for former interior minister, Lobato, for his role in last year's wave of violence.

Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, who won a landslide vote to become East Timor's new president last week, appears to have taken a softer line on Reinado recently.

Ramos-Horta said he had a meeting last Friday with two bishops to discuss a peaceful surrender by Reinado, possibly this week.

"As we promised to him and to the people of East Timor that if he surrenders himself, including the weapons he seized, the government and the state will treat Major Alfredo and his associates well and respect their dignity as human beings during the judicial process," Ramos-Horta told reporters.

The former army major has been accused of raiding a police post and making off with 25 automatic weapons while on the run.

"Major Alfredo has sent a letter to President Xanana (Gusmao), which sounds like he is willing to surrender to the justice process and I welcome his letter and hopefully he can fulfil his promises in the next few days," added Ramos-Horta.

Reinado managed to evade a raid by Australian-led troops in March, which triggered thousands of his supporters to protest in the capital. Separately, the National Election Commission told a news conference that the turnout in the May 9 presidential election, which saw Ramos-Horta win 69 per cent of the vote, was 81 per cent.

The public will be given 24 hours to contest the results before the court of appeal validates them, Faustino Cardoso Gomes, director of the National Election Commission said.

Hunt for East Timor's rebel leader becomes an embarrassment

Melbourne Age - May 5, 2007

Lindsay Murdoch, Same – East Timorese MP Leandro Isaac has a blunt message for Australian troops who hunted him in East Timor's rugged mountains for two months. "You are stupid," he said yesterday.

"You never bothered to find out about us... you don't know who we are or what we believe in."

His friend, rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, has been pursued since March 4 when Special Air Service commandos botched a pre-dawn bid to capture him.

Mr Isaac said the Australians have themselves to blame for becoming embroiled in the controversial hunt for Major Reinado. "Every day that passes with Alfredo still at large makes him more and more popular," Mr Isaac said.

The controversy has taken a new turn ahead of Wednesday's second round of presidential elections after Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta ordered a halt to the hunt for Major Reinado. The major is the renegade former head of the country's military police who is wanted for murder and rebellion.

Mr Ramos Horta, who is contesting the election against ruling Fretilin candidate Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres, saw votes in helping Major Reinado even though only weeks earlier he co-signed a letter asking Prime Minister John Howard to authorise Australian troops to mount an operation to capture the renegade.

The order puts Brigadier Mal Rerden, commander of the 800-strong Australian force in East Timor, in a difficult position. Without a letter from the Timorese leadership, including Fretilin, he cannot officially call off the hunt. Fretilin said it would refuse to sign such a letter, accusing Mr Ramos Horta of using his position to manipulate the Australian troops in a blatant attempt to win votes.

But if the Australian troops now arrest or kill Major Reinado they would be seen to have failed to carry out an order from Mr Ramos Horta whose credibility would be damaged as he attempts to become East Timor's second president.

Major Reinado, who received military training in Australia is a cult hero among many Timorese. He has said he is prepared to die rather than be captured. His supporters could react violently, perhaps threatening the presidential vote and parliamentary elections on June 30 if he were injured or killed.

Some analysts in Dili speculate that the Australian troops may not be trying too hard to capture him even though they were continuing this week to kick in doors of homes where they thought he might be hiding.

Brigadier Rerden's spokesman insisted that as the International Security Force has not received a formal request from Dili, the Reinado operation is still under way.

Mr Isaac, an independent MP, said the SAS attack on Major Reinado at an old fort in the central mountain town of Same on March 4 was doomed from the start because the Australians had alienated the local people.

In an interview this week, Mr Isaac revealed that villagers laid down in front of two Australian armoured vehicles and clambered on them as they moved towards Major Reinado's base, forcing them to retreat. "It was like Delta Force, the movie, except it was the real thing," he said. "The commandos came down ropes from four helicopters, guns blazing," he said.

Mr Isaac said that a gun battle continued for almost two hours. "Major Alfredo managed to climb out of the back window of a building as his men fought the Australians at the front," he said.

Brigadier Rerden has declined to reveal details about the attack in which five rebels were killed.

Mr Isaac said he and dozens of other supporters of Major Reinado ran to hide in the hills because they feared the Australians, who, he claimed, harassed locals for weeks afterwards.

"The Australians failed because they did not bother with a hearts-and-minds strategy," Mr Isaac said. "Instead they relied on brutal tactics which backfired on them."

He said soldiers offered one of his relatives $US200 for information. "How stupid is that?" he said. He said the Australians also offered up to $US1000 for information, but "nobody told them anything".

Mr Ramos Horta has emerged as the strong favourite to win Wednesday's election. Some analysts say he didn't need to play the Reinado card, which has prompted criticism that he had failed to keep politics separate from the country's fledgling justice system.

The election has degenerated into bitter mud-slinging but there have been few violent clashes. Fretilin militants have been accused of intimidating voters in house calls. Fretilin, meanwhile, has accused Mr Ramos Horta's campaign of using a disgraced former army sergeant, Vicente da Conceicao, to help mobilise voters in the western district of Liquica. Mr da Conceicao's allegations that he set up a hit-squad to eliminate political rivals forced former prime minister Mari Alkatiri from office amid violent upheaval last year. Mr Alkatiri has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Mr Ramos Horta is favoured to win the run-off because five of six non-Fretilin candidates in the first round have told their supporters to vote for him. He won 21.81 per cent of the vote in the first round, while Mr Guterres got 29 per cent.

Analysts say it will be difficult for Fretilin to lift its vote to more than 50 per cent needed for Mr Guterres to win. Mr Ramos Horta secured the support of reformist Democratic Party leader Fernando Lasama when he ordered a halt to the manhunt. Mr Lasama won 19 per cent of the first-round vote.

Analysts say it cannot be assumed that people who voted for the five non-Fretilin candidates in the first round will automatically vote for Mr Ramos Horta, who polled poorly in some western and central districts while sweeping Dili.

United Nations officials helping organise the vote expect a lower voter turn-out this time, reflecting some dissatisfaction with both candidates.

Truth & friendship commission

Timor truth body struggling for info

Agence France Presse - May 29, 2007

A truth commission investigating the violence surrounding East Timor's historic vote for independence in 1999 says it is having trouble accessing documents, including from the Indonesian military.

The East Timor Indonesia Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) hopes to crosscheck the information in the archived documents with the testimony of high profile military personnel who have fronted the inquiry.

Former head of the Indonesian armed forces General Wiranto – who contested Indonesia's presidential elections in 2004 – denied there were any gross violations of human rights in East Timor in 1999 when he appeared before the truth commission earlier this month.

The commission was established by the presidents of Indonesia and East Timor to come up with a conclusive truth to the 1999 violence to help repair relations between the two nations.

"The documents are spread, some are still at the Serious Crime Unit... some documents are in institutions such as Indonesian military headquarters," said East Timor commissioner Cirilo Varadales.

"These documents are very important to know, and to look at, so the commissioners can review and crosscheck to find out whether there was an institutional responsibility in 1999 or not. We are hoping to have a good cooperation and collaboration with those institutions."

The documents include telegrams sent from Indonesian military (TNI) headquarters to military and government leaders in East Timor at the height of the violence.

The CTF had filed a request for the documents to the Indonesian military's legal department in February, he said. Indonesian commissioner Agus Widjojo said the bureaucracy inside the Indonesian military made it difficult to access the documents.

"The documents are still in archive, maintained by the TNI (Indonesian military)," Widjojo said. "We have obtained some but because this happened long in the past and was issued by different levels of command it is taking time to find it."

The CTF is due to wrap up by August, but has asked for a one-year extension. Widjojo said it was awaiting a reply from the two governments, although Indonesian officials had hinted it would only be given until January next year to submit its final report.

The commission, which has been criticised by human rights groups because it has the power to recommend amnesties to perpetrators of human rights violations, is expected to hold three more public meetings.

East Timor's former president Xanana Gusmao is expected to be among those to testify, following the tiny nation's parliamentary elections next month.

Indonesian major-general, Kiki Syahnakri, had asked to testify at an upcoming hearing in Dili, where there is still a warrant for his arrest.

Syahnakri was one of several high-ranking Indonesian generals indicted by East Timor's Special Panels in absentia in Dili District Court for crimes against humanity in 2003, but never prosecuted because they remained outside the court's jurisdiction in Indonesia.

"We need (Syahnakri) to explain the political and security situation in martial law, and we are considering possibilities like if he got arrested when he arrived there," Indonesian co- chairman Benjamin Mangkoedilaga said.

Commissioner Varadales, meanwhile, said the CTF was "trying our best to give what Syahnakri wants, because he shows a good will to appear in front of the Timor people, to reveal what really happen during that (vote for independence) and that deserves an appreciation".

NGOs call for closure of 'not-credible' truth commision

AKI - May 25, 2007

Jakarta – A worldwide coalition of some three dozen human rights groups have called on Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta to close the bilateral Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF), because it is "not-credible."

"It is obvious from its mandate and its performance that the CTF is not a credible mechanism to seek justice or even truth regarding events in East Timor in 1999, let alone from 1975 to 1999," the coalition said in an open letter.

"The creation of the CTF was an act of political expediency that was doomed from the beginning", said Dr Mark Byrne, of the Australian Coalition for Transitional Justice in East Timor. "Its terms of reference permit it to recommend amnesties for the perpetrators of the most brutal human rights violations."

"The public hearings have become forums for alleged perpetrators to attempt to rewrite history by blaming the victims and the United Nations," he added.

The letter recommends instead that support be given to reconstituting the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in Dili with effective authority to arrest and try perpetrators of serious crimes committed in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation, regardless of where they currently reside.

The Special Panels ran from 2002-2005 but ended their work before it was completed due to a lack of cooperation from Indonesia and inadequate support from the UN.

The CTF began in 2005 as an effort to deflect a United Nations report call for Indonesia to be given six months to prosecute those within its jurisdiction accused of serious crimes during East Timor's 1999 independence referendum.

The CTF was originally intended to last for one year, but its mandate was extended in 2006. The commissioners, five each from Indonesia and East Timor, have recently asked for another year to complete their work.

However, the Commission has been beset by problems, including the widespread perception that it lacks legitimacy; serious deficiencies in the standards of its public hearings, including no clear procedure for reconciling conflicting versions of the truth and a lack of clarity and transparency about its processes.

Over 1400 people are believed to have been killed by Indonesian Military-backed militias after the 1999 referendum, which ended a 24-year occupation. Militia leader Eurico Guterres, the only person jailed in Indonesia for the violence, is serving a 10-year sentence at a Jakarta prison. (Fsc/Aki)

Jakarta hoping new government to continue predecessor's policies

Antara News Agency - May 11, 2007

Jakarta – Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Indonesia was hoping Timor Leste's new government will continue the policies of its predecessor, including that on the Indonesia-Timor Leste Joint Commission of Truth and Friendship to settle their common residual problems

"We hope that Timor Leste's next government, the newly elected president, prime minister and parliament members, will continue the polices which were pursued by their predecessors," Wirajuda said

The minister made the statement at the Foreign Ministry building after installing a number of echelon I and II officials here on Friday

He said he hoped the newly elected government would continue the CTF process in order to settle the two countries' historical burden through reconciliation by building friendship

Asked about the possibility of a change in Timor Leste's position on the CTF if Jose Ramos Horta was elected president, the minister said Horta was one of the Timor Leste government officials involved in the CTF's establishment

"Don't forget that Ramos Horta and I were involved since the beginning in initiating the CTF concept. So I hope the CTF will be able to work until the expiry of its tenure," the minister said

Ramos Horta was reported to be leading the temporary vote count in the second round of Timor Leste's presidential election in which he was competing with Parliament Speaker Francisco Guterres

Wirajuda said he had phoned Horta and personally congratulated him for the lead he was having in the provisional vote count.

Silent protest won't happen again, says Timor commission member

Jakarta Post - May 9, 2007

Jakarta – The surprising silent protest by East Timorese members of the joint Indonesia-Timor Leste commission at its recent hearing is expected to be the first and the last because such action could hamper commission activities.

"How can we look for the truth if we cannot retain a certain level of friendship," East Timorese commission member Maria Olandina Alves told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The East Timorese members staged the protest Friday, the fourth day in a series of Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) public hearings.

During the afternoon of Friday's session, while hearing the testimony of former Suai police chief Sr. Comr. Gatot Subiyaktoro, all East Timorese commission members remained silent in a protest against commission co-chairman Benjamin Mangkoedilaga of Indonesia.

During an earlier session Friday, victim of pro-independence military violence Bertha dos Santos was forbidden by Benjamin from answering a question asked by Olandina. However, Olandina said commission members from the two countries solved the problem during an internal meeting later that evening.

"We didn't plan the action at all – it just happened naturally because we were shocked by co-chairman's actions," said Olandina. "We hope this accident is first and the last, as it might impact our mission to find the truth," she said.

Olandina, a former East Timor provincial councilor from the Indonesian Democratic Party, dismissed allegations from the international community and activists that the commission would provide impunity for those responsible for human right violations around the 1999 United Nation-sponsored referendum.

"Such action would be unlikely," she said. "Although the commission will recommended amnesty, it has a tight criteria for any such recommendation. We may consider a (cooperative admittance of crimes) from the perpetrators to prevent any easy amnesty arrangement."

If this occurs it will mean the perpetrators must admit their crimes and ask for apology, said Olandina.

"Coming to testify before the commission doesn't mean someone is being cooperative. We have not reached a conclusion yet, but the public will easily see who has acted in a cooperative manner during the commission," she said.

Olandina also said public testimony was just one of many methods used by the commission to reveal the truth. Other methods include taking statements and thorough research, she said.

"We are now in the investigation phase, which will show whether a particular act or policy was right or wrong, according to human rights criteria," she said.

The next hearing will be in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara province and in Dili, East Timor. Final decisions on the time frame will be made at CTF's meeting in Bali from May 22-26.

The hearing in Kupang will have a number of former regents and police chiefs as well as referendum observers from the Carter Center and the Independent Committee for Direct Ballot Monitoring.

The commission in Dili will hear testimonies from President Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Ramos Horta and East Timor military chief Brig. Gen. Taur Matan Ruak.

Indonesia's ex-army chief denies Timor violations

Reuters - May 5, 2007

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Charges that Indonesian troops committed gross rights violation during East Timor's 1999 vote for independence were "senseless and crazy", the country's military chief at the time told a truth commission on Saturday.

Retired general Wiranto's remarks were made before the Commission of Truth and Friendship, set up by Indonesia and East Timor to delve into what happened during the independence vote in August 1999.

Wiranto was armed forces commander and defence minister at the time of the vote. Rights groups say he was at least morally responsible for the mayhem and should face justice. Wiranto has always denied this, saying he did his best to stop the violence.

"It is clear that there was no policy to attack civilians, there were no systematic plans, no genocide or crimes against humanity. Neither was there an act of omission," Wiranto said.

He said the violence before and after the vote was due to years of hostility between pro-Indonesian groups and independence supporters, as well as conflicts dating back to the Portuguese colonial era.

The United Nations estimates that about 1,000 East Timorese died during the post-vote mayhem, which was blamed largely on pro- Jakarta militias backed by elements of the Indonesian army. Indonesian officials say only about 100 people were killed.

Wiranto said Jakarta had made a great sacrifice to allow East Timor to vote on whether to break away from Indonesia and security forces were not well prepared to cope.

"It was extremely difficult for Indonesian security forces to guarantee a peaceful and successful referendum with only three months of preparation," said Wiranto, dressed in a dark suit.

"But what have we received? No praise, no appreciation or gratitude, but accusations that Indonesia committed crimes. This is senseless and crazy," he said.

'No evil agenda'

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 at the end of Portuguese rule and annexed the territory later that year, maintaining a heavy and sometimes harsh military presence.

Wiranto denied that the military had funded, trained and armed pro-Jakarta militia groups who went on a deadly rampage.

"If we had an evil agenda to scuttle the referendum, there would not have been a referendum and there would not have been an independent East Timor," Wiranto said.

East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to split from Indonesian rule but some pro-Jakarta voters and officials argued that the referendum had been rigged by the United Nations, although independent observers concluded the ballot was largely fair.

Wiranto, who stood unsuccessfully in Indonesia's 2004 presidential poll and is set to run again in 2009, said he tried to reconcile conflicting camps by initiating a peace pact between pro-Indonesian groups and independence supporters in May 1999.

At the hearing he screened a video showing him making an impassioned plea for peace to Timorese groups at the signing of the peace pact, attended by the country's two bishops.

He also denied that troops forcibly moved hundreds of thousands of East Timorese to Indonesia's West Timor and engaged in a scorched earth campaign. "For many people who supported Indonesia, they did not see a future after independence. They had to leave and they burned their own houses because they did not want them to fall into the hands of those whom they considered their enemies," he said.

The truth commission has no power to punish those responsible or recommend prosecution. Militia leader Eurico Guterres, the only person jailed in Indonesia for the violence, is serving a 10-year sentence.

Some of Indonesian army may have been involved in Timor

Agence France Presse - May 5, 2007

Karen Michelmore, Jakarta – The former head of Indonesia's armed forces has conceded that "one or two" of his men may have been involved in the bloodshed that swept East Timor in 1999.

But retired General Wiranto staunchly denied any gross human rights violations occurred in East Timor before and after its historic 1999 vote for independence. Instead, he blamed the carnage on a long-running internal conflict inside East Timor.

Wiranto – who was indicted by the Dili Special Panels in absentia in 2003 for alleged crimes against humanity and was a presidential candidate in Indonesia in 2004 – today testified before a commission investigating the 1999 violence.

"These were only the actions of elements (of the military)," Wiranto told the East Timor Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) sitting in Jakarta.

"It was not based on orders. This was not planned, this was just personal behaviour. This is just individual responsibility. The Indonesian military didn't take any sides."

The CTF was established by the presidents of Indonesia and East Timor to come up with a "conclusive truth" about the violence that swept East Timor in 1999 to help the nations reconcile.

However, the CTF, which favours friendship with Indonesia over prosecution, has been criticised by human rights groups concerned it will recommend amnesties for alleged perpetrators of human rights abuses and cloud the history of the violence.

Numerous investigations have found up to 1,500 people were killed, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and about 70 per cent of the nation's infrastructure razed when militia groups linked to the Indonesian security forces rampaged across East Timor before and after the historic vote.

Wiranto said the Indonesian security forces had a difficult job of securing the 1999 ballot within just three months because there had been a "horizontal conflict" in East Timor for decades.

He said the ballot itself had been a success and the violence after it was because the losing side was concerned about the legitimacy of the vote.

Wiranto said pro-Indonesia groups told him on September 5, 1999, they wanted to burn down East Timor after losing the ballot, but he told them not to.

"They said to me: 'Mr Wiranto, we have lost and we will destroy all the facilities that Indonesia has built'... (but) I said: 'No, don't ... people need these facilities'," Wiranto said.

He told the group they would be "demolished" if they tried to raise the Indonesian flag and continue fighting, because it was against the wishes of the international community and the decision of Indonesia.

"There was no instruction, no plan, no support for the destruction, for the arson," Wiranto said. He denied he had control of the militia group, or even direct control of his subordinates who may have been involved in the violence.

"Does a commander really know what their direct subordinates would do?" he said.

He said the incidents of violence were "common crimes" and not gross violations of human rights because there was no order from above of state plan behind the bloodshed. However, he said he had resigned as minister of defence because of his "moral responsibility" for the violence.

Timor referendum 'fair': Monitor

Jakarta Post - May 3, 2007

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – An observer with the Asian Network for Free and Fair Elections (Anfrel), which monitored the East Timor independence vote in 1999, testified Wednesday that the referendum was "fair".

"There was no essential violation between the pro-integration and pro-independent groups during the referendum," Muflizar, an executive committee member of Anfrel who witnessed the referendum, told a hearing of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) at the Borobudur Hotel in Central Jakarta.

Muflizar, the 27th person to testify before the commission, said his group found only minor violations before the voting began.

"There were 42 Anfrel members to monitor the referendum in East Timor's districts, four of them Indonesians. The rest came from 14 countries," said Muflizar, who monitored the voting in Dili and Liquia.

A CTF member from Indonesia, Achmad Ali, asked why Anfrel did not report any violations by members of the now defunct United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) during the referendum, as claimed by an Indonesian task force.

"The task force, headed by Zacky Makarim, reported the unfairness of UNAMET to its chairman, Ian Martin. Martin followed up on this report and transferred some of his staff," Achmad said.

Earlier in the hearing, two East Timor-born members of the Indonesian Military, Sgt. Simao Coreia and Sgt. Luis dos Santos, denied involvement in a murder in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, following the referendum.

The two had been accused by the Committee for the National Resistance of Timor Leste of murdering the committee's leader, Mauhudo, on Sept. 8, 1999. Several people testified they saw the soldiers shoot Mauhudo.

Coreia said he was in Jakarta at the time of the killing, taking part in a national beach volleyball championship as a representative of East Timor province. Dos Santos said he was on duty outside Kupang at the time of the murder.

At a separate hearing in Timor Leste on Wednesday, Mauhudo's wife, Lidia da Silva Guterres, testified that her late husband was kidnapped by several people wearing Indonesian Military uniforms.

"(Mauhudo) did not commit any crime against the pro-integration groups," she said as quoted by Haris Azhar, an official with the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.

Haris said the CTF should be more effective in building bridges between Indonesia and Timor Leste.

"So far, the findings of the CTF have not been useful in strengthening friendship between the countries. Commission members have been busy delivering their own opinions during its hearings," he said.

The CTF session will continue today, with the commission scheduled to hear the testimony of former Dili Military commander Maj. Gen. M. Noer Muis; former Los Palos infantry battalion commander Col. Jacob Sarosa; former speaker of the East Timor legislative council Armindo Soares Mariano; and a civilian witness, Alianca Goncalves.

Police powerless to stop East Timor violence, commission hears

Agence France Presse - May 2, 2007

Jakarta – A former East Timor police chief cried as he told a commission on Wednesday that he was powerless to prevent deadly violence from raging in the country during its 1999 vote for independence.

Hulman Gultom said that poorly equipped military police refused to try to stop the deadly clashes between groups backing Indonesia, which had occupied East Timor, and pro-independence factions.

"They said they were only equipped for riot control, while the masses had machetes and arrows," he said at the Indonesia-East Timor commission, which is looking into the unrest during that troubled time.

Breaking down in tears, Gultom said he and some of his volunteer officers, who also lacked proper weapons, had decided anyway to go out onto the streets and try to break up the brutal beatings and riots that were occurring.

"It was only my fear to God that brought me to do it, they are all family, whether they are pro-integration or pro- independence," said Gultom, who was police chief in East Timor's capital, Dili.

"I don't want to remember what happened, if we are serious about friendship we should forget this dark period in our lives and move on," he said as he sobbed.

The 10-member commission, setup in 2005, has been sitting in towns and cities in Indonesia and East Timor since February to hear from witnesses to the violence.

Modelled along lines similar to South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it aims at reconciliation rather than recrimination.

Militia gangs, which the United Nations has said were recruited and directed by Indonesia's military, went on an arson and killing spree before and after the East Timorese voted for independence in the 1999 UN-sponsored ballot.

They killed about 1,400 people and laid waste to much of the infrastructure in the half-island, which was a Portuguese colony before Indonesia invaded it in 1975.

Eighteen people are scheduled to testify this week at the commission sitting in Jakarta, including former military chief General Wiranto and East Timorese provincial police Inspector General Timbul Silaen.

An Indonesian rights court set up to try military officers and officials for atrocities in East Timor was widely condemned as a sham for failing to jail any Indonesians.

Balibo Five inquest

Indonesian witness completes fate of Australian media

Agence France Presse - May 29, 2007

Sydney – An Indonesian marine said five Australian-based journalists killed in East Timor in October 1975 had been "completed" or finished off by the military, an inquest was told Tuesday.

The testimony came at a probe into the death of TV cameraman Brian Peters, one of five British and Australian journalists killed in the East Timor border town of Balibo on October 16 that year.

The Bhasa word "diselesaikan" became the focus of questioning as it was used to describe the fate of the media men to the witness at the time. Via an interpreter a variety of meanings including "completed", "eliminated" and "finished off" were used to explain the word to the inquest.

Officials maintain the so-called "Balibo Five" died in crossfire during a skirmish ahead of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, but their families insist they were murdered and that there was a cover-up by Canberra and Jakarta.

The witness, a former Indonesian naval sergeant, told the inquest that two days after the newsmen were killed, he made radio contact with a marine because he was trying to learn the fate of a friend involved in military action in East Timor.

The witness, identified only as "Glebe 11", said the radio operator told him the journalists were "completed" after showing their identification. "I was told that when the troops moved forward there were five Australians and... that they were completed," he told the court through an interpreter.

He was questioned by counsel assisting the coroner Mark Tedeschi about the exact word, "diselesaikan", used by the operator to describe the fate of the journalists. Glebe 11 did not know whether it could be used to mean executed but said other possible interpretations aside from "completed" were "eliminated", "killed" or "finished off".

The inquest has heard testimony from several East Timorese witnesses who said they saw the five journalists deliberately killed by Indonesian forces during the attack.

Australian inquest war crimes plea over journalists' Timor deaths

Agence France Presse - May 30, 2007

Sydney – The killing of five journalists in East Timor in 1975 returned to haunt Indonesia and Australia Wednesday as an inquest into their deaths drew to a close with a call for war crimes charges to be laid.

At the heart of the case is whether both governments covered up the fact that the so-called "Balibo Five" were deliberately murdered by Indonesian troops ahead of the 1975 invasion of the then-Portuguese territory.

The official line has always been that British, Australian and New Zealand journalists working for Australian television stations died in crossfire in a skirmish in the border town of Balibo on October 16 of that year.

But on Wednesday a top government lawyer said in his summing up of the evidence presented at the inquest over the past four months that it was clear the journalists had been killed in cold blood by Indonesian troops.

"The journalists were not killed by being caught in crossfire... but rather were deliberately killed by the Indonesian troops who had arrived at the Balibo town square," said lawyer Mark Tedeschi.

The journalists had been attempting to surrender to the troops, who were headed by Captain Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah, he said.

"At least three of the journalists were shot by Indonesian troops after an order was given by Captain Yunus Yosfiah. He also joined in the shooting of those three," Tedeschi said.

Another journalist was shot separately and the fifth was stabbed to death by Indonesian officer Christoforus Da Silva, he said. Tedeschi argued that such drastic action would only have been taken with the sanction of officers superior to those on the ground at Balibo.

He said the killing of the journalists could constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and those allegedly responsible could be prosecuted in Australia.

The dramatic call came after officials in both countries had been made uncomfortable by the persistence of coroner Dorelle Pinch's pursuit of the truth on behalf of the family of one of the dead men, TV cameraman Brian Peters.

On Tuesday, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso cut short an official visit to Sydney after police confronted him in his hotel room and asked him to testify at the inquest about his role as an Indonesian army officer in East Timor in 1975. He refused, flew home and on Wednesday demanded an apology.

Coroner Pinch said later she had merely seized a small "window of opportunity" when she issued a personal invitation to the governor to appear at the inquest.

Earlier this month, she summoned former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam to her Glebe Coroners Court after hearing evidence that the government had advance warning of the Indonesian attack on Balibo.

The 90-year-old, who was in office from 1972-75, denied that he had seen such a warning and also said he never saw cables suggesting the journalists had been executed by the Indonesian military.

The strain the inquest has put on relations between Australia and Indonesia was further illustrated Wednesday in a dispute over whether Jakarta had been told not to worry about the hearing.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Canberra had basically guaranteed his government there would be no fallout from the inquest, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

His Australian counterpart Alexander Downer, however, told the national broadcaster that was not the case.

"I wouldn't put it in those terms, we had a very brief discussion about this quite some time ago," he said. When pressed, Downer denied he had offered any such assurance.

Peters and fellow Briton Malcolm Rennie were working for Australia's Channel Nine when they were killed, while Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, and New Zealander Gary Cunningham, were working for Channel Seven.

Diplomat claims he was told to lie

Canberra Times - May 19, 2007

Markus Mannheim – A senior diplomat who refused to break the law by lying about Australia's aid program was later denied an extension to his overseas posting in apparent retribution.

The Federal Government pulled the head of its aid program in East Timor, Peter Ellis, from the embassy in Dili after he insisted he would not lie to a local human rights group about why its funding was cut.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer decided in 2005 to strip Forum Tau Matan of a $65,830 grant after learning the group had previously criticised Australia 's approach to maritime boundary negotiations. Forum Tau Matan and 12 other Timorese organisations signed a petition in 2004 that urged Australia to respect international law.

The Australian Public Service Commission is now investigating claims that senior officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and AusAID advised Mr Ellis to give the group false reasons for why its contract was broken. Public servants who lie can be fined, demoted or sacked under Commonwealth law.

Mr Ellis says he refused the direction and AusAID took the unusual step last June of denying him a one-year extension of his posting. He says the action cost him about $100,000 in lost earnings and allowances.

The Canberra Times asked Aus-AID whether senior officers had told Mr Ellis to be deliberately dishonest in breach of the Public Service Act.

A spokesman initially refused to deny the claim, but said the Government's decision to break the group's contract took into account its public criticism of Australia. The spokesman later said that neither the agency nor the Department of Foreign Affairs accepted the claim that Mr Ellis had been encouraged to lie. He refused to comment on Mr Ellis's departure from East Timor, citing privacy reasons.

Mr Ellis says he was told his superiors had not endorsed an extension to his posting as they feared he might again refuse such instructions. Mr Ellis, a Tetum speaker whose experience was lauded by the East Timorese Government and the World Bank, has since left AusAID his employer for 10 years for work overseas.

He told The Canberra Times he felt he had to take a stand against senior bureaucrats' contempt for their own code of conduct.

"If public servants start disobeying legislation just because they think they know best and can judge for themselves when to be honest and when to lie, we're on a very slippery slope," he said.

"That principle is more important than any possible damage to my career. I didn't have any hesitation in drawing a line in the sand on something as clear as this."

He said he was disappointed but unsurprised by the official retaliation. He said the public service needed stronger protection for those who raised legitimate questions about their managers.

"Nearly all public servants have these fears. They see serious breaches of the code of conduct but don't report them because they know it means the end of their career. If I'd had kids and a mortgage it might have been much harder to stand up on the issue."

Opposition international development spokesman Bob McMullan said he had raised the matter with Mr Downer but received few details in response.

"There is a national interest in the [public service] code of conduct being followed and those that stand up for it being protected," he said. Mr McMullan said Mr Downer also needed to explain why he had cut the East Timor group's funding just six months after publicly praising it.

"If it was simply punishment for criticising Australia, it was an abuse of process and a misuse of taxpayer's money," he said. "If the original decision to fund them was meritorious, then the case for deciding on withdrawal was most improper."

Mr Downer referred inquiries to AusAID, but said in a statement he had confidence in the agency's handling of the matter. A request to interview the ambassador to East Timor, Margaret Twomey, was refused.

Minister pressured to stay silent, Balibo inquest told

ABC News Online - May 18, 2007

A Sydney court has heard the foreign affairs minister in 1975 was pressured not to tell the families of the Balibo five that the men had been killed on the grounds of national security.

Geoff Briot was the foreign affairs minister's chief of staff when five Australian journalists were killed at Balibo in East Timor 32 years ago.

He has told the Glebe Coroners Court, when minister Donald Willesee learnt of the deaths shortly after they happened he was horrified because five of his children were in journalism.

He said the minister wanted to tell the Balibo five's families about the deaths, but was heavily leant on not to say anything on the grounds that it may affect national security. The court heard the minister was very unhappy about it.

Mr Briot said the minister was talked out of it, either by joint intelligence organisation head Gordon Jockell, defence department head Sir Arthur Tange or both men.

Whitlam's East Timor policies 'chilling'

Sydney Morning Herald - May 17, 2007

Hamish McDonald – The top foreign affairs official under the Whitlam government today slammed its policies on East Timor as "chilling".

Alan Renouf, 84, who had been head of the Department of Foreign Affairs selected by former prime minister Gough Whitlam, told a Sydney coroner of his conflicts over Mr Whitlam's policies towards Indonesia, which invaded East Timor in 1975.

He said a submission by a former ambassador in Jakarta, Richard Woolcott, advocating that the then Portuguese colony should become part of Indonesia, was "chilling in its simplification, in its simplicity".

He said it was not a policy that should have been adopted by a Labor government believing in self-determination or a lawyer like Mr Whitlam. He said he had tried to stop Mr Whitlam removing self-determination from Australia's policy on East Timor in 1975, at a meeting with Indonesian President Soeharto in Townsville.

Mr Renouf, who is testifying at the Sydney inquest about the killing of five Australian-based newsmen at Balibo, East Timor, on October 16, 1975, said he had learned soon afterwards that the journalists had been killed during an Indonesian-led attack. "I had the view then as I have it now that they had been deliberately killed," Mr Renouf said.

He said that despite the covert nature of the Indonesian invasion, it would have been possible for the Indonesians to take another course by holding the journalists incommunicado until the end of hostilities. "I thought the killing of the journalists was revolting, quite unnecessary and cold-blooded, and a really merciless, wanton, infamous act," he said. He said this opinion had been shared at the time "by nearly everybody in a position to know".

Mr Renouf said he had seen intelligence giving advance notice of the Indonesian invasion, but had not been aware that Australian journalists were at the border. He had assumed they had taken heed of warnings.

Australia warned of Indonesian invasion of Timor: inquest told

Australian Associated Press - May 17, 2007

Alyssa Braithwaite, Sydney – The Australian government was forewarned that Indonesian soldiers disguised as civilians or anti-Fretilin troops planned to invade East Timor on October 16, 1975, an inquest has been told.

Five Australia-based newsmen were killed in an attack by Indonesian special forces troops in the Timorese border town of Balibo on October 16, 1975.

Official reports have maintained the journalists, Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters, were killed accidentally in crossfire between Indonesian troops and Timorese militia. But their families insist they were murdered.

Alan Renouf, who was head of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs in 1975, told a Sydney inquest into Mr Peters' death today the government had received a cablegram on October 13, 1975 from the embassy in Jakarta indicating Indonesian forces would move into East Timor within two days.

The department received a second cablegram on October 15, stating 3,800 Indonesian troops would advance into East Timor and Indonesian president Suharto would deny any involvement by Indonesian troops.

Mr Renouf said when the department learned of the journalists' deaths the common view was they had been deliberately killed.

"I don't think there is any doubt the responsibility for the killing of the five journalists lies with Indonesia," Mr Renouf said. "The killing of the five journalists was revolting, quite unnecessary, cold-blooded and really merciless. It was a wanton, infamous act."

A former officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs, James Dunn, told the inquest that a few months after the attack an East Timorese soldier who had been fighting with the Indonesian military confirmed to him the journalists had been murdered.

"He told me the journalists had been killed deliberately by Indonesian troops under the command of Cornel Dading Kalbuadi," Mr Dunn told the court via telephone.

"Of course if they had stayed alive they would have exposed what was a covert operation – Indonesian invasion." Mr Dunn said from his knowledge of the Indonesian military and his work as an intelligence officer with the Department of Defence, he believed orders to kill foreign journalists would have to have come from the top, or near to it.

He said the Indonesian government would have been aware the journalists were in Balibo as their presence in the small border town was "big news".

But Richard Woolcott, who was Australia's ambassador to Jakarta at the time of the Indonesian invasion, told the inquest news that there were Australians in Balibo didn't reach him. "If I had (known) I would have... urged something be done to get them out of that area," Mr Woolcott said.

Mr Woolcott received four boxes containing the remains of the journalists in November 1975 and helped conduct a funeral ceremony in Jakarta a month later.

But he said he knew nothing about a phone call Mr Peters' sister, Maureen Tolfree, received on landing in the capital in the hope of attending her brother's funeral.

The court was told Ms Tolfree was led to a room by four Indonesian soldiers, where she received a telephone call.

A man on the other end of the line, who did not have an Indonesian accent, said to her: "We cannot guarantee your safety and I advise you to get back on the plane and continue your journey."

The inquest continues tomorrow.

Distant memory on Balibo Five

Courier-Mail - May 12, 2007

Peter Charlton – What did Prime Minister Gough Whitlam know about the deaths of the so-called Balibo Five in East Timor in October 1975?

This has been the question exercising the Glebe Coroner's Court in Sydney this week as the inquest into the death of one of the five, cameraman Brian Peters, resumed.

The head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation at the time, Gordon Jockel, told the court that he and his analysts knew, from intercepted and translated Indonesian army radio messages, that the Indonesians were aware the Australian journalists were near the border.

Jockel said he thought it unusual that raw intelligence in the form of intercepts of Indonesian military communiques was being transmitted directly to the Prime Minister's office. "It was our job to evaluate intelligence reports," he said.

He also said the intercepts did not confirm the journalists had been killed under orders, but both he and his staff had assumed from the circumstances, their own experience and other information that this was the case.

"We really had no doubt," he said. "My assumption was they had been deliberately killed. "I find it very hard to conceive that they were killed accidentally."

He said the nature of the circumstances and the fact none of them had escaped added to his assumption the journalists had been killed under orders. "The Indonesians were engaged in a clandestine operation and the journalists... could expose that."

Jockel told the court that in subsequent months the Indonesian policy of being unresponsive to Australian government efforts to determine the fate of the journalists amounted to a cover-up of the fact they had been deliberately killed.

Jockel informed his minister, Bill Morrison, himself a former diplomat. Morrison told the court this week that his government kept secret its knowledge of the deaths for five days for fear of upsetting its intelligence network in Indonesia.

Under cross-examination, Morrison said he was briefed on October 16, 1975, by Jockel "that Balibo had been overrun".

"There had been heavy fighting and that four Australian journalists were missing or had not been accounted for. That was a shock to me because that was the first I had heard of Australian journalists being in Timor, let alone in Balibo," he said.

Morrison decided not to take the information to Whitlam because the Prime Minister was consumed with a crisis in domestic politics. On October 14, 1975, Rex Connor, then Minister for Minerals and Energy, was forced to resign, and, a day later, Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser threatened to block Supply.

When his turn to give evidence came Whitlam said he knew nothing about the deaths of the journalists until five days after they were killed. He said he was not informed of the deaths in Balibo until a meeting with Defence and Foreign Affairs officials on the morning of October 21, 1975.

The 90-year-old former prime minister said he could not remember seeing several intelligence cables that had been brought up as evidence earlier in the inquest. He told the court he did not recall seeing cables that indicated the Indonesian military was planning an incursion into East Timor or that the newsmen had been executed on government orders.

He said he expected to be given all the cables received and sent by Australia's then ambassador in Jakarta, Richard Woolcott, and said there was no reason for intelligence officers to withhold information.

"I believe I got all the cables," he said. "If anything came into my office or my department, they certainly would give it to me."

He said he did not recall seeing a cable sent to the embassy in Jakarta on October 13 indicating an Indonesian operation was to begin on October 15, including Balibo. He also said he did not recollect seeing a cable from Woolcott on October 15 indicating 4000 Indonesian troops dressed as anti-Fretilin forces would be used in the operation.

However, Whitlam did say that he had warned one of the journalists, Greg Shackleton, not to go to East Timor, in a conversation some weeks before at Channel 7's Melbourne studio. "I made it very plain to him that he and his colleagues should not go ... I warned him twice and he didn't seem to be deterred," he said.

Whitlam said that it was only after Shackleton's death, as well as those of Peters, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Tony Stewart, that he learnt the journalist had ignored his advice.

"I assumed that Shackleton would take notice of my warnings to him. I assumed he would tell his colleagues. It would be very irresponsible of him if he did not and he would be culpable," Whitlam said.

This evidence angered Shirley Shackleton, Greg's widow. Speaking outside the court, she described the evidence as "despicable" and accused Whitlam of attempting to discredit her late husband.

She said Shackleton had received no such warning not to visit East Timor. "This is an attempt to make Greg look like an idiot," she said. "It's so extraordinary that half the time I think I must have made it up."

Gough kept in dark on newsmen's death

The Advertiser - May 9, 2007

Belinda Tasker, Paul Mulvey, Sydney – Gough Whitlam's defence minister admits he concealed secret details from the prime minister about the deaths of five Australian newsmen in East Timor in 1975.

Mr Whitlam and his former defence minister Bill Morrison were star witnesses in Sydney yesterday at the inquest into the death of cameraman Brian Peters, who was killed along with four colleagues in the border town of Balibo 32 years ago.

Sitting in the witness box at Glebe Coroner's Court, a calm Mr Whitlam said he knew nothing about the journalists' deaths until five days after they were shot. He also told the court he was confident he had seen all secret intelligence about the incident.

However, Mr Morrison revealed that while he was shocked when a top spy chief told him the journalists were feared dead within hours of them being shot on October 16, 1975, he didn't tell Mr Whitlam.

He also knew in the days before the shootings about Indonesia's plan to send troops into East Timor but kept Mr Whitlam in the dark. Asked by NSW deputy state coroner Dorelle Pinch if he told Mr Whitlam after October 16 about the journalists, Mr Morrison replied, "No".

He said around that time Mr Whitlam was dealing with controversies surrounding a ministerial resignation amid the fallout of the so-called Khemlani loans affair and a threat by opposition leader Malcolm Fraser to block the supply of legislation in the Senate. "I think the prime minister had enough problems on his hands," Mr Morrison told the court. "And it was on the pain of death to go anywhere near his office at that stage."

Official reports have said that Mr Peters and his colleagues Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Tony Stewart were killed in crossfire between Indonesian and Fretilin troops.

But the inquest has heard evidence they were deliberately killed by Indonesian soldiers. Dressed in a navy blue suit, white shirt and dark-coloured tie, Mr Whitlam said he did not know about the deaths until early October 21, 1975.

"Officials from the departments of defence and foreign affairs told me in my office that in Indonesian military traffic that had been intercepted by the Defence Signals Division was a voice communication in Timor which said there were four white bodies in Balibo," he said.

Mr Whitlam said the fact he was in Sydney and Melbourne on October 18-19 and unable to access a secure phone line may have prevented intelligence staff from contacting him earlier.

Questioned for almost three hours, the 90-year-old Labor elder statesman also could not remember seeing several intelligence cables indicating Indonesia planned an incursion into East Timor in mid-October or that the newsmen were executed on orders.

Outside the court, relatives of the journalists expressed disappointment at Mr Whitlam's testimony. Mr Shackleton's widow Shirley branded Mr Whitlam "despicable".

"Officials from the departments of defence and foreign affairs told me in my office that in Indonesian military traffic that had been intercepted by the Defence Signals Division was a voice communication in Timor which said there were four white bodies in Balibo.

Faulty memories of the Balibo Five

Canberra Times - May 10, 2007

Former prime minister Gough Whitlam has always prided himself on his grasp of history. But on one subject, the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, and specifically the deaths of five Australian journalists at Balibo on October 16, 1975, his recall of detail has been elusive.

Whitlam has always said he does not recall seeing an intelligence cable dated October 13, 1975 that warned of an Indonesian military operation in East Timor on October 15, and that Balibo township had been targeted in the attack, and says he was only advised about the deaths five days later an account he has maintained for 32 years.

The version of the events in Balibo supported publicly by the Whitlam government is that the five died after being caught in the crossfire of the Indonesian invasion.

However, witnesses assert they were executed by Indonesian soldiers on the orders of an officer, Yunus Yosfia, who later became information minister.

Despite official government inquiries and investigations supporting the first hypothesis, the deaths of the Balibo Five continue to be the subject of speculation, with many people accusing the Whitlam government of covered up knowledge of the invasion to protect diplomatic ties with Indonesia. It was in the hope of resolving the long-running dispute about what happened to the five men that the family of news cameraman Brian Peters sought an inquest to which Whitlam was called to give testimony this week.

It is the first time Whitlam has been publicly questioned about his knowledge of the invasion and the circumstances of the men's deaths, and though he demonstrated sound recall of other events from around that time, he professed only sketchy memories of possible cables from the Australian embassy in Jakarta detailing plans for the Balibo attack.

He told counsel for the Peters family John Stratton, SC, that he could not recall any details of intelligence warning of the attack, but could recall vividly the briefing he'd received on October 21 of an intercepted Indonesian radio message that mentioned "four white bodies" at Balibo not because the news was shocking news but because such radio intercepts were rare.

Whitlam's defence minister at the time, Bill Morrison, did see the October 13 cablegram warning of the attack on Balibo, and told the inquest he'd assumed Whitlam had also received the advice. However, he said he had never verified that assumption, as Whitlam "had enough problems on his hands, and it was on pain of death to go anywhere near his office at that stage".

A crisis involving then minister for minerals and energy Rex Connor, and threats by opposition leader Malcolm Fraser to block supply were indeed a distraction for the government. But it beggars belief that knowledge of an impending act of aggression by Australia's largest neighbour should have gone unnoticed or unheeded by the prime minister, or that news of the deaths of five Australians in East Timor was not brought to his notice immediately.

The month before, Whitlam apparently was prescient enough to warn one of those killed, TV reporter Greg Shackleton, not to go to East Timor a warning Shackleton's widow disputes was ever given.

There is a possible explanation for the apparent vacuum around Whitlam regarding information and intelligence on the invasion and the deaths at Balibo one that Morrison himself articulated at the inquest. The Government waited five days before revealing what had happened to lessen the chance of exposing its intelligence capabilities to the Indonesians.

But there is a more credible explanation for the Whitlam government's unwillingness to confess the extent of its knowledge about the invasion that it tacitly approved of the decision, that it chose to ignore the Balibo deaths in the interests of maintaining close relations with Indonesia, and that it became locked into rigid self-denial out of a refusal to acknowledged that the invasion had been a mistake. That government mindset survived Whitlam's departure, and indeed lasted up until John Howard successfully pressed Indonesian president B.J.Habibie to allow the East Timorese a vote of self-determination.

Whitlam was chief barracker for the view that the relationship with Indonesia was too important to be put at risk by lesser issues. He believed mini-states were an invitation to Balkanisation, and saw to it that Australia's policy of support for self-determination for East Timor was changed to advocacy for its integration with Indonesia.

Although Whitlam never condoned military intervention, having cuddled up to president Suharto and having made such a strong case for integration, he could not retreat without considerable loss of face.

National security considerations will continue to stall attempts to uncover the truth about Australia's complicity in the events of October 1975. And the continued willingness of Whitlam and others to turn a blind eye to what happened at Balibo and elsewhere in East Timor testifies reinforces the fact that this was a shameful episode in Australia's diplomatic history.

Newsmen 'killed in cover-up'

The Advertiser (Australia) - May 10, 2007

Janet Fife-Yeomans, Sydney – The former head of Australia's spy network has revealed he never had any doubt Indonesian forces deliberately killed five young Australian newsmen in a "cover- up".

Gordon Jockel, who led the Joint Intelligence Organisation, said he had always assumed the newsmen were shot dead in Balibo so they could not expose the clandestine border raids by Indonesia into East Timor.

He told the inquest into the newsmen's deaths the tragedy could have been avoided – if Australia's intelligence agencies had spoken to each other.

He told Glebe Coroners Court that while all the facts that could have saved their lives on October 16, 1975, were known, no single agency pulled them together.

Former prime minister Gough Whitlam had warned one of the newsmen, Channel 7 reporter Greg Shackleton, not to go to East Timor. Australia's then ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Woolcott, had sent cables to the then federal government before the killings saying Indonesian raids on the area were imminent.

And among the 30 years of secrets uncovered during the inquest is the fact that intelligence radio intercepts of Indonesian military radio traffic confirmed the Indonesians knew the newsmen were in the Balibo area before they attacked the town.

Mr Jockel blamed divisiveness and isolation between government departments for the information not being shared.

Mr Shackleton, 27, Channel 7 cameraman Gary Cunningham, 27, sound recordist Tony Stewart, 21, Channel 9 cameraman Mr Peters, 29, and reporter Malcolm Rennie, 28, were killed.

"It seems to me that when you have a crisis of this nature, our authorities need to be more flexible," said Mr Jockel, now retired.

Arndt shared insights of rare social benefit

The Australian - May 9, 2007

P.P. McGuinness – The coronial inquiry into the 1975 deaths of the five journalists in Balibo, East Timor, is an interesting exercise in raking over old controversies – or should be. So far it seems to be yet another of the many politicised attacks on Indonesia which have characterised this issue from the start. Yesterday, the prime minister at the time, Gough Whitlam, appeared to defend yet again his own and his government's response to, and knowledge of, what happened.

In a word, unlike many of his decisions in government, this seems to have been one of Whitlam's most sensible. The truth about East Timor, then and now, has never been in favour among the political Left, which in this matter includes the media and much of the Catholic Church. It is still not clear exactly what happened and why at Balibo, but there appears to have been a good deal of foolhardiness by the journalists who died.

One of the great modern Australian analysts of Indonesia was Heinz Arndt (he died in May 2002, at the age of 87), who was also a keen observer of events in East Timor subsequent to the Indonesian invasion and annexation of 1975. Unfortunately he, like many genuinely knowledgeable witnesses of these events, was not only subjected to persistent vilification for refusing to accept the fashionable version of events, but is no longer available to bear witness.

So I was fascinated the other day to come across a letter which he wrote to me dated December 21, 1994, commenting on an article which I had written on the subject.

The crucial paragraph of the letter reads: "Some weeks after news came of the death of the five Australian journalists, Mick Shann [a distinguished Australian diplomat and ambassador to Indonesia] rang me with the following story: The previous day, a middle-aged man called on him, just arrived from Darwin. He had been in a Darwin pub when he encountered the five journalists, excitedly telling him how they were going to hit the headlines. To get as close to the frontline as possible, they were going to put on Fretilin uniforms. (We were told the Indonesian military had dressed them in Fretilin uniforms after they had been killed. It also became known that they had explicit instructions from their head offices not to get near the fighting.) Mick told me the informant was prepared to confirm the story in a statutory declaration. Mick asked me what he should do. We discussed the pros and cons but in the end decided not to go public since the press and activists would turn it against the department [of External Affairs] and Mick."

There is no doubt that the Indonesian army acted brutally, then and afterwards. But Arndt's comments on East Timor subsequent to 1975 served to dispel the myth beloved of the activists that under Indonesian rule the province suffered famine and deprivation. In fact, by the time of independence it was far better off than it had ever been under Portuguese rule, and so far arguably than under the regime which has followed independence. And its social services and education system were far superior to anything the Catholic Church had allowed when it controlled these areas. The events of independence unfortunately, with fault on both sides, destroyed a good deal of this beneficial Indonesian legacy.

But Arndt is no longer there to act as an honest analyst of these matters, in the face of abuse and denigration from those with a political axe to grind in Australia – sometimes referred to as the war party against Indonesia. (They are still peddling a similar line about West Papua.)

What led to my referring to this letter was a reading of a new book on Heinz Arndt's life and work, Arndt's Story (ANU E Press and Asia Pacific Press, by Peter Coleman, Selwyn Cornish and Peter Drake).

This is a detailed account of Arndt's life and work prior to and particularly since his arrival in Australia in 1946, to a lectureship in economics at the University of Sydney. He had behind him a term in an internment camp (he was originally from Germany), and a distinguished first publication, Economic Lessons of the 1930s.

In due course he became a professor first at the old Canberra University College and then at the Australian National University. At first a socialist and adherent of Keynesian economics, he developed intellectually and professionally to a position closer to that of Milton Friedman, partly through his earlier specialisation in monetary economics: he was the author of what became for many years the standard work in the area, The Australian Trading Banks (1957 and many reprints), and many other books and articles.

But his greatest contribution to Australian economic life came from his interest in development economics and our near neighbours. Early on he realised how important Indonesia was for Australia and he became a leading scholar of that country's economy, thus no doubt earning the enmity of those who thought the future had to be socialist (they began as fans of the Sukarno regime and the Indonesian Communist Party), and the scholars who wanted to preserve traditions in aspic at the expense of the welfare of the people.

He founded and largely wrote for years in the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, which had world significance as the main English language publication in this area.

Thus the ANU became an important centre for the study of Indonesia, as well as of other countries of interest to Australia. Arndt's students have continued to have great influence in these matters, and so have contributed much to Australia's understanding of its region.

This account of Arndt's life and work contains much that will mainly interest academic bureaucrats, but it is a rare portrait of one of our great immigrants who became a benefactor of his new country. Would that more of our economists (not to mention sociologists, anthropologists, etc) were of such social utility.

He was also for years a co-editor (with Coleman) of Quadrant but severed his connection with the magazine when it had an episode of protectionism and economic irrationalism under Robert Manne in 1990s.

[P.P. McGuinness is the editor of Quadrant magazine.]

I warned newsman not to go: Whitlam

Sydney Morning Herald - May 8, 2007

Hamish McDonald – The former Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, today denied having any advanced knowledge of the Indonesian attack in East Timor in which five Australian newsmen were killed in 1975.

Mr Whitlam also revealed he had twice warned the Channel Seven journalist, Greg Shackleton, not to go to East Timor.

Mr Whitlam insisted the first news he was given about the deaths came from a briefing by defence and foreign affairs department officials on October 21, 1975 – five days after the attack.

He said he recalled that the officials told him of an intercepted Indonesian radio voice message which mentioned "four white bodies" at Balibo and he had immediately deduced they were Australian journalists.

"I remember the oral report vividly because I was told it was extremely rare for Indonesian radio messages to be intercepted in East Timor and that it was quite an accomplishment for this message to be plucked out of the airwaves," he said.

Later in a summary of Mr Whitlam's evidence in a closed session, the Deputy State Coroner, Dorelle Pinch, said Mr Whitlam had been told by the officials "they assumed they had received this message because an Indonesian had panicked and had broken radio silence in order to convey this message".

Under questioning, Mr Whitlam said he had never seen any intelligence suggesting the Indonesians had been following the five newsmen from Channel Nine and Channel Seven or indicating any intention to kill them.

Mr Whitlam said he had met the Channel Seven reporter, Greg Shackleton, who was among the dead, twice in September that year and been told of his plans to take a team into East Timor.

He told the court he had twice warned Mr Shackleton not to go to East Timor. "I warned him the Australian government had no way of protecting him or his colleagues," he said.

Mr Whitlam said despite his warning to Mr Shackleton, he presumed the "four white bodies" in Balibo had been those of the Channel Seven journalist and his team. He said Mr Shackleton should have conveyed his warning to his colleagues.

"I assumed Greg Shackleton would have taken notice of my warnings; I assumed he would have warned his colleagues," Mr Whitlam told the court. "It would have been very irresponsible if he didn't; then he would be culpable."

Shirley Shackleton, the reporter's widow, was among a small group of bereaved family members in the packed courtroom of the NSW Coroners Court at Glebe to hear Mr Whitlam testify.

Mr Whitlam arrived via a back entrance and had already been assisted into the witness box when the inquest hearing opened at 10am. He was occasionally lost for memories of names and events and referred often to written material.

He was asked by John Stratton SC, counsel for the family of the dead Channel Nine cameraman Brian Peters, whether the intelligence service had ever withheld material from his government.

Mr Whitlam answered "no" in apparent surprise, but then was asked why he had sacked the then head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Bill Robertson, later on October 21, 1975.

"Robertson was sacked by me over misleading me about Chile," he said, apparently referring to the ASIS role in overthrowing the left-wing Chilean President Salvador Allande in 1973. "He had not told me we had people in our embassy in Santiago in Chile."

Whitlam 'despicable'

Outside the court, Shirley Shackleton described Mr Whitlam's evidence as "bizarre" and said his evidence had been of little value to the inquest because he claimed he could not remember vital details.

She also attacked Mr Whitlam over his claims that he had warned her husband twice in September 1975 that the Australian government could not protect him if he went to East Timor.

"I just think he is despicable," Mrs Shackleton told reporters. "He is totally despicable. Dead men can't tell stories so it's left to their poor old wives to do it for them."

Mrs Shackleton said she also doubted Mr Whitlam's claims that he was not told about the journalists' deaths until five days after they were shot dead on October 16, 1975. "It doesn't make sense," she said. "If I had been him, I would have sacked his whole intelligence department."

Right to know the truth

East Timor's Prime Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, said the families of the journalists have a right to know the truth about the incident.

"We will see whether Australia knew anything about it or not, but the most important thing is that the people know the truth," Mr Ramos Horta said. "[All] these years after these young, brave journalists died, the families relatives and friends should be able to know the truth of what happened."

Mr Ramos Horta was speaking ahead of tomorrow's presidential election in East Timor, where he is one of two candidates vying to become the tiny nation's head of state. – With AAP

Phone operator tells of hearing Balibo death details

Australian Associated Press - May 2, 2007

Sydney – A former telephone operator has told an inquest she overheard details about the fatal shooting of five Australian- based newsmen in East Timor in 1975.

Vicky Burchill-Hunt told the inquest into the death of Brian Peters, one of the five men killed at Balibo, that she listened in to a phone call from Dili to a reporter in Melbourne 32 years ago.

Mrs Burchill-Hunt, a telephonist at the former Telecom international telephone exchange in Sydney, had connected a man calling from Dili to a reporter at Melbourne newspaper The Age in mid-October 1975, around the time the five journalists were shot dead.

While checking to see if the two men were connected properly, Mrs Burchill-Hunt overheard the man from Dili say: "The five newsmen that were travelling with Fretilin, I saw them shot. They were lined up against a wall and they were shot."

Mrs Burchill-Hunt said the caller also mentioned "the Indonesians", leading her to believe the five were killed by Indonesian soldiers.

When she went home that night, she told her partner to watch the news because she expected "something big" after what she had heard in the phone call. But Mrs Burchill-Hunt said nothing appeared in the news that night or for days afterwards about the fate of the five journalists.

Mr Peters was killed along with four of his colleagues at Balibo on October 16, 1975, during the invasion of the former Portuguese territory by Indonesian forces. Official government reports said the newsmen were killed in crossfire between Indonesian troops and Fretilin, the Timorese resistance movement, but several East Timorese witnesses have told the inquest the men were murdered.

Mrs Burchill-Hunt, who gave part of her evidence to Glebe Coroner's Court in a closed session, said she had decided to contact police recently to tell them about the phone conversation she overheard.

"It's bothered me, and bothered me that the families (of the newsmen) didn't know," she said. The inquest is continuing.

Balibo Five inquest's new claim of Indonesian brutality

The Advertiser (Australia) - May 2, 2007

Belinda Tasker, Sydney – The Balibo Five were shot by Indonesian military chiefs after trying to surrender, and had their blood smeared on a painting of an Australian flag, a coronial inquest has heard.

A former East Timorese citizen made the stunning claims as the inquest into the death of Brian Peters, one of five Australian- based newsmen killed at Balibo, resumed yesterday after a two- month break.

The five were shot at Balibo in East Timor on October 16, 1975, during the invasion of the former Portuguese territory by Indonesian forces.

Antonio Sarmento, who now lives in Queensland, testified that an Indonesian journalist who saw the killings had told him of the incident. Mr Sarmento said the journalist had travelled by helicopter with Colonel Dadin Kalbuadi, who commanded Indonesia's border troops, from Batugade to Balibo early on October 16.

"He said when the (Indonesian military) regional commanders arrived in Balibo, the five journalists raised their hands and they told them 'we are Australian journalists' and then they just made like a brief inquiry and then they shot them," Mr Sarmento told Sydney's Glebe Coroner's Court.

"He told us that one of the soldiers took the blood of one of them and painted it on an Australian flag (painted on the side of a house the newsmen had been staying in at Balibo)."

Official government reports have said the five newsmen were killed in crossfire between Indonesian forces and Fretilin troops. But East Timorese eyewitnesses have told the inquest the men were executed and their bodies burnt.

Mr Sarmento said the journalist also told him the Indonesians had stripped the newsmen's bodies of their clothes and dressed them in the uniforms of Fretilin soldiers. The bodies were then placed on top of machine guns "to make out they had been killed while fighting", he told the court.

According to the journalist, the five bodies were then placed in a house with mattresses and set alight.

Indonesian voices from the grave at inquest

Sydney Morning Herald - May 2, 2007

Hamish McDonald – They have been conspicuously absent so far, but two of Indonesia's generals yesterday spoke to the Sydney inquest into the deaths of five Australian-based newsmen at Balibo in 1975. Unfortunately, it was far from a live appearance. Both Major-General Benny Murdani, the overall commander of the Indonesian attack on the East Timorese border village, and Major-General Dading Kalbuadi, the ground commander, died some years ago.

Their very guarded answers about the incident were heard thanks to tape recordings by the Herald's former Asia editor David Jenkins, who interviewed both in 1995 and who was the first witness when the Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch reopened the inquest yesterday.

In snatches of interview played to the court, Jenkins prised admissions from Murdani and Kalbuadi that Indonesian special forces under then Captain Yunus Yosfiah had carried out the attack, with local partisans. The now-retired lieutenant-general Yosfiah, who was Indonesia's information minister in 1998-99, has declined Ms Pinch's invitation to appear either in person or by videolink at the inquest.

As Jenkins reported in the Herald in 1995, Murdani said the Indonesians had been aware that Australian reporters were in Balibo and claimed they had been "sending messages to Dili [the East Timorese capital, then held by the pro-independence Fretilin party]" by "field telephone".

However, he insisted the five had died in a "firefight", as did Kalbuadi. Asked about reports that some of the newsmen had been captured and executed, Kalbuadi said: "No, no, that's not right... it [was] really in combat."

But Antonio Sarmento, a former Timorese partisan who was at Kalbuadi's forward headquarters at Batugade, about 12 kilometres from Balibo, around the time of the attack, said the Indonesian forces intended to kill the journalists.

At dinner the night before the October 16 dawn attack, an officer codenamed Captain Fernando had spoken to him and others about the Australians, he told the court. "He said they knew there are some Australian journalists in Balibo, and they try to locate them, to arrest them, or if possible to kill them," Sarmento said.

He said he was told by an Indonesian journalist who visited Balibo with the then lieutenant-colonel Kalbuadi immediately after the attack that the five had been captured trying to surrender, briefly questioned, then killed. Their bodies had been dressed in camouflage uniforms and propped over a machine gun "to make like they were killed while they were fighting".

The inquest continues.

Presidential/legislative elections

East Timorese parties prepare for June 30 vote

Green Left Weekly - May 30, 2007

Jon Lamb – Amidst allegations of intimidation and politically orchestrated violence in the wake of East Timor's recent presidential election, political parties are preparing for the June 30 legislative election. The ruling party Fretilin, which won a majority of seats in the 2001 constituent assembly election, is facing the prospect of a significantly reduced representation in parliament.

If the voting pattern from the presidential election is repeated (around 30% support for Fretilin), Fretilin could well end up as an opposition party or part of a coalition in the new legislature. This would be a major setback for the party, which has been unable to fully recover from the violence that erupted in May-June 2006 and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry's finding that senior Fretilin ministers were implicated in the arming of civilian militia.

A major test for Fretilin in the lead-up to and after the June 30 ballot will be how well it can consolidate its members and support base and counter the growing influence of its political opponents.

Fourteen parties will contest the ballot, with the formal campaigning period running from May 29 to June 28. One of the newest parties, the National Congress of Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) headed by former president Xanana Gusmao, is still an unknown quantity. CNRT was the acronym for the National Council of Timorese Resistance, the umbrella body that encompassed most of the organisations that campaigned for independence during the Indonesian occupation (and also led by Gusmao). According to ABC Radio, Fretilin secretary-general and former prime minister Mari Alkatiri described the use of the initials as "cynical" and "opportunistic".

Gusmao played a prominent role during the presidential campaign in support of successful candidate Jose Ramos Horta (who stood as an independent), appearing at Horta's campaign rallies and meetings. The electoral success of the new CNRT will in part be a measure of Gusmao's popularity. Gusmao has also come under criticism for his role in last year's crisis and, more generally, as part of the older layer of the political elite who are seen as detached from the plight of the East Timorese masses and who rely heavily on the historical legacy of their role in the independence struggle. On the final day of the CNRT founding congress on April 30, Gusmao stated: "CNRT has already liberated our nation and the existence of CNRT now is to liberate our people from poverty and injustice."

Other significant players are the Democratic Party (PD) and the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT). After Fretilin, these two parties received the highest votes in the 2001 ballot and both polled strongly in the first presidential round, including in districts where Fretilin previously had strong support. The PD polled 19.8 % (up from 8.72% in 2001) and the ASDT received 14.39% (almost double the 7.84% it received in 2001). The PD has been strongly critical of Fretilin policies and its base appears to be mainly former student activists and a younger layer of intellectuals and NGO activists. The PD's leader, Fernando de Araujo – or Lasama, as he is commonly known – was imprisoned for seven years by the Suharto dictatorship. Lasama has stated that the PD would be open to forming an alliance or coalition in the new parliament, but did not elaborate with whom or on what terms.

The ASDT, led by Francisco Xavier do Amaral (a former Fretilin leader and first president of the republic in 1975), has entered into a coalition with the Social Democratic Party, which received 8.86% in the first presidential round.

The only socialist party to contest the June 30 ballot is the Socialist Party of Timor (PST), which is campaigning on the need for the development of the agricultural sector and the empowerment of East Timorese people at the local level of production. The PST has maintained and helped support a number of cooperatives since 1999 with very few resources, and hopes to improve its representation in the parliament from the one seat it presently holds. A May 19 article in the East Timorese paper Suara Timor Lorosae reported that the PST will run five candidates, including its current MP Pedro da Costa, on the CNRT's party list.

Party platforms and policies in most instances are yet to be articulated in full, and most of the coverage to date in the East Timorese media has consisted of rhetorical swipes between opposing parties or accusations of intimidation and politically motivated violence during and since the presidential campaign.

Fretilin issued several media releases during May citing incidents of attacks upon Fretilin members and stating the involvement of PD members and Horta supporters. A May 16 statement alleged: "Our members are being attacked and intimidated in Dili district, Ermera and Liquica districts west of Dili, the enclave district of Oecussi in West Timor, and Baucau and Viqueque districts east of Dili, over the last few days." Fretilin polled poorly in Oecussi, Ermera, Liquica and Dili in the presidential rounds.

On May 21, Fretilin issued a statement claiming that intimidation in Liquica was being conducted by supporters of Horta and was "organised by renegade former army sergeant Vicente de Conceicao (aka Railos). A United Nations investigation recommended Railos be prosecuted over multiple killings during a Railos-led attack on an army barracks in May last year." The statement also referred to a preliminary report released by the European Union Election Observer Mission (EUEOM) on May 11, which noted Railos served as "Liquicia district coordinator for Jose Ramos Horta's campaign for the presidency".

The EUEOM report also noted, however, questionable activity by Fretilin members and supporters. The report states: "In the two districts of Ermera and Liquica, [Fretilin presidential candidate] Lu-Olo and Horta, respectively, did not dissociate themselves from local figures allegedly involved in voter intimidation and in tensions with the opposing side. The EU EOM is concerned with the impunity granted to Antonio dos Santos, alias "55" ("Lima Lima"), whose hard-line pro-FRETILIN group has been linked with repeated cases of violent intimidation in Ermera district." It also states that in Dili, "FRETILIN made no secret of its use of Fuan Domin ("Bleeding Heart"), a group with known links with martial arts group PSHT to carry out 'door-to-door' campaigning".

The report referred to other activity of a dubious nature: "Allegations of vote-buying by both sides emerged from most districts and grew in volume in the last days of the campaign. Food aid earmarked for Bobonaro was discovered at the private home of a martial arts group leader, sparking suspicions of politically motivated distribution by the government. In a separate incident, 5000 US dollars and homemade weapons were found in a truck accompanying a FRETILIN convoy transporting government ministers and Lu-Olo supporters. Conflicting responses from persons present in the convoy raised suspicions of illegal financing of individual village chiefs and polling staff members in Ermera." The National Election Commission found that there was insufficient evidence to investigate further.

Other than the incidents reported in Ermera and Liquica, the report's preliminary conclusions stated: "Elsewhere, the EU EOM did not find convincing evidence of threats, and reported throughout the country no proven instance of retaliation against voters. The EU EOM found no convincing evidence to support allegations of massive vote buying."

On May 20, fighting between rival groups in Dili resulted in one person dead, several injured and 42 arrested by UN police. Fretilin issued a press release the following day claiming that the fighting was between PD and ASDT supporters and that the international media was falsely accusing Fretilin of involvement. However interim prime minister and senior Fretilin minister Estanislau da Silva was reported by Reuters on May 22 as saying that this and other clashes mostly involved drunken youth and had nothing to do with politics. Da Silva confirmed that security would be strengthened prior to the polls, stating: "We will not let criminals roam free. Those involved in criminal activities should be arrested and brought to justice."

Other factors yet to come into play include the push through parliament of new legislation affecting energy resources, especially the gas and oil reserves in the Timor Sea. The use and distribution of income from the national petroleum fund is likely to be one of considerable debate.

Four people injured in East Timor violence

Reuters - May 30, 2007

Tito Belo, Dili – Four people were injured on Wednesday when a grenade exploded during gang fighting in East Timor's capital as campaigning for next month's parliamentary elections got underway, police and hospital staff said.

Police fired tear gas and warning shots to separate two groups of youth fighting near the headquarters of the ruling Fretilin party in Dili. An official at the National Hospital said one of those injured was in a coma.

Police operations chief Mateus Fernandes said 13 people were arrested after the fighting. "Police are still investigating the cause of the fighting. I cannot tell you what triggered the fighting for the moment," Fernandes told reporters.

Separately, more than 20 houses have been burnt and almost 300 people have fled their homes in Ermera district over the past week in violence related to the June 30 legislative elections, Zudencio de Jesus of the district police said.

"In last week's incident, 10 houses were burnt by members of political parties and another 12 houses were burnt... on Monday evening this week," he said. Hundreds of people, mostly supporters of the ruling Fretilin party, have sought refuge in police stations and churches, the officer said.

Interim Prime Minister Estanislau da Silva said the violence was the work of people who wanted to intimidate voters.

Outgoing President Xanana Gusmao will run for the more hands-on post of prime minister in the parliamentary polls. Campaigning for the elections kicked off on Tuesday.

"Irresponsible people in that district want to destabilise the nation and prevent people from participating in the elections," da Silva said. "We will take concrete action to strengthen security so that the elections can take place peacefully and democratically," he said.

Gang clashes, often blamed on jobless and drunken youth, break out sporadically in East Timor and fighters are often armed with machetes and poisonous steel darts.

Divisions in East Timor's security forces led to riots last year that spun into deadly violence in which about 30 people died. Foreign troops were sent in to quell the violence.

Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1975 after long-time colonial power Portugal had set it free. East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a violence-marred referendum in 1999. It became fully independent in 2002 after a period of UN administration.

East Timor swears in Ramos-Horta as new president

Reuters - May 20, 2007

Tito Belo, Dili – Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor's newly elected president, took the oath of office at a simple ceremony in Dili on Sunday, succeeding Xanana Gusmao as leader of the young nation.

Ramos-Horta, who spent years abroad as a spokesman for East Timor's struggle for independence from Indonesian occupation, took nearly 70 percent of the vote in the May 9 election run-off.

His victory has raised hopes of greater stability in a nation still struggling to heal divisions five years after it won independence from Indonesia.

Ramos-Horta, 57, vowed to guarantee East Timor's stability at the swearing-in, held at the heavily guarded national parliament building. The two-hour ceremony was attended by parliament members, diplomats and Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

"I will... obey the constitution to guarantee national unity and the stability of the nation," said Ramos-Horta, dressed in a formal jacket. "As a new president... I will follow the steps of outgoing president Xanana Gusmao to realise peoples' dreams... I will find a way to end the crisis in the country."

In a speech delivered in four languages – East Timor's national language Tetum, Portuguese, English and Indonesian – Ramos-Horta urged street gangs to end all violence "because it just destroys the nation".

Violence erupts sporadically in East Timor, but the run-off between Ramos-Horta and parliament chief Francisco Guterres, president of the dominant Fretilin party, went off peacefully.

Clashes between gangs and martial arts groups have erupted recently, but East Timor was calm just before the swearing-in with local and UN police stepping up patrols.

Ramos-Horta took over as prime minister last year from a Fretilin leader who had been blamed for failing to control riots that spun into deadly violence in which some 30 people died.

Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1975 after long-time colonial power Portugal had set it free. Pictures at the time show Ramos- Horta, an anti-colonial journalist and activist under Portuguese rule, as a fatigue-wearing rebel with bushy black hair.

Today, with his short graying hair and spectacles, he has an almost academic air. Although he shares revolutionary roots with the Fretilin party, Ramos-Horta has taken an increasingly independent path and is seen as somewhat more friendly than Fretilin stalwarts to international investment and the West.

Fluent not just in Tetum but in Portuguese, Spanish, French and English, Ramos-Horta lobbied foreign leaders to highlight East Timor's plight under Jakarta's often brutal rule. He won the Nobel Prize in 1996 and returned to East Timor in 1999 after two decades abroad.

East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a violence- marred referendum in 1999. It became fully independent in 2002 after a period of UN administration.

New East Timor PM sworn in

Agence France Presse - May 19, 2007

Dili – Estanislau Aleixo da Silva was sworn in Saturday as East Timor's interim prime minister, succeeding Jose Ramos Horta, who was elected president of the tiny state in a landslide earlier this month.

Aleixo da Silva, a member of the ruling Fretilin party, will only serve until next month's parliamentary elecitons, in which outgoing president Xanana Gusmao is widely tipped to become the next prime minister.

"I feel honoured that I am trusted by my party as well as by President Xanana to hold the post of prime minister," he told reporters after a ceremony at the presidential palace, presided over by Gusmao.

"I do not want to make many promises as it's only for a brief period. I only want to promise you that I'll work hard to create good conditions for the next election, to enable Timorese people to exercise their voting rights."

Aleixo da Silva previously served as deputy prime minister and agriculture minister He confirmed rumours that foreign minister Luis Guterres had been sacked, without offering further details.

Horta inducted as president as Timor struggles with poverty

Radio Australia - May 19, 2007

Reporter: Anne Barker

Elizabeth Jackson: A special ceremony will be held in East Timor today to swear in the country's second president, Jose Ramos Horta, who replaces Xanana Gusmao.

Under the Constitution the new president must take office on the anniversary of independence. It's five years today since East Timor became an independent nation.

But is East Timor better off today, with all the turmoil of the past year, than it was under Indonesian rule?

Our Correspondent Anne Barker has been back and forth to East Timor since the latest trouble began, and she filed this report.

Anne Barker: Several times during the recent campaign, East Timor's newly elected and long-divorced president Jose Ramos- Horta was asked by reporters, "Who will be East Timor's first lady if you win?"

And his reply each time, in his hesitant, heavily accented English was: "The first lady will be all the impoverished women of East Timor".

In a country of now one million people, where very few locals live in any real comfort, that's a lot of first ladies, and it's a reminder of just how poor this country is.

Since May last year I've spent nine separate weeks in East Timor, yet still the first thing that hits me every time I land in Dili is the overwhelming poverty.

The contrast between clean, civilised, first-world Darwin, just one-and-a-half hours away by plane, and impoverished East Timor couldn't be greater.

And I've seen plenty of poverty before. Over 20 years I've travelled widely through Asia, from remote villages in Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam, through Nepal and India, to many of the poorest parts of Indonesia.

In the end, East Timor is by far the least developed country I've seen, vastly less developed than Indonesia, itself a third world country. The capital Dili is hardly a city at all by our Western standards. Barely a single building is higher than two storeys.

All over town, entire buildings and hundreds of houses are trashed, burnt out, dilapidated, derelict. The human signs of poverty too are visible on every main street. Seemingly everywhere, young men in the prime of their lives sit around with literally nothing to do.

Far more people are unemployed here than in work, so it's hardly surprising that so many teenagers and young men engage in the vandalism and street violence that has wracked East Timor for more than a year.

Outside the capital too, life is simpler, but no easier. Families live in flimsy, bamboo huts, often scraping by on a tiny plot of vegetables, or a handful of chickens or a single cow, and everywhere those ubiquitous derelict buildings.

I'm constantly shocked at how many of these empty shells have been left like this, not just since last year's violence, but for eight years since the Indonesians trashed East Timor and left.

And I often wonder as I travel around, what would East Timor be now, if it had never voted for independence, and instead elected to stay part of Indonesia? Would things be better than this, as Indonesia makes its own democratic and economic progress? Would there be new roads, more jobs, development?

Would the East Timorese, given the chance, turn back the clock, if they'd known then the violence and poverty they'd endure years after winning their freedom? I don't know.

But for all the poverty and violence, the East Timorese are a stoic and resilient people, uncomplaining, almost happy in the face of adversity.

And perhaps the recent election offers one small insight. Well over 80 per cent of East Timorese voted not once, but twice, in the space of a month for a new president. Thousands of people waited in queues from seven o'clock in the morning to exercise their democratic right.

Many walked for miles to get to the nearest polling booth, and this in a country where voting is not compulsory.

It seems to me, the East Timorese value their right much more than the average Australian. And for most, poverty is still a small price for freedom.

Elizabeth Jackson: Anne Barker with that report.

Socialists responds to presidential election

Max Lane - May 16, 2007

[Max Lane spoke to Avelino Coelho, general secretary of the Socialist Party of Timor (PST) about East Timor's presidential election, the second round of which was held on May 9.]

Francisco Guterres Lu'Olo, the candidate of Fretilin, the party that currently holds a majority in the parliament and the cabinet, won around 30% of the vote. In the general elections in 2001, Fretilin won over 60% of the vote. The collapse in the party's vote, according to Coelho, is connected to the failure of the Fretilin government during its term of office since 2001 to deliver any progress in the socioeconomic arena.

Coelho said: "There has been a virtual ignoring of agriculture. The PST has had meetings with the government putting forward proposals that would advance production in agriculture. Our cooperatives, in the several villages where they are operating, are already doing that. The government just ignored all proposals. We are now more and more unnecessarily dependent on imports from Indonesia." Coelho also emphasised the high level of unemployment as another major grievance.

"In the end, [the PST] decided to support Jose Ramos Horta in the second round of the presidential elections. Of course, we were not giving unconditional support. We won agreement that we could read out our platform at some of Horta's rallies and we had speaking rights at all rallies to put our own views. Horta stated his agreement with the calls we were making for more of Timor's oil and gas income to be spent on helping our farmers increase agricultural production, and on health and education. He stated publicly that he would be a president for the poor and ordinary people."

Meanwhile, he said, Fretilin had defended its policy of minimising public spending, sticking to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank recipe of placing most oil and gas revenue in a long-term investment fund.

Coelho explained that after the presidential election, the PST would be concentrating on registering for the July parliamentary elections and campaigning on its own program. "We have not entered into any coalition with Horta. We will remain independent and continue to campaign for our program. We will be holding Horta to his promises, or we will be an opposition to him also. We received just over 2.5% of the vote in the presidential election first round. We must achieve 3% of the vote to meet the new electoral threshold.

"If we get that 3% or a bit over we may have between 4 and 7 seats in the new parliament, rather than our current one seat. It will be important to have that platform so as to strengthen the struggle over the next period."

Reaching out to the large number of people who are disaffected with Fretilin and came to hear Horta has resulted in new members for the PST, Coelho said. "In one of our base areas, Oesso, we were able to read out our main demands and ideas before Horta spoke and he had to respond." Over the next few days, Coelho explained, "we had delegations coming to the PST office, supporting our platform, and asking to join the party".

In the current climate, he said, it will not be easy to get from 2.5% to 3% or higher, but the PST is "going all out". Asked about the factors working against this, he said the main dynamic now was a desertion of people who had voted for Fretilin in the past to the new party being established by Xanana Gusmao, the incumbent president.

This party will be named the Council for the National Reconstruction of Timor – CNRT, the same initials of the old national liberation organisation headed by Gusmao, the Council for National Resistance of Timor. "We don't know yet exactly what kind of program CNRT will have – we have to wait and see", Coelho said. "What is clear is that Fretilin, lacks any vision of where they want to take the country."

Coelho added: "Fretilin, which was a progressive and revolutionary force in 1975, has now become, under [former prime minister Mari] Alkatiri's and Lu'Olo's leadership, a reactionary force. They seem to want the people to be dependent on them and their government, being uncaring about raising the incomes of the people. It has become a party of the elite."

Coelho also criticised Fretilin for turning to intimidation. "They went in and out of villages threatening people. The PST itself has experienced this in some areas. Yesterday in the village of Gariwai I saw Fretilin activists yelling that if Lu'Olo lost the election they would not allow any traffic to pass on the road between Dili and Viquique. They prefer to threaten the people rather than be concerned at raising the consciousness. They have turned to using gangster elements to terrorise the people."

Worse, he argued, its failure in government, both in the handling of the army in the April 2006 crisis and in the economic area, has deepened the country's dependence on foreigners. "They have become the instruments of foreign interests, imperialist interests." Coelho added that it had been Alkatiri and Lu'Olo who were at the forefront of asking for Australian and international forces into East Timor to get them out of the crisis that they had created. "They dominated the government then, and the parliament, nobody else."

"Through the coming election campaign, and after, the PST must fight to win a hearing among the people and advance an independent program, emphasising the need to develop agriculture and industry, and to involve the people directly in the political and development process, especially through cooperatives."

Ceolho commented that he thought that the international forces, including the Australian forces, had acted in a neutral way during the elections. However, he said, they didn't try to stop the intimidation being carried out by Fretilin's people.

Regarding the current military operations against Major Alfredo Reinado and Fretilin's criticism of a call by Horta during the campaign that the operation against Reinado should be stopped, Coelho said: "For a while now it has been the position of the commission set up to handle security – with representatives from the president of the parliament, the prime minister, the president of East Timor, the UN and the international forces – that the operation should stop if Reinado was willing to [enter into] dialogue. I don't see that Horta was doing anything more than repeating that. This is another case of Fretilin's deceit."

[Max Lane is a lecturer in South-East Asian studies at the University of Sydney. Visit http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/maxlaneintlasia/.]

Ramos Horta triumphs in East Timor elections

Sydney Morning Herald - May 11, 2007

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta has secured a stunning victory in a run-off presidential election, official vote-counting shows. Poll commission spokeswoman Maria Sarmento said Mr Ramos Horta had won about 73 per cent of votes with almost 90 per cent counted.

As counting of Wednesday's voting dragged on yesterday, Mr Ramos Horta told journalists he planned to move quickly to heal deep divisions in the country and would find a way to placate disgruntled soldiers whose sacking last year plunged the country into violent upheaval.

But he declined to declare victory against the ruling Fretilin party's Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres until the final official results are announced next week. "I am very confident of victory but out of respect for the country's culture we will await the official results," Mr Ramos Horta's spokesman said.

Komeg, a coalition of non-government organisations monitoring official counting, said Mr Ramos Horta won 232,590 votes nationwide with the ruling Fretilin party's Mr Guterres getting 97,330.

The result is devastating for Fretilin, which has ruled East Timor since the country of 1 million people gained independence five years ago. The party led by deposed prime minister Mari Alkatiri will now be forced to rethink its campaign strategies before parliamentary elections on June 30.

Mr Guterres, a former freedom fighter, polled poorly even though Fretilin has the largest political machine and the biggest networks in rural villages. Mr Ramos Horta won the second highest number of votes in the first round of voting last month even though he does not have his own political party. He emerged as frontrunner to win the presidency when five non-Fretilin candidates who lost in the first round urged supporters to vote for him on Wednesday.

Xanana Gusmao, another former freedom fighter, who steps down as president on May 20, has formed a party to contest the election against Fretilin, which he blames for violence last year that left scores dead and forced 150,000 people from their homes. The strength of the vote for Mr Ramos Horta, a close ally and friend of Mr Gusmao, indicates Fretilin will struggle to hold power unless it can significantly lift its support at the parliamentary election.

Mr Ramos Horta, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, won 29,526 votes in Dili with Mr Guterres getting only 5965, according to Komeg. He also triumphed in western districts such as Liquica where he won 20,554 votes, Komeg said, compared to Mr Guterres' 2862. Even in Baucau, the country's second largest city, which has been a Fretilin stronghold, Mr Ramos Horta won 10,896 votes with Mr Guterres getting 15,908.

Mr Ramos Horta is likely to push for the United Nations to organise the parliamentary elections after poll monitors complained about the conduct of the presidential rounds of voting.

Atul Khare, head of the UN mission in East Timor, described Wednesday's poll, which was free of violence, as a "very good result" and urged both candidates and their supporters to accept the result.

Almost 3000 UN police and 1000 Australian and New Zealand troops stayed on their highest alert level last night amid fears angry Fretilin supporters may seek violent revenge when they learned Mr Guterres had lost.

The fears grew when three Dili district court judges dismissed an appeal by former interior minister Rogerio Lobato against a 71/2-year jail sentence he received last year. As Fretilin's leaders held crisis talks on the poll result they learned Lobato was on his way to jail to begin the sentence. He had been found guilty of charges including attempted murder that related to last year's violence.

Timor's tense game of two-up

The Australian - May 7, 2007

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Dili – The huge white UN choppers, with their gruffly spoken Russian crews, have delivered hundreds of thousands of ballot papers and sealed boxes across the country; tiny pack ponies are standing by, ready to carry vital electoral materials across rocky streams in the most remote of locations.

Welcome to East Timor, which goes to a second-round run-off presidential election this week after two candidates – Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta, and the ruling Fretilin party's Francisco "Lo Olo" Guterres – emerged from a field of eight in polls a month ago, neither with a clear majority.

Expectations are high that Wednesday's vote will be just as peaceful as April's. Although there has been a steady murmur of gang violence around the capital, Dili, in recent weeks, the 1700-strong UN Policing force (UNPOL) has largely kept a lid on tensions.

The Australian-led International Stabilisation Force, effectively an ad hoc military operating outside of the UN's remit, has also been able to smother any potential firestorms in the districts, including by limiting the influence of fugitive former military policeman Alfredo Alves Reinado.

The actual conduct of the vote is expected to be straightforward and electoral officials are hopeful of a significantly improved performance in ballot counting, compared with the often dismal shambles of a month ago.

Although polling then was an overwhelmingly peaceful and orderly process, the national election commission was unable to provide a credible or consistent running result in the days immediately after polling.

The commission's standing was also undermined by the inexperience of its spokesman, Martinho Gusmao, who publicly backed one candidate – Fernando "Lasama" de Araujo – a week before the vote, then angrily denied his comments had been intended to endorse Mr de Araujo at all.

However, the UN's chief electoral officer, Steven Wagenseil, is confident of a "significant improvement" come Wednesday, after three weeks of intensive retraining of 7500 voting booth officials across the country, as well as close attention being paid to how the electoral commission's senior staff conduct the tabulation process.

"The electoral commission had never done this before, and they're happy to admit they made mistakes," the diplomat said, tactfully.

While keen to emphasise the UN's merely advisory role in the poll, Mr Wagenseil admits that the presidential election this week is in some ways a dry run for a parliamentary vote due on June 30. The test then will be whether Fretilin can cling to power. It holds 55 seats in the 88-seat parliament, short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass legislation, and even that legislative advantage is predicted to shrink at the June poll.

"Right now we're looking at the presidential race and it won't hinge on just one vote," Mr Wagenseil said. "But when it comes to the parliamentary election, with proportional voting, a fraction of the vote could determine whether a party gets one seat, two seats or no seats.

"So you could say that the first round was the test go at it, the second is the chance to polish the process but the parliamentary election is where the government will come from." Despite bitter claims of first-round ballot rigging and low turnout, official figures in fact showed more than 81 per cent of 522,000 registered voters took part, with just over 5 per cent of these votes invalid or blank.

All sides are waiting to see whether Fretilin, with its strong historical ties to East Timor's 1975 declaration of independence from Portugal and ensuing 24-year guerilla war against Indonesia – and a still-powerful grassroots support network – can call on its membership to deliver Mr Guterres the largely symbolic presidential post.

Most losing first-round candidates have directed their supporters to vote for Mr Ramos Horta, with key seats in a possible Horta government – particularly mining and energy, which controls the lucrative oil and gas money flowing into East Timor's $US1billion ($1.2 billion) petroleum fund – the hoped-for quid pro quo. Jostling for favour and a place in the inner circle will only increase after the election, but the general wisdom is that Mr Guterres enters Wednesday's race as the underdog.

Final rallies at the weekend overwhelmingly backed this picture, with Mr Guterres drawing about 500 people to a stump speech in Dili and Mr Ramos Horta attracting an estimated 8000 supporters to an event in the central districts town of Ermera, where his network has been working hard to stoke the fires of anti-Fretilin discontent.

However, Mr Ramos Horta's deal with the devil to keep that support alive could yet come back to haunt him.

His early backing of the Australian-led military campaign to hunt down the renegade Reinado cost him dearly in the central districts, where Democratic Party chairman Mr de Araujo's political capital is built heavily on the labour of Reinado supporters.

Mr Ramos Horta recently, and extravagantly, called off the search for Reinado, saying he preferred dialogue – except that the Australian commander of the International Security Force, Brigadier Mal Rerdon, pointed out that he had received no official order to that effect.

It turned out the statement did not actually come from the Prime Minister's office at all: Mr Ramos Horta, playing a canny game of wedge politics, was hoping the electorate would not notice it was Jose the presidential candidate, not Jose the Prime Minister, who had declared the hunt over.

So long as Mr de Araujo's supporters believe Reinado is no longer a fugitive, Mr Ramos Horta hopes, he will attract their significant bloc of votes. However, the thorny problem of what to do with Reinado almost pales alongside the sharp rifts that still exist in East Timorese society.

The wounds caused by 1999's violent separation from Indonesia remain visible on the heads and limbs of those who escaped crazed machete gangs, and in the psyches of those who fear a return to a riven society that knows no rule of law.

Atul Khare, head of the United Nations mission in East Timor, expects a resumption within weeks of a UN investigation into the 1999 atrocities, which will carry with it the possibility of criminal charges.

However, he is dismissive of the current joint East Timorese- Indonesian Commission for Truth and Friendship, "because the UN cannot support anything which carries with it the possibility of amnesty".

In its latest round of hearings, the toothless commission took evidence at the weekend from General Wiranto, the man in charge of Indonesian forces at the time of the slaughter and the subject previously of recommended war crimes charges.

The general took the "I know nothing" approach on the stand, saying that if any of his men were involved in the violence that claimed thousands of lives, that was not his business.

He blamed the violence on the short amount of time given security forces in the former Indonesian territory to prepare for the September 4, 1999, independence referendum. The vote was proposed by then Indonesian president B.J. Habibie only three months earlier – less than a year after the fall of dictator Suharto and under international pressure, particularly from Australia.

Evidence was in fact discovered after the bloodshed directly pinning responsibility on the Indonesian military, including through its arming and training of the main anti-independence militias.

General Wiranto's evidence at the weekend also suggested complicity – by way of negligence – by the previous UN administration in East Timor in the atrocities, a situation the Secretary-General has been called on to directly address.

"UN silence on this matter would not only assist in denying Indonesia's responsibility for the violence, but would actually perpetrate a grave injustice against the thousands of victims," the New York-based International Centre for Transitional Justice warned at the weekend.

The centre called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to directly rebut General Wiranto's evidence.

However, it would be disingenuous to ignore the general's point entirely – which is that there are deep divisions in East Timorese society, ready and able to be cynically manipulated as part of the political process.

Indeed, in this newly emerging democracy there are those, including some at the very top, who see such manipulation as legitimate tools in the hunt for power.

Such was the lesson, for many, of a 24-year-long fearful existence in the jungles, opposing the brutal Indonesian military machine.

This week's poll, and next month's parliamentary vote, will be a powerful test of whether East Timor's leadership has gone beyond those lessons or remains stuck, in adolescent fascination, in the classroom of angry revolution.

Food more important than East Timor campaign

Agence France Presse - May 6, 2007

Dili – Pius Soares sits idly under a tree in a refugee camp with his friends. Like thousands of East Timorese waiting to return home after last year's deadly violence, he has time on his hands.

How he uses that time does not extend, however, to attending the political rallies staged not far from the camp in Dili, as East Timor's two presidential candidates slug it out ahead of Wednesday's election.

"It is more important for us to look for food," the 34-year-old said. "All we want is that security is re-established by the new president, so we can all return to our homes."

His friend Carlito agreed, adding he was afraid to attend the rallies held by the powerful Fretilin party in case they turned violent. "Not only are we not making any money (by living in the camps), but we also risk dying in vain (by attending)," said Carlito, who gave only one name.

Apathy is running high in the troubled nation ahead of the runoff vote for the presidency, the first since East Timor won independence in 2002 after 24 years of Indonesian occupation.

Colourful posters and banners are plastered all over the capital promoting Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, the current prime minister, and his Fretilin rival Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres.

But their rallies are failing to draw large crowds. "For many, especially in the regions, it is a lack of information about the second round," said Joao Mariano Saldanha, head of the Timor Institute for Development Studies.

"For others it is simply the fact that both candidates are already in the government but have so far failed to take the country out of turmoil."

Just 500 people turned up for a Guterres rally in a field in the capital Saturday, mostly supporters of Fretilin, the resistance movement that fought for independence from Portugal and later Indonesia. "For Dili, this is nothing," EU observer Javier Pomes Ruiz said.

Several hundred people gathered early Sunday on a football field in Dili to hear Ramos-Horta speak. The number grew to more than a thousand by late afternoon as convoys of motorcycles, minibuses and trucks arrived carrying supporters. "He (Ramos-Horta) is the one who can guarantee stability, safety and peace for all people," Foreign Minister Jose Luis Guterres told the crowd.

Pomes Ruiz said the size of the rallies was unlikely to be reflected at the ballot box come polling day. "Most people already made up their minds in the first election," he said of the April 9 poll when thousands queued for hours to cast their votes.

Guterres and Ramos-Horta are contesting the runoff because neither won a majority in the first-round vote.

Tension has been simmering in the country since ethnic violence erupted in May last year, killing 37 people and forcing 150,000 to flee their homes. Several thousand foreign peacekeepers were brought in to restore calm and remain on alert amid fears of unrest.

Soares said that despite his disinterest in the campaign, he would vote on Wednesday in the hope the new president restored security. He and his family of six have been too scared to return home to Audian, a volatile area of Dili, since the violence.

Carlito, who like most other refugees has been unable to work since fleeing to the camp, said job creation was also essential. Asked who they would vote for, they replied in unison: "It's a secret."

Across town at another refugee camp, Anicetto and his friends played cards under the shade of a tarpaulin. They have also refused to attend rallies or listen to the speeches.

"Why should we go to the campaign rallies only to listen to them insulting each other?" asked Anicetto to nods of approval from fellow players.

But they, too, will cast their votes. "I hope, whoever wins, that he will be a good driver in steering this nation," one said. "Like a car, of course the other components count, like the wheel, the engine and the brakes, but if the driver is not good and cannot fix them, then it is futile."

ISF troops intimidate East Timor voters: ruling party

Agence France Presse - May 6, 2007

Dili – East Timor's ruling party Sunday accused foreign peacekeeping troops of a deliberate campaign to upset its chances of winning this week's presidential election.

The Fretilin party claimed several thousand Australian-led troops were intimidating its supporters and trying to disrupt its rallies during canvassing ahead of Wednesday's poll.

"Timor Leste is a sovereign country, no longer under foreign military occupation," party executive Jose Teixeira said, using the tiny country's official name.

"The ISF (International Stabilisation Force) should not be frightening and intimidating an entirely peaceful election gathering."

Foreign troops and police were deployed to East Timor after ethnic violence last year killed 37 people and forced 150,0000 others to flee their homes.

The peacekeepers are guarding against further unrest ahead of Wednesday's runoff vote in the election, the nation's first since it gained independence in 2002 after 24 years of Indonesian occupation.

Fretilin candidate Francisco Guterres and rival Jose Ramos-Horta are contesting the runoff after they won the bulk of the vote in the April 9 election, but not a majority.

Guterres urged his supporters on Sunday to remain calm if he lost the election, amid fears of fresh outbreaks of violence.

"When the results of the vote come out, the people should accept the vote," Guterres told reporters shortly before Fretilin claimed troop intimidation. "If it is the people who chose, then one has to accept the victory and the other his fate," he said.

Guterres held a press conference on the last day of official campaigning as Ramos-Horta staged a rally in a football field in the capital that drew more than a thousand supporters. Ramos- Horta, a Nobel laureate, told reporters afterwards that he hoped to win more than 80 percent of the vote, saying such a commanding victory "can help stabilise the country."

Attending the rally was current president and former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao, who is not seeking reelection to the post, a largely ceremonial role.

Fretilin suggested Sunday that the alleged intimidation by the troops was connected to the Australian government's apparent support for Ramos-Horta.

"We are not convinced that there is no connection between the troops' behaviour and the Australian government's apparent support for Jose Ramos-Horta," said Teixeira, who is also the minister for mining and petroleum.

Teixeira, reading from the statement, said two Fretilin rallies had been disrupted, including one in the southwest city of Ainaro on May 3, when a helicopter landed very close and armed soldiers in full combat gear moved through the crowd. He said the party had sent a protest letter to the head of the troops, Australia's Brigadier Mal Rerden.

There was no immediate comment from Rerden, but he has said in the past that troops were in East Timor at the invitation of the government with the sole purpose of maintaining security after the bloodshed in May last year.

Diplomat versus former fighter in East Timor election

Agence France Presse - May 6, 2007

Bhimanto Suwastoyo, Dili – Two radically different candidates are set to contest Wednesday's East Timor presidential election, with a globe-trotting polyglot pitted against a shy, former guerrilla for the post.

Jose Ramos-Horta, the current prime minister, and rival, former freedom fighter Francisco Guterres, will contest a runoff after they emerged with the bulk of the vote in last month's election, but without a clear majority.

A former journalist and fluent in five languages, Ramos-Horta, 57, is comfortable not only with the world press but diplomats and national leaders. "Bom dia, selamat siang, good morning, bonjour," he often says to mark the start of one of his press conferences.

Regularly seen wearing bow ties, Ramos-Horta spent 24 years in exile after Indonesia invaded in 1975, and developed an international reputation as spokesman for East Timor's resistance struggle.

His efforts in pressing the troubled nation's case for independence on the world stage earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, which he shared with East Timorese Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo.

In contrast, Guterres, popularly known as Lu-Olo, prefers to send one of his aides to speak with the press rather than front himself.

The softly-spoken Guterres, 54, spent almost half his life fighting with East Timor's resistance movement against Indonesian forces, and hiding in jungle-covered mountains to evade capture.

"He is very shy," his political adviser Harold Moucho told AFP. "He spent 24 years in the mountains. He climbed from the bottom to the top (of the resistance movement)," he added.

Both men, in different ways, have been devoted to East Timor's campaign for independence, efforts that supporters say qualify them for the largely ceremonial role of president.

"No matter the stark differences between them, they are both proven nationalists and the people know that," said Maria Olandina Caeiro, a former legislator who headed a taskforce to rebuild the nation's public service.

Both also have a long history with Fretilin, the resistance movement and political party, although Ramos-Horta resigned his membership in 1998 and is running on Wednesday as an independent.

He was a founding member of Fretilin, and is close to former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao who is not seeking reelection to the presidency. One of 12 children, Ramos-Horta fled the capital Dili into exile at the age of 25, three days before Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony.

During his exile, he gained a masters degree in peace studies, discovered a passion for cinema and traditional jazz but also became familiar with the workings of the United Nations.

After independence in 2002, he served as East Timor's foreign minister before his appointment last year as prime minister and defence minister.

Guterres, an ex-school teacher from the central western Viqueque district, retreated to the mountains after Indonesia invaded and joined a rebel platoon, according to Fretilin statements.

He climbed steadily through the ranks of the movement, holding various positions, and by the time Indonesian troops withdrew in 1999, had become the most senior Fretilin leader inside the country. "He is a very simple person, family orientated, with high regard in the moral sense," said Moucho.

Elected party president in 2001 and again in 2006, Guterres has also been speaker of the parliament, which Fretilin dominates, since independence, despite his reluctance for public speaking. A devout Catholic, he is running Wednesday as the Fretilin candidate.

Although Fretilin has been criticised for a lack of openness and intimidation, it retains a strong support base in this impoverished nation of one million people.

Ramos-Horta, campaigning with a slick message of unity after bloody unrest last year, has secured support from most of the failed first round candidates.

"Horta is equipped with a good reputation at both local and international levels. He has the qualifications to build East Timor a better future," said Armado Da Silva from the small Liberal Party.

Fretilin accuses Ramos Horta of vote-buying

Radio Australia - May 5, 2007

East Timor's ruling party Fretilin has accused the favourite in next week's presidential elections, Jose Ramos Horta, of buying votes.

Campaigning for the second round of the poll is becoming increasingly acrimonious. And as SBS correspondent Brian Thomson reports, the Australian-led International Security Force is in Fretilin's sights.

The campaign for the second round of the presidential elections on Wednesday is drawing to a close and the political temperature is rising. Fretilin, for so long the dominant party here, has been accused of countless irregularities. Now it's turning the tables. It says it has evidence that Jose Ramos Horta has been buying votes.

Jose Teixeira, Energy Minister: Money was distributed and that people received money to vote for and others to mobilise in the first round of the ballot on April 9. The visual recording shows two voters testifying that the candidate Ramos Horta personally handed out money in return for votes.

Mr Ramos Horta has denied the claim. But he is not the only one under attack. The Fretilin leadership has accused the Australian-led International Security Force of taking sides in this campaign. It says it lied when it claimed that weapons were found recently in a Fretilin convoy. Now it's accusing the ISF of attempting to inflame tensions by leaving weaponry and ammunition lying in the streets.

Mari Alkatiri, former Fretilin PM: (translator) Why was this weapon lying on the ground? Was it a trap? We don't know.

The Australian Army has refused to respond directly to the allegations but it has released a statement. It concedes that a rifle did fall from a vehicle but it says it was recovered immediately with the assistance of members of the public.

As for the allegations of bias, it says it is here at the invitation of the Government of East Timor, and it does not take sides. But that's not how Dr Mari Alkatiri sees it. Whipping up the crowds in Dili today, he railed against the ISF. He said the crowd was so small because oppressive security had prevented people from coming. He says it's become a feature of the campaign. The foreign soldiers do have widespread support here, but it's clear that Fretilin is becoming increasingly hostile to their presence.

In East Timor, Brian Thomson, World News Australia.

Health & education

Timor Leste expresss gratitude for Cuban support

Prensa Latina - May 16, 2007

Dili – Timor Leste President Xanana Gusmao expressed the gratitude of the nation s authorities and people Tuesday, for Cuba s medical and educational cooperation.

Gusmao, an historic leader in the struggle for the independence of Timor Leste, received Cuban Ambassador Ramon Hernandez at Das Cinzas Palace, who reported to the president on the results of the three years of cooperation.

The Cuban brigade, formed by public health technicians and doctors, has done a fine job there.

The Cuban brigade of physicians and medical personnel attended to one million clinical appointments, thousands of surgeries, innumerable deliveries and saved more than 8,000 human lives, as well as training local doctors – 805 Timor Leste youth are now studying medicine.

Cuban teachers are also assisting in the organization, preparation and supervision of the literacy campaign in Timor Leste

Gusmao concludes his presidential mandate on May 20, and will postulate for the coming elections for prime minister.

Earlier Hernandez was received by local Parliament President Francisco Guterres, to whom he gave details on the consequences of the US release of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.

High birth rate pushing East Timor deeper into trouble

The Telegraph (UK) - May 11, 2007

Sebastian Berger, Dili – Her belly swollen with her seventh child, Fernanda Sarmento paced the corridors of Dili's National Hospital as she waited to give birth.

"It's good if I have a lot of children," said the 38-year-old, adding that she wanted another girl to add to her two existing daughters.

Seven children may appear a large family but in East Timor, which has the highest fertility rate in Asia and is among the world's top five, it is entirely average.

Birth rates have increased dramatically since it broke away from Indonesia in 1999, with many Timorese believing they need to replace the 200,000-plus who died in the years following the invasion.

A perception that the occupying Indonesians wanted to breed them out of existence – family planning was actively promoted during the occupation – adds to the incentive. Anecdotes abound of women who lost, for example, eight out of 12 siblings, having nine children themselves.

Flicking through the admissions book on the maternity ward shows several women with 'previous pregnancies' in double figures. "12 is normal," said Florentina Corbafo, the senior midwife. The highest she has seen is 15. "It all depends on the mothers, they want more and more and more."

According to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, using census data from 1999 to 2004 average lifetime fertility in East Timor is 6.95 children per woman.

Nowhere in Asia comes close – in neighbouring Indonesia the figure is 2.4 and in Singapore it is a mere 1.06. Only a few countries in Africa such as Nigeria and Mali surpass it, and one survey put the Timorese statistic at 7.77, which could put the nation's women at the top of the world's breeding table.

But the trend is pushing an already fragile country deeper into trouble, said Hernando Agudelo, the UNFPA country representative in Dili, adding that the idea of replacing those killed was misguided.

"People don't understand the linkages between population and development. It's not because you have more people that you are going to have more wealth. What you are making grow is the poorest of the poor."

There are demographic factors in its continuing crisis, with many young people undereducated and unemployed, Dr Agudelo said, and at current rates the population will double in 17 years, leaving the country stuck in poverty despite the oil wealth piling up in accounts in New York.

"You can't grow the number of schools, the quantity of water or electricity or food in the same manner," he pointed out.

At the hospital Mrs Sarmento, whose husband is a subsistence farmer, was having none of it. "In the future they can look after us," she said of her brood.

One million consultations by Cuban doctors in East Timor

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (AIN) - May 2, 2007

Havana – Cuban doctors serving in East Timor have already made more than one million patient consultations, reported Dr. Alberto Rignak Vaz, coordinator of Cuba's international medical brigade in East Timor. Dr. Rignak noted that the Cuban physicians have carried out 1,720 operations, have assisted some 8,100 women during childbirth and have rehabilitated nearly 6,300 patients.

According to PL news agency, the Cuban specialists have saved 8,212 lives in East Timor, one of the three poorest nations in Asia.

Cuban humanitarian assistance to East Timor began in 2004 after Cuban President Fidel Castro met with his Timorese counterpart Xanana Gusmao during a meeting held in 2003.

At present, 228 doctors, 23 nurses and 40 technicians – including anaesthesiologists and radiologists – from Cuba are serving in East Timor.

Cuba is also contributing to the training of 105 doctors in 12 districts of the country and to the preparation of 700 Timorese students who are currently studying medicine in Cuba.

In addition, 11 Cuban professors have trained 400 teachers in the Cuban literacy method "Yes, I can" which will be shortly implemented in a national literacy campaign.

East Timor attained its independence from Indonesia through a referendum in 1999 and established its first sovereign government, led by Xanana Gusmao, in 2002.

Opinion & analysis

An 'unfair' deal for Timor Leste

New Straits Times - May 6, 2007

It should come as no surprise that Australian Prime Minister John Howard's presence in Dili on the day of Timor Leste's Independence on May 20, 2002 was also to sign the new Timor Sea Treaty (TST).

Timor Leste's government, on Independence Day, and its people never had the opportunity to fully debate and consider the implications of the TST.

The fundamental problem remains Australia's persistent refusal to delimit its maritime boundary with Timor-Leste using the principle of equidistance, as laid down under international law, where the opposite coasts are less than 400 miles apart.

However Australia has, in its treaty with New Zealand concluded on July 25, 2004, accepted the principle of equidistance as the basis for the delimitation of its maritime boundaries.

The TST did not deal with the issue of the delimitation of Timor Leste's maritime boundary with Australia. It also did not deal with vast areas of the Timor Sea that have potentially significant hydrocarbon reserves.

The biggest setback for Timor-Leste was the Australian withdrawal, on March 22, 2002, from the compulsory jurisdiction of both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Australia effectively ensured that Timor Leste's chances of taking the dispute for resolution by an independent international tribunal were destroyed for the foreseeable future.

However, we submitted a proposal to Mari Alkatiri that would have challenged that withdrawal.

The revenue from oil and gas reserves is the sole lifeline for the impoverished masses of Timor Leste. Following independence, the Alkatiri government faced increasing political and social unrest as a result of a stagnant economy and high levels of unemployment.

The Australian reluctance to proceed expeditiously with negotiations to unlock the resources of the Timor Sea led to Alkatiri's government being hemmed into a corner and effectively forced to accept Australia's proposals.

Asia Times noted in May 2002 that senator Bob Brown was thrown out of parliament for refusing to withdraw his allegations that Howard had "blackmailed" Alkatiri by insisting that if the TST were not signed in Dili, the Australian parliament would delay its ratification.

Although CMATS (Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea) is a bilateral treaty, its provisions are heavily biased against the interests of Timor Leste.

First, both Australia and Timor-Leste have agreed to a 50-year moratorium on the determination of their maritime boundary or until five years after the exploitation of certain areas cease, whichever is the earlier.

However, despite this moratorium, Article 4(2) of CMATS permits both nations to continue activities (including the regulation and authorisation of existing and new activities) in areas in which their respective domestic legislations, as of May 19, 2002, authorised activities in relation to petroleum or other resources of the seabed and sub-soil.

And in a side letter dated Jan 12 last year, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer informed his then Timorese counterpart, Jose Ramos-Horta, that as of May 19, 2002, Australian legislation permitted such activities in the area outside the Joint Petroleum Development Area established under the Timor Sea Treaty and south of the line agreed by Indonesia and Australia during Indonesia's occupation of Timor Leste.

Surprisingly, Ramos-Horta conceded in a side letter on the same day that Timor Leste had no domestic legislation that applied to that area on May 19, 2002 that would entitle it to conduct petroleum activities there, although Timor Leste had defined and claimed its sovereignty over the area claimed by Australia.

The result is that Australia retains the rights to prospect for and extract hydrocarbon resources in the disputed areas but Timor Leste has effectively given up all such rights for at least 50 years.

This provision, which allows Australia to unilaterally exploit hydrocarbons in disputed areas, constitutes a grave breach of Timor Leste's sovereignty.

Secondly, under the terms of CMATS, neither party is allowed to raise the issue of maritime boundaries or delimitation in the Timor Sea before any court or tribunal whatsoever. This means that Timor Leste has been forced to give up the right to take the issue of maritime boundary delimitation to any international tribunal.

This again is a serious transgression of the sovereignty of Timor Leste to take advantage of the dispute resolution mechanisms under the framework of international law.

Thirdly, CMATS also provides that "neither party shall raise or pursue in any international organisation matters that are, directly or indirectly, relevant to maritime boundaries or delimitation in the Timor Sea".

This extraordinary provision effectively gags Timor Leste from ever raising the issue of its maritime boundaries at any international fora, including the United Nations, for the next 50 years!

Finally, CMATS expressly provides that the parties are not under any obligation to negotiate permanent boundaries for the period of CMATS, which is 50 years or more.

Although Australia is at the forefront of providing aid and military assistance, the true measure of goodwill and help would be to simply accord to the Timorese what is rightfully theirs by delimiting their maritime boundaries under international law.

In order to do this, Australia can take the simple step of agreeing to once again accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.

[Datuk Dominic Puthucheary, assisted by his partner Firoz Hussein, was adviser to then prime minister Mari Alkatiri and was among the legal advisers in the team that negotiated the Treaty between Australia and Timor-Leste on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS), signed on Jan 12, 2006.]

On a path to political maturity

Courier Mail - May 17, 2007

Phillip Winn – After decades of dominance, Fretilin's star appears on the wane.

The mood for change in East Timor has been tangible and leaders of the ruling Fretilin Party have sensed it.

They can certainly have few illusions now, following the recent outcome of the nation's presidential election when their candidate, Francisco Guterres ("Lu Olo"), was trounced in a second round run-off against Jose Ramos Horta, who stood as an independent.

The final tally suggests Horta garnered some 70 per cent of the vote. The result reflects long-standing and widespread frustration with the governing Fretilin Party, in particular its failure to meet popular expectations of post-independence prosperity.

How deep this disillusionment runs remains to be seen with the real test coming at the parliamentary elections, scheduled for June 30.

If the result of the presidential race is repeated, the political map of East Timor will be radically redrawn. Fretilin's near- absolute dominance as the natural party of national independence will be over.

It is still too early to suggest that elections for the nation's legislature will mirror the presidential result. The Fretilin political machine is formidable. It remains the most organised of parties, particularly in rural areas.

The loss of Fretilin's presidential candidate came as no surprise but the failure of the party's regional organisation to deliver a greater share of the votes was a shock. As recently as 2005, Fretilin dominated a series of local government elections.

It was the crisis of 2006, when gang violence and international soldiers returned to Dili's streets, that seems to have focused widespread discontent.

Nevertheless, in the parliamentary elections, local candidates and political programs will have far more of a role to play.

The presidential race was all about leadership personalities; little detail was on offer of plans for the future.

Symbols are potent in East Timor, and the Fretilin Party retains its strong association with the struggle for independence. But with outgoing President Xanana Gusmao fronting a new party, the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) – a name borrowed from another resistance-era organisation – Fretilin faces an uphill battle.

Despite his handsome electoral victory, Ramos Horta lacks a substantial political base. In the initial presidential round, he attracted fewer votes (22 per cent) than Lu Olo (28 per cent), and his support was concentrated in Dili.

The landslide result for Ramos Horta in the second round reflects the implicit endorsement of Gusmao and near unanimous anti- Fretilin sentiment among the six eliminated first-round candidates, five of whom endorsed Ramos Horta.

The result could be read as a deepening of democratic practice in Timor. With the loosening of Fretilin's grip, the way is open for a more vibrant, multi-party democracy. But visions of an unexpectedly sophisticated electorate are premature.

Voting patterns in the first presidential round pointed to worryingly entrenched regional and ethnic differences, in particular a deep cleavage between the country's east and west.

These are the same divisions that played out so disastrously in Timor's military forces in 2006, leading to the serious violence in the capital and to a flood of refugees, many of whom remain reluctant to return home.

Opposition groups and government factional figures in Timor too often have shown a willingness to exploit such tensions to further their ambitions. And the steady drift of unemployed young men to Dili provides a ready pool of the desperate and disenchanted.

It is doubtful Gusmao's untested CNRT will attract enough votes to rule in its own right although he could become prime minister through a coalition-style government. Fretilin should have a substantial minority of seats, and form an effective opposition.

The critical question is whether such a political coalition would stay united for very long.

The elections will decide the political future of former prime minister and Fretilin secretary-general Mari Alkatiri. The emergence of a younger generation of leaders will follow a poor result, and Alkatiri could struggle to maintain his relevance.

[Dr Phillip Winn is a political anthropologist and Timor observer at the Australian National University.]

Canberra's preferred candidate wins election

Green Left Weekly - May 16, 2007

Tony Iltis – The second round of East Timor's presidential elections, held on May 9, resulted in the victory of Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta. Ramos Horta, running as an independent, had won 73% of the vote with 90% of ballots counted. He won a majority in 10 out of 13 districts. However, Fretilin, the party of defeated candidate Francisco Guterres Lu'Olo, has alleged Australian interference in the elections, including the intimidation of two campaign rallies in the final week of the campaign by Australian troops from the "International Stabilisation Force" (ISF).

According to a May 6 Fretilin press release, ISF troops disrupted Lu'Olo's campaign rallies in Dili on May 5 and Ainaro on May 3. Helicopters and armoured vehicles patrolled close to the rally while heavily armed combat troops went through the crowd. Australian ISF commander Brigadier Mal Rerden responded by claiming that the helicopter overflights were coincidental and that Australian troops had stayed at least 50 metres from the crowd. However, Fretilin backed up its claims with video evidence, and Sydney Morning Herald photographs clearly show Australian combat troops armed with automatic weapons among the crowd at the Dili rally.

Alex Tilman, a Melbourne-based member of Fretilin, told Green Left Weekly that the Australian-led ISF "was perceived as being hostile to Fretilin" since its deployment preceding the June 2006 overthrow of the democratically elected Fretilin Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, who was replaced with Ramos Horta. "The incidents [at the election rallies] have reinforced this perception", Tilman said.

Tilman said that Ramos Horta, who he described as "the only Nobel Prize winner in the world to support the Iraq war", promoted his good relationship with Australian Prime Minister John Howard as an asset in the second-round election debate. "Howard only visited East Timor after Ramos Horta came to power", Tilman noted. The reason was that the "Timorese stand in oil negotitions under Ramos Horta would be softer than under Fretilin", he argued. In a May 11 Radio 3AW interview, Howard said of Horta: "I think he was the hope of the side ... I think he will be good and he's a person of great dedication and he's a good friend of Australia's and that's very important."

Lu'Olo stood on a platform of supporting the Timorese government's campaign to ensure that offshore oil and gas was piped to East Timor not Australia. Ramos Horta, on the other hand, supports the World Bank deciding, Tilman said.

Another difference between the candidates' platforms was whether the Australian ISF contingent should be put under UN command and limited to police, with military personnel withdrawn. Tilman questioned the need for SAS units apparently hunting 2006 coup leader Alfredo Reinado. "They haven't found him after a year; in Afghanistan they've been hunting [al Qaeda leader Osama] bin Laden for five years and they're still there. We don't want that in East Timor."

Tilman told GLW: "Fretilin's platform is to renegotiate the military presence [to] police under UN command. Their presence last year helped, but they have overstayed their welcome."

Reinado has not always been Australia's enemy. He was trained in Australia and before the events in May and June 2006 was regarded as close to both Canberra and East Timor's president, Xanana Gusmao. When Ramos Horta came to power as result of the overthrow of Alkatiri by a police and army mutiny led by Reinado and Vicente Rai Los da Conceicao, it was with the full support of the Australian political establishment.

The Australian media portrayed Alkatiri as being responsible for attacks by mutineers and civilian militias, despite the fact that it was his government, and the armed forces that remained loyal to it, that were their primary target.

Alkatiri was forced to resign after an ABC Four Corners episode alleged that he had armed a hit squad to eliminate political opponents, including Reinado. Ramos Horta, who was then foreign minister, purportedly provided this documentary with the "independent" Timorese perspective while backing up the allegations. The main evidence the program provided was Rai Los claiming that he was the leader of Alkatiri's hit squad. Alkatiri was later cleared of the charges by a UN inquiry. He remains general secretary of Fretilin. Strangely, Rai Los became a prominent member of Ramos Horta's election campaign team.

Ironically, as well as Ramos Horta's election victory, May 10 saw the announcement that Alkatiri supporter and former interior minister Rogerio Lobato was being imprisoned for seven years, after losing his appeal against conviction for distributing arms to civilians during the 2006 coup. He did not deny having done so, but argued that it was a constitutional response to much of the security forces taking up arms against the government. At the time of his arrest by Australian forces during the 2006 events, Australian media and politicians cited the charges as evidence for Rai Los's claims about his pro-Alkatiri hit squad.

The Australian establishment is openly welcoming the election of Ramos Horta. Tilman believes that how much of it is due to Australian government interference may not be clear for some time. Citing the revelations about Australian complicity that are emerging from the inquiry into the killing of five Australian journalists in East Timor by invading Indonesian forces in 1975 he said: "Only now are we hearing what Australia's intentions were in 1975. Personally, I think there is Australian interference in East Timor to influence economic policy and foreign affairs. But it could be many years before we find out."

Gusmao 'is key' for Timor

Agence France Presse - May 14, 2007

Dili – Incoming East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta's chances of achieving major reform in the troubled tiny state hinge on the outcome of next month's parliamentary elections, according to analysts.

The Nobel laureate won Wednesday's presidential poll in a landslide, raising the hopes of impoverished East Timorese struggling for a better life five years after independence from occupying Indonesia.

Mr Ramos-Horta immediately pledged to reform the fractured military, strengthen the economy and unite the country when he replaces charismatic former guerilla leader Xanana Gusmao as president this month.

But the role of president is largely ceremonial, leaving Mr Ramos-Horta with few powers to implement the substantial changes that he says East Timor desperately needs, said Timor expert Damien Kingsbury, of Deakin University.

"He basically has two roles; one is a symbolic head of state and the other is that he has power of veto over legislation passed in parliament."

He said Mr Ramos-Horta must await the outcome of parliamentary polls in June to determine if he can work effectively with a newly elected government and prime minister to introduce change. "That's still the main game," he said of next month's elections.

Favourite to win the powerful post of prime minister is Mr Gusmao, a hero for many East Timorese because of his exploits against Indonesian forces, and a close ally of Ramos-Horta.

"It (his chances of introducing change) all depends on how well Ramos-Horta can work with the new government," Sophia Cason from Brussels-based think-tank the International Crisis Group, said. "If it's a Fretilin government, then he might face difficulty.

But if Xanana is elected prime minister then there shouldn't be any conflict." Mr Ramos-Horta is banking on Mr Gusmao and his new party winning a majority of seats in June over the ruling Fretilin party, although the Nobel Peace Prize winner has pledged to work with Fretilin leaders and support its members, analysts say.

Hard tasks ahead for Ramos Horta

Canberra Times - May 14, 2007

Really encouraging news from East Timor is hard to come by, but the election of Jose Ramos Horta as its new president should be widely welcomed, and not only by his own citizens, some 70 per cent of whom voted for him in the second round run-off, but in the region and the wider community of nations.

Ramos Horta, who has been prime minister strictly a more powerful position than that of president since the breakdown of the country last year, is realistic about the task facing East Timor, and the need to unite it. He knows well, and has sought to explain to his supporters, that there are no magic bullets or puddings capable of making unnecessary fundamental work in building an economy, in health, education and employment, in providing security and stability to the population, and in building solid political institutions and free markets.

The true measure of success in a strong East Timor will be work at the village level, not in building glittering cities and armed forces, and in developing agricultural self-sufficiency, employment and basic economic growth, not in get-rich quick schemes.

It also involves more integration with the economies of South- East Asia. Oil revenues may well, in the future, reduce the nation's dependence on foreign aid, and provide the capital from which growth, education, employment and sustainable agriculture can be promoted.

A mere oil economy, however, will be no more productive than a mere aid economy in addressing the fundamental problems for the people.

The election of Ramos Horta is an encouraging sign in another sense. It marks the defeat of Fretilin the party of the independence struggle, and, for that matter, the party with which Ramos Horta and the outgoing President, Xanana Gusmao, were once so closely associated. At independence, there seemed a real risk that East Timor might become an effective one-party state, with the party's own processes rather more important than the parliamentary system in determining policy and preferment, and the resolution of the way that scarce goods were rationed about the country.

That there are now new parties Gusmao has formed one, too, with which he will campaign at election in several months and that they are achieving successes is a sign of a healthy politic and an increasingly healthy political debate. Fretilin's failure at the presidential election its champion Francisco Guterres received only 30 per cent at the run-off is in major part a reaction to its mismanagement of the nation's east-west split in the contest about the distribution of resources, and of the army mutiny, and civil disorder, which followed.

That led to international intervention to restore order, and to Ramos Horta's taking the premiership, a resolution which must be regarded as adopted by the citizenry with the successful, and reasonably orderly, election results.

Gusmao himself must bear some responsibility for last year's collapse, if only for his initial detachment from the situation.

Gusmao, a former independence fighter who was captured and imprisoned by the Indonesians, is a charismatic figure, whose spirit of reconciliation has played an important role in forging relationships between East Timor and its neighbours, particularly Australia and Indonesia. But he has not proven greatly practical, or adept in the hard slog of government. Good at selling the dream and the vision perhaps; not so good in making it a reality.

In this sense, the expectation that his party will be sufficiently successful at the parliamentary elections that he will be appointed prime minister, and that he will be moving from a largely symbolic role to a practical one has obvious dangers for the nation. Yet the nation may benefit from Ramos Horta and Gusmao's job-swap if Ramos Horta assumes a more practical role.

An immediate and tricky issue is how Ramos Horta approaches the problem of the military rebel leader Alfredo Reinardo, for whom, technically, arrest warrants run.

Australian soldiers have failed to capture Reinardo on the murder charges he faces, including at an ambush south of Dili two months ago. Formally, Reinardo is still being sought and United Nations spokesmen, including the Australian commander of the international stabilisation force, Mal Rerdon, have repeatedly insisted that no word has been received from the East Timor Government calling off the search, or abandoning efforts to bring him to justice.

Informally, however, it appears that Ramos Horta has made his political accommodation with the supporters of Reinardo, not least with the discontent and frustration of people on the western side of the nation, who have felt that easterners and east interests have been the primary beneficiaries of independence so far.

That is politically pragmatic and even statesmanlike for Ramos Horta, yet he, with his international experience, must also wonder and worry about the precedents that will be set if it is thought that mutiny, rebellion and defiance, in good cause or bad, if taken far enough, will not be punished. Stability, security and justice are as fundamental to Ramos Horta's task as the hard work in the schools and in the fields.

East Timor's imperfect election

Far Eastern Economic Review - May 2007

Jill Jolliffe – The high level of instability afflicting East Timor since independence in May 2002 has its international partners wondering whether the new nation is suffering more than post-independence growing pains. Perhaps, they speculate, it is time to declare it a basket case. Of urgent relevance is whether the present cycle of scheduled elections, for a new president and parliament, will change things.

The country was rebuilt by the United Nations after Indonesia's scorched-earth withdrawal from the former Portuguese colony in 1999. The first free elections were held in April 2001, with former guerrilla chief Xanana Gusmao becoming president with 82.7% of the vote. In August of that year, the liberation party, Fretilin, won government with 55 seats in the 88-seat parliament, under Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Even before independence there was concern in UN circles that some institutions it had built were fragile, particularly in the justice and law-enforcement sectors. Alarms sounded in December 2002, when rioters attacked parliament and burned politicians' homes and some businesses. The culprits have never been identified, but the issues they were acting out against included police brutality, alleged government corruption, unemployment and Portuguese as an official language.

Despite consolidating revenues from the Timor Sea gas and oil fields which are exploited jointly with Australia (income from the fields is predicted to rise to $350 million in fiscal year 2006), the Fretilin government has not attracted other steady investment. Discontent has grown as the economy stagnates.

Last year these sentiments climaxed over government mishandling of a mutiny by soldiers from western regions who accused army commanders of ethnic bias. Their rampage through Dili attacking government buildings and burning the homes of easterners sparked months of political and ethnic violence. Then-Prime Minister Alkatiri was forced to resign in June, after allegations, since shelved, that he armed civilians to kill political opponents.

The election underway in East Timor to replace President Xanana Gusmao, who has completed his term, is unlikely to cure the country's chronic troubles. Its likely outcome is a mere trading of places between government politicians. Even so, first-round results have served notice on the country's long-time leaders that they are dealing with a more discerning electorate that should not be taken for granted. In the elections of April 9 this year, parliamentary speaker Francisco "Lu-olo" Guterres, of the governing Fretilin party, came in as most-voted candidate with 27.89% of the vote. Because he did not receive the 50% needed to win outright, he will compete on May 9 against Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, who polled 21.8%. Mr. Ramos-Horta is an independent who replaced Mr. Alkatiri when he resigned in June.

In an interesting twist, the fate of this election lies to some extent in the hands of a fugitive former army major, Alfredo Reinado, and his armed band of followers. The 41-year-old former head of military police is a hero to East Timorese youth, and to many others in the western districts where the Fretilin government stands accused of discrimination. In May 2006 he refused orders from pro-Fretilin army leaders to fight against 600 mutinous fellow-soldiers from the west known as "petitioners." Mr. Reinado and around 20 of his men instead took to the mountains with their guns. His saga continued throughout 2006, with an arrest by the Australian military peacekeeping force, a subsequent jailbreak and a series of press interviews from jungle hideouts.

Events escalated in February of this year, and in early March five of Maj. Reinado's men were killed in an attack on his base. The operation angered locals and in Dili his supporters lashed out. Traditionally pro-Australian, there was now an anti- Australian tinge to their rage. However, greatest anger was reserved for Mr. Gusmao and the Ramos-Horta government. Maj. Reinado urged supporters not to vote either for the Fretilin party or Mr. Ramos-Horta on April 9.

The story of Maj. Reinado, however, is only part of the picture. Another key issue involves Portuguese and Australian competition for postindependence influence, an issue linked to a drive for generational leadership change. The tragedy for East Timor is that during its most difficult years of postindependence growth, Australia and Portugal – two countries with grave responsibilities in its botched decolonization – have never combined forces for the country's good. During the troubles of 2006, hate blogs sprang up in Dili, of which the Portuguese "East Timor Online" was most read. Its contributors defended the Fretilin leadership and Mr. Alkatiri, accused Australia's Howard government of staging a covert coup to seize East Timor's oil riches, and fanned the flames of hatred for Australian soldiers. An anonymous entry of Oct. 26 reads: "All Timorese who love their country must unite in a grand popular movement (easterners and westerners) to drive out the Australians, who've invaded and occupied, to steal your sovereignty."

The bloggers' heroes are the Guarda Nacional Republicana (National Republican Guard), the militarized Portuguese police who patrol Dili streets alongside the Australians in an atmosphere of mutual dislike. These people do not reflect official Portuguese opinion but rather the widespread fear in the Portuguese community that if the Fretilin government falls decisively they will no longer be welcome. Lisbon has cultivated close ties with Fretilin leaders since Indonesia's 1999 withdrawal, in keeping with its foreign policy of developing cultural and commercial interests in all its ex-colonies, from Africa to Macau.

Many of Timor's younger generation are fiercely anti-Portuguese. They have nothing in common with Fretilin, and resent its choice of Portuguese as an official language. Educated under the Indonesian system and now unemployed, they see the language of the political elite as an instrument of their exclusion, and even tend to put Mr. Gusmao and Mr. Ramos-Horta in the same basket as former Prime Minister Alkatiri. In the current election approximately 100,000 first voters-those who turned 17 since 2001-are registered to vote, representing a fifth of the electorate.

On the Australian side, Prime Minister John Howard saw the 2006 violence as confirming an "arc of instability" to Australia's north threatening its well-being. Lumping East Timor with other potential "failed states" in the region, Canberra found new justification for regional intervention. His view was expressed on the abc's Asia Pacific program on Aug. 25, 2006 thus: "It is overwhelmingly in our interest to stop states failing and to deal with... an incipient failure with problems in our region. I have very much in mind the examples of East Timor, the Solomons, the worry I continue to have about Papua New Guinea, Vanuuatu... The rest of the world rightly says 'this is Australia's patch.'"

The statement suggested that Australian foreign policy for this vastly different and complex nation remains as primitive as it was in the 1990s when Australia backed Indonesia's military occupation. An anti-Australian chorus followed from Fretilin. When eastern demonstrators traveled to Dili to support Mr. Alkatiri, they carried slogans describing Australia as "communist" (a catch-all phrase for anything bad) and calling on its troops to withdraw.

Timorese horse-trading

So who was on the ballot of the April 9 elections? There were eight registered candidates for the presidential office, ranging from Marxists to monarchists. On the fringes were candidates such as Avelino Coelho da Silva, a flamboyant Guevara-like personality who formed the Timorese Socialist Party (PST) from a split with Fretilin. He won 2.06% of the vote and has asked his supporters to vote for Mr. Ramos-Horta in the second round. Another fringe candidate was monarchist Manuel Tilman, who polled 4.09%. He plans to endorse Fretilin's Mr. Guterres.

The sole female candidate was Lucia Lobato, an articulate deputy for the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD). She polled 8.86% and joined veteran politician Francisco Xavier do Amaral in redirecting votes to Ramos-Horta for the run-off. The aged Mr. Amaral is a founding father of Timorese nationalism and of Fretilin, who now leads the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT). His candidature attracted 14.39% – double the ASDT's tally of 7.84% in the 2001 parliamentary elections.

Ms. Lobato and Mr. Amaral had a pact with Democratic Party (PD) candidate Fernando Lasama to give voting preferences to any one of this all-western trio who made it to the second round.

Mr. Lasama, is seen as a political cleanskin and was expected to poll well enough to run against Mr. Guterres in the final round. He is unusual among former resistance operatives in never having belonged to Fretilin, and has youth backing. He served seven years in Jakarta's Cipinang prison, alongside Xanana Gusmao, and won the 1992 Reebok Human Rights Award.

Messrs. Lasama and Amaral took the lion's share of votes in the western districts, partly due to endorsement from Mr. Reinado. Nationwide, Mr. Lasama came in third with 19.18% (the Democratic Party won 8.72% in 2001). He alleged Fretilin rigged the vote against him in various districts of the territory. Six other candidates backed his claims, but evidence he presented was dismissed in court-just as his opponents dismissed him as a sore loser.

A meeting of Democratic Party members on April 25 decided to back Mr. Ramos-Horta for the second round on May 9, guaranteeing his status as front-runner. There was a price, however – the Democratic Party demanded that Mr. Ramos-Horta resume with Mr. Reinado, the rebel soldier. The request was accepted. Mr. Reinado and his armed band, it seems, were the backstage guarantors of the poll. Winning first-round candidate "Lu-olo" (Mr. Guterres) has been the parliamentary speaker since 2001. He had an unbroken record of service with the guerrilla resistance during its 24 years in the bush, principally as a political commissar. He's seen as an austere figure who lacks the popular touch, but has the advantage of being a family man with two children, which Fretilin campaign propaganda emphasizes. His 27.89% in the first round made him most-voted, but it was a big slump compared to Fretilin's 2001 parliamentary result (57.37%). In the second round on May 9 he can expect to glean up to 7% more from votes redirected from Joao Carrascalao and Manuel Tilman, but will otherwise depend for victory on stronger Fretilin mobilization.

East Timor's best-known politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mr. Ramos-Horta served as foreign minister in the Alkatiri government after 2001, and replaced him as prime minister last year. He is an accomplished diplomat who spent the occupation years abroad representing East Timor at the UN He was a founder of Fretilin but left in the 1980s when Mr. Gusmao formed a nonparty resistance front. He remains close to Mr. Gusmao, but is a political chameleon who has defended Mr. Alkatiri.

Mr. Ramos-Horta's 21.81% vote was won with the help of two groups: first, the UNDERTIM party formed recently by charismatic ex-guerrilla L7 (Cornelio Gama), who mobilized a sweeping eastern network to back his childhood friend against Fretilin; and second, the dissident Fretilin faction Fretilin Mudanca (Fretilin Reform), led by Foreign Minister Jose Lums Guterres.

Mr. Gusmao, who is forming a new party to contest the 30 June parliamentary elections, persuaded Mr. Mudanca to back Mr. Ramos-Horta instead of fielding its own presidential candidate. (The outgoing president is planning to trade places with Mr. Ramos-Horta, by running for prime minister as head of the new party.) Some in the reformist group are disappointed, having expected their strategy would result in the Democratic Party's Mr. Lasama being in the run-off, rather than two first-generation nationalist politicians.

It has been an imperfect election so far, but the first-round trend towards closing the unhealthily large gap between government and opposition parties means it has rung in some useful change.

If the second round proceeds normally, Fretilin may suffer a substantial reverse in its fortunes as the electorate punishes its arrogance. Both leading candidates have been in touch with the once-reviled Mr. Reinado to propose a voter-pleasing peace deal. President Gusmao's bid to trade places with Prime Minister Ramos-Horta instead of meeting a promise to retire as a pumpkin- farmer means the younger generation will continue to be frustrated by the behavior of older politicians, who they see as blocking meaningful change.

[Ms. Jolliffe is a free-lance journalist working on the Living Memory Project, a video archive of testimony by East Timor's former political prisoners.]

Friendship over truth

Jakarta Post Editorial - May 10, 2007

Hopes look dim – if not totally diminished – that victims of violence during the East Timor mayhem in 1999 will find the truth about the events before and after the referendum which saw the then Indonesian province vote for independence.

Former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto, the officer in charge of security in the territory at the time of the referendum, testified before the Commission of Truth and Friendship on Saturday that the violence, which left at least 1,000 people dead, according to UN estimates, and forced 250,000 others from their homes, was just inevitable.

Many people had anticipated – and understood – Wiranto's defiance. Like it or not, the general's testimony simply underlines a collective denial of responsibility among Indonesian Military officers who were entrusted by the UN to maintain security and order in East Timor.

There was no sign of remorse in the testimony of Wiranto and other security officers who turned up for the hearing, despite the widespread destruction resulting from the violence.

Indonesia was given the job to uphold peace and security during the historic referendum, after declining a UN offer to send in a peace-keeping force. Therefore, whatever the reasons for the violence that scorched East Timor, the TNI failed to deliver on its promise and carry out its duty.

For decades, East Timor was a restive territory where the TNI maintained a heavy presence due to a long-standing armed independence struggle. The violence, however, was never as devastating as the 1999 mayhem. Security measures were understandably increased ahead of the referendum, but the security authorities were unable to restore order when violence swept across the territory.

Can we now expect the joint Indonesia-Timor Leste truth commission, which has been working for the past year to reconstruct the events that marked the birth of a nation almost eight years ago, to declare Wiranto and the TNI responsible for the turmoil?

The establishment of the commission last August was not free from controversy and skepticism. It was set up following pressure on the UN to bring TNI officers to an international war crimes tribunal. The demand simply reflected distrust in Indonesia's judiciary after the country's ad hoc human rights court failed to convict top security officers in charge at the time of the UN- administered referendum of a failure to prevent the chaos from occurring. Some were handed jail sentences but a higher court overturned them.

But the fact that Timor Leste under outgoing President Xanana Gusmao opts to put good relations with its closest neighbor Indonesia ahead of the search for justice is indicative that the joint commission has lacked credibility from the beginning.

Another indication not much was to be expected from the commission was the two governments' agreement the commission would not seek trials or punishments for past crimes.

Timor Leste clearly blames Indonesia for the mayhem, as evident in the 2,005-page report of its Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR), submitted to the UN secretary-general two years ago.

Wiranto and other TNI officers have disclosed their own version of the circumstances that led to the human tragedy, which contradict the accounts of victims of the violence. It's now the turn of the joint commission to determine what really happened in the former Portuguese colony.

After taking statements from victims, witnesses and others, the joint truth commission will produce a final report that will be made public and serve as an official acknowledgement of what was often before either widely denied or little understood.

While the commission does not have the power to jail anyone for his/her past deeds, it may still make publicly known that certain individuals were responsible for past crimes, which can have other subsequent effects.

Whatever the commission's conclusions, Indonesia will have to bear the consequences.

There is a possibility the commission will be reluctant to declare Indonesian Military officers responsible for the violence, for the sake of friendship between the two neighbors. The chance is equally high that Indonesia's image as a protector of human rights abusers will grow stronger in the international community.

East Timor: Perseverance wins the day

Inter Press Service - May 10, 2007

Mario de Queiroz, Lisbon – In the late 1970s, diplomats at United Nations headquarters in New York got used to seeing a discreet young man plying the hallways and conference rooms, trying to drum up support for what seemed a lost cause in a tiny country that few had even heard about.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Jose Ramos-Horta and I represent East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that was invaded by Indonesia in December 1975," was how he would introduce himself to diplomats and foreign correspondents from around the world who knew little or nothing about the tragedy that had cost the lives of one-third of the population of his country.

The responses ranged from "Timor? Where's that? Portugal had colonies near Indonesia? I had no idea," to "Yes it's a terrible tragedy, but it's already happened, and Indonesia is not going to pull out of your country."

Three decades later, against all predictions, the efforts of the persevering young man with a doctorate in international relations finally bore fruit. In 1999, the Indonesian army was forced by the international community to pull out, and in May 2002, East Timor became an independent nation.

Added to the success of his country is the success of his political career. His triumph in Wednesday's presidential elections came as no surprise. What was not expected was the magnitude of his landslide victory. With about 90 percent of the votes counted, it was announced Thursday that he had taken around 73 percent, beating out his rival Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres of the Fretilin party, who won 27 percent of the vote.

Ramos-Horta, who is currently prime minister, will take office as president on May 20 in Asia's newest country, whose territory of 15,000 square kilometres forms half of the island of Timor in the Indonesian archipelago, and which has a population of 1.1 million.

The future president took a conciliatory tone towards Guterres, saying his main tasks would be to unite the Timorese people, work for the poor, and resolve the latest conflicts, which last year triggered violent clashes. Democracy has won, said Ramos-Horta, who congratulated Guterres and Fretilin for a "well-run campaign."

When asked by IPS in a telephone interview whether the outcome could lead to a climate of instability provoked by his rival's party, Ramos-Horta said emphatically that "This is an important step forward in the consolidation of democracy in my country and it is also a victory for Fretilin, a party of which I was a founder. It must be made very clear that Fretilin did not lose," he stressed.

Analysts attribute Ramos-Horta's triumph not only to his national and international prestige, but also to the backing he received from the current president, legendary resistance leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao.

While the exiled Ramos-Horta was working tirelessly as the voice of the Timorese resistance abroad during the 1975-1999 Indonesian occupation, Xanana Gusmao and a handful of guerrilla fighters, who numbered no more than 160 at their peak, waged war against 22,000 Indonesian occupation troops in the island's dense jungles.

Xanana Gusmao, meanwhile, was described by the press and analysts as a "poet-revolutionary" with the charisma of Argentine-Cuban guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who had become an almost mythical icon of revolutionary struggles around the world.

Ramos-Horta was born in Dili, the capital of the then Portuguese colony of Timor on Dec. 29, 1949, to a Timorese mother and a Portuguese father – a noncommissioned naval officer who was exiled to the Pacific island in 1933 after participating in an uprising against the dictatorship of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.

In fact, Ramos-Horta was already active in the independence struggle against Portugal during the colonial years. As a young man in 1970 and 1971, he was exiled by colonial authorities to Mozambique, another Portuguese colony, accused of "subversive activities" against Portugal.

After the Apr. 25, 1974 coup by the leftist Portuguese army captains who overthrew the Salazar dictatorship, he and other leaders in Timor founded Fretilin (the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor), which on Nov. 28, 1975 proclaimed the small country's independence.

Just 25 years old, Ramos-Horta was sworn in as foreign minister of East Timor, and his first mission was to travel to UN headquarters in New York to present his country's plight.

He was preparing to address the UN General Assembly when Indonesia invaded East Timor on Dec. 7, 1975. The invasion and occupation left a death toll of 210,000, out of a population at the time of 680,000.

A high point in his career came in 1996, when he and the Roman Catholic bishop of Dili, Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

By then, he had already distanced himself from Fretilin, and was acting as representative abroad of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), which was headed by Xanana Gusmao.

In 2006, Ramos-Horta was considered a possible candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as UN secretary-general, until in an interview with IPS he cleared up the doubts, stating that he was not interested in the post "for now."

Lisbon issued one of the first official reactions to the results of the Timorese elections Thursday.

With the caution required by the fact that the official outcome has not yet been announced, Portuguese Foreign Minister Lums Amado said that if Ramos-Horta's victory is confirmed, East Timor will have a president who is a "figure of global stature, at a time when (the country) needs the international community to strengthen the development of its democracy."

Portuguese journalist and analyst Adelino Gomes, who has dedicated a large part of his career to Timor, said the current leaders must show "a special ability to build consensus," because "we are talking about a society that is just beginning to learn what democracy is about."

British arms company enjoys impunity

Tapol - May 9, 2007

Paul Barber – Two apparently unrelated events that together raise important questions about the West's responsibility for conflicts in the world's poorest countries are being held in London today.

The first British screening of the acclaimed film 'Passabe: What it the price of peace?' takes place at a centre for reconciliation and peace on the former site of St Ethelburga's Church in Bishopsgate, destroyed by a massive IRA bomb in 1993.

The film describes how victims and perpetrators in the East Timorese village of Passabe attempt to come to terms with their horrific past and the massacre of 74 men by Indonesian-backed militias in September 1999 following East Timor's historic vote for independence.

Earlier in the day the annual general meeting of Britain's largest arms company, BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace) is being held in the more ostentatious setting of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre close to the centres of power in Westminster.

The remote village of Passabe lies on the precarious border between Indonesian West Timor and the East Timor enclave of Oecusse. In the run up to the 1999 vote, Passabe was a base for hundreds of pro-Indonesia militiamen who participated in a campaign of terror that climaxed in the bloody massacre.

The film provides an intimate look at how ordinary folk struggle to rebuild their lives and attempt to come to terms with their gruesome recent history.

It also prompts its audience to consider the wider context in which the massacre took place and question why such an appalling crime was committed. Part of the answer is provided by the highly-praised report of East Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (know by its Portuguese acronym, CAVR). Hearings conducted under the CAVR's Community Reconciliation Process feature prominently in the film.

As well as documenting the 'massive, widespread and systematic human rights violations against the civilian population' by the Indonesian military and its militia proxies, the CAVR highlights the role played by Britain and other western governments in supporting the aggressor in the conflict. This policy was, says the CAVR, dictated by Britain's long-standing commercial interests in Indonesia.

In particular, Britain was a major supplier of arms to Indonesia during the occupation. The CAVR recommends that the British government and business corporations that profited from weapons sales to Indonesia contribute to a reparations programme for the victims.

There is no suggestion that British military equipment played any part in the Passabe atrocity. But that is not the point, as the CAVR makes clear:

'Whether or not British-made military equipment was used in specific violations in [East Timor], the provision of military assistance helped Indonesia upgrade its military capability and freed up the potential for the Indonesian armed forces to use other equipment in [East Timor]. More importantly, the provision of military aid to Indonesia by a major Western power and member of the Security Council was a signal of substantial political support to the aggressor in the conflict, and outraged and bewildered East Timorese who knew of Britain's professed support for self-determination.'

The British company that derived the most profit from the sale of weapons to Indonesia was BAE Systems. Eight of the company's Hawk light combat aircraft were first sold to Indonesia in 1978. More orders for a total of 40 aircraft followed in the 1990s. Scorpion and Stormer armoured vehicles made by Alvis and Tactica water cannon vehicles made by GKN-subsidiary, Glover Webb, were also sold. Both Alvis and GKN have since been absorbed into the BAE Systems conglomerate.

These exports would not have been possible without export licences provided by the British government.

However, neither the British government nor BAE Systems have responded to the CAVR report, let alone acted on its recommendations regarding reparations. On the contrary, BAE Systems has been negotiating with Indonesian government representatives about the possible sale of yet more Hawk aircraft. It is not unreasonable to fear that they could be used in other Indonesian conflict areas such as West Papua.

BAE Systems is under intense pressure over alleged corruption involving deals with Saudi Arabia, Chile, Romania, South Africa, Tanzania, Czech republic and Qatar. There is therefore understandable concern about the fact that it is touting for business in a country that is working hard to combat its own deep-seated problems with bribery and corruption, especially in relation to the funding of the armed forces.

With half the population living in poverty and the government still paying hundreds of millions of pounds for previous arms deals, the prospective Hawk deal could also have a significant impact on Indonesia's poor.

Indonesia's indebtedness to the Britain's Export Credit Guarantee Department ECGD, which underwrites the cost of British exports, stood at approximately #565 million for military equipment at the end of February 2007. That represented 75 per cent of the total debt. Around #340 million was for the purchase of Hawk aircraft under previous deals. Repayment of the debt is not due to be completed until 2021.

BAE Systems seems to be enjoying what amounts to impunity for its supporting role in the East Timor conflict. I will be attending the AGM and asking questions aimed at ensuring it is properly held to account. Otherwise, it will continue to believe it can carry on with business as usual.

I will also invite the board of directors to attend the screening of Passabe so they can have no doubt about the possible consequences of their dubious commercial activities.

[The writer works for the British-based, TAPOL the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.]

Timor Leste 1999 or, how to sell lies

Jakarta Post - May 1, 2007

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam – The horrendous crimes committed in East Timor in 1999 continue to haunt Indonesia. Just as the third round of the Joint Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) was about to begin, the United Nations sent a message of disapproval about the CTF's idea of offering amnesty in exchange of the revealing of the truth by the perpetrators.

That was the reason the UN chose not to send the former head of UNAMET, Ian Martins, to testify before the commission; earlier, the UN has proposed that a commission of experts review the case. The sense of injustice and troubled conscience about the lies surrounding the matter has long been shared by victims, journalists and observers, who suffered or witnessed the carnage.

Asked about the meaning of the UN's letter, the CTF co-chairman, Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, said he respected the UN's position, but added that he considered the UN's official letter to reflect Martins' attitude, rather than the UN's as an institution. Yet, he expressed pride that the UN had responded to the CTF's invitation, and hoped the ex-UNAMET chief would reconsider his refusal to attend the hearing.

Benjamin's contradictory statement ("a UN letter", but representing a person, rather than the organization) is a conspicuous expression of uneasiness in addressing the question of accountability for the violence perpetrated by some of his country's institutions.

After all, Dili was sent back to "Year Zero" within a week, compared to Cambodia under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, when the same process was "achieved" within two years. It marked the end of Indonesia's decades-long illegal occupation of its tiny neighbor. About 1,400 victims were killed (including three journalists), hundreds of thousands persecuted and deported to the west, women raped, and the country's basic infrastructure destroyed as Indonesian troops prepared to leave the country.

A number of generals, officials and militiamen were indicted, yet all but one were released.

Impunity reigns. Now, almost a decade later, neither Indonesia nor Timor Leste wants to even touch the issue. Unlike in the recent past, the international community has decided to treat the matter as a bilateral affair between the two countries – in marked contrast to the Bosnia-Hercegovina case in the 1990s, which led to US bombing and the ongoing international tribunal on the ex-Yugoslavia, which prosecutes and punishes the authors and perpetrators of the violence.

In other words, the entire outcome is being dictated by geopolitics. Not justice, but the geopolitics of inequality in international relationships has decided to permit impunity, regardless of the victims. The CTF, too, is a product of this.

Worse still, the crimes of 1999 were artificially separated from the gross human rights violations that preceded them, despite the fact that the 1999 events could only occur as a result of a decades-long brutal military occupation.

The September mayhem obviously was just the tip of the iceberg. The great crimes of the 1970s – the invasion, Matebian annihilation, Kraras killings, to mention but a few – have been extensively described by no less than eight thousand East Timorese and published by the UN-commissioned CAVR.

Neither Jakarta, Dili nor the UN Security Council was willing to respond to the report, which could have opened the way toward some sort of internationally recognized tribunal. The geopolitical dictate has turned into a big-states conspiracy to avoid an international tribunal on East Timor.

Yet neither the UN nor, for that matter, Portugal, are innocent. The roots of the matter go back to the May 5 New York Agreement. Since the occupied country of East Timor was defined as one of a "non-self governing territory", all Indonesia had to do in 1999 was to return to the status-quo-ante.

This means that while Indonesia would have remained sovereign in East Timor, it would allow the UN to hold a "popular consultation" (an euphemism for a referendum) in order to resolve the final status of the territory.

As a result, the entire responsibility for the security was entrusted, not to a UN force, but to the Indonesian security apparatus, i.e., the Police, which was previously part of the armed forces (ABRI) and by then, certainly in East Timor, was under the command of the Army. All the UN and Portugal contributed was the Commission of Peace and Stability (KPS), which was to preside over the maintenance of peace and stability.

However, the reality in East Timor throughout May to September 1999 contradicted all aspects of this. The Army, in effect, instructed the Police to turned a blind eye to militia violence. I was able to leave Dili on Sept. 6, while the group of Indonesian observers I belonged to were forced to wander around the country to seek refuge while continuing to be under threat.

There were abundant witnesses to the killings and deportations by Army-sponsored militias, which were only made possible as extra troops and militiamen arrived Sept. 4, the day the UN announced the pro-independence victory.

Crucially, the members of the KPS, which was supposed to monitor the situation, had left the country even earlier. While UNAMET staff were held hostage, Benjamin, who was a KPS member, admitted that he left on Sept. 3, while other members and officials, including Djoko Soegijanto, B.N. Marbun, Koesparmono Irsan and Dino Pati Djalal, departed on Sept. 1. "What could we do? We were instructed by the military authorities to leave the country!" Benjamin honestly admitted.

How could the military order officials and journalists to leave Timor only a few days before the carnage started when they, at the same time, argued, as they always did, that the violence was a result of uncontrolled "civil war"?

In other words, it was all part of the plan and the game. And the game was from the outset shaped by political engineering, dubious assumptions and myths to justify the aggression, occupation and atrocities, which ranged from the mid-1975 attacks by "Timorese volunteers", a "civil war" among East Timorese that supposedly continued until 1999, and the many proclamations of integration by a tiny minority of pro-Jakarta Timorese, which culminated in the 1976 East Timor Integration Law.

These shameful lies also need to be looked at. While truth and friendship are necessary and important for both Indonesia and Timor Leste, a real friendship should not be based on lies to cover the truth and perpetuate the impunity.

[The writer is a journalist with Radio Netherlands.]

East Timor media monitoring

May 30, 2007

Republican Party will have a coalition with CNRT

The president of Republican Party (PR), Joao Mariano Saldanha has declared that his party will form a coalition with the CNRT and other political parties that share the same agenda.

"The PR will make coalition with parties, for example the CNRT and the coalition of ASDT-PSD, which can form a coalition in the national parliament for approving important laws for the people of Timor Leste," Mr. Saldanha said on Tuesday. (STL)

CNRT's campaign is interrupted by Fretilin

The campaign of the Conselho Nacional Reconstrucao Timor Leste (CNRT), led by the former president Xanana Gusmao, was interrupted by a group from the ruling party Fretilin on Tuesday (29/5) in Lospalos when the former minister of foreign affairs, Jose Luis Guterres from Fretilin, gave a statement in support of CNRT.

The STL's journalist from Lospalos reported that even though the campaign was interrupted, the situation in Lospalos remain calm. (STL)

All parties want to improve the PNTL's professionalism

At a joint debate held by the prosecutor for human rights (PDHJ) on Tuesday (29/5) in GMT Dili, all political parties which will compete in the parliamentary elections declared commitment to improving the professionalism of the PNTL.

All political parties declared that to improve domestic security for the people, the PNTL needs to become professional, independent, impartial, and act with integrity.

Meanwhile, the representatives from Congresso Nacional Reconstrucao Timor Leste (CNRT), CicA-lio Caminha and Carmelita Moniz stated that if CNRT wins in the upcoming parliamentary election, CNRT will separate the work of PNTL and ministry of interior. (STL and TP)

Ramos Horta is cheerless on the promulgation of the law of alteration

The president of republic, Jose Ramos Horta said that he is unhappy with some articles in the alteration laws.

"I am unhappy about some articles that call for the removal of party logos, it is not acknowledging people's wishes – which the ruling party Fretilin should learn," said Mr. Horta on Tuesday (29/5) after promulgating the law in the Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili. (TP)

Government: no tolerance for criminals

The third constitutional Prime Minister, Estanislau Aleixo da Silva, guaranteed that IDPs can return home and his government pledged that will not tolerate nor give impunity to criminals regardless of their actions.

"For the criminals specifically who have created this crisis, the government will not (seek) "reconciliation and dialogue with such people," said Mr. da Silva on Tuesday (29/5) in MTRC Caicoli Dili. (TP)

May 29, 2007

Nothing alternative, president of republic promulgate alteration law

The president of republic, Jose Manuel Ramos Horta has approved the alteration of electoral legislative, which was amended by the national parliament from ruling party Fretilin.

According to Mr. Horta, prior to making the decision he consulted with UNMIT, political parties, civil societies and church about the advantages and disadvantages of the changes. Mr. Horta said there was no alternative. (STL, TP and STL)

529.198 voters will vote in parliamentary election

According to the information gained by DN from STAE on Monday (28/5), there are 529,198 total voters who will vote in parliamentary election on June 30. Of those, 271,671 voters are men and 257,527 are women.

There are also 3% of new registration (3426 voters) and the majority from the members of CPD-RDTL. (DN)

Barris: "Police will guarantee security in parliamentary campaign"

The DSRSG, Mr. Eric Tan said on Friday (25/5) while attending the inauguration monument of PNTL in front of ministry of justice, that UNPol and PNTL is ready to assure security in parliamentary election across the country.

In the mean time minister interior, Alcino Barris said that UNPol and PNTL will also guarantee security in during the legislative campaigning period. (DN)

UNMIT will renovate PNTL

The DSRSG, Mr Eric Tan declared that on Friday (25/5) while attending the inauguration monument of PNTL in front of ministry of justice, that UNMIT will renovate PNTL to be the pride for all Timorese in the future. (DN)

UNMIT welcomes political parties' commitment to a free and fair June 30 election

The head of the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) has welcomed the signing of a document that harnesses the collective will of all political parties to a free and fair June 30 election.

Importantly, the Political Party Accord also covers basic principles of governance after the elections. It commits all parties to a constructive and inclusive democratic process for the new government and opposition. The Accord has the agreement of all 16 political parties in Timor-Leste.

The head of UNMIT, Mr Atul Khare congratulated all parties for their participation and willingness to reach an agreement.

"The Accord commits the winning party to representing the voices of the majority while listening to and accommodating the needs of the minority. It will also ensure that the minority will adopt a constructive role as a dynamic opposition capable of providing democratic checks and balances.

The new parliament will need a strong and vibrant opposition to ensure that democracy continues to mature in Timor-Leste," Mr Khare said.

"In the Accord, the pasties commit themselves to ensure that this takes place."

Also in Dili on Friday, the political parties signed a "Code of Conduct" that commits all parties, their candidates, their representatives and supporters to accept the results, or to challenge them only in competent courts; and to campaign positively through programmes of action not personal criticism of other candidates.

The Code of Conduct was drafted and approved by the national authorities charged with running the parliamentary election.

"Today's signings demonstrate clearly the agreement of all political parties to play their role freely, fairly and transparently not just during the campaign and voting period, but in the formation of the new parliament and the opposition," Mr Khare said. (STL)

PDC campaigns in Ainaro

The Christian Democratic Party (PDC) held its first campaign in Ainaro today specially in Rau Husar Suco Aituto; sub-district Maubisse.

The location was chosen for the because Ainaro is the center of "ancient" Timor-Leste and also the home of the party's parliamentary leader Euclides G da Silva. (STL)

Branco: "nothing facts of Leaders' communists ideology implementation"

In response to accusations from Alfredo Reinado Alves that communists ideology is being implemented in Timor Leste, the KOTA member of national parliament, Clementino dos Reis Amaral has said that some leaders' attitudes seem like the doctrine of communists.

However the member of the national parliament from the ruling party Fretilin, Francisco Miranda Branco, said that there aren't facts or evidence related to such an accusation. (STL)

May 25, 2007

Horta and F-FDTL seeking to solve petitioners' problem

The president of republic, Jose Ramos Horta visited F-FDTL HQ on Thursday (24/5) in Tasi-Tolu Dili to observe.

During his first visit as President of the country and also as the supreme commander of F-FDTL Dr Ramos Horta said his visit was also to consult with the commander of F-FDTL, Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak about the situation of the petitioners.

"Now I am waiting for the spokesperson for the petitioners Gastco Salsinha and his colleagues. I want to meet them here next week for dialogue that will lead to a solution." said Horta. (STL)

At the same occasion, speaking to the journalist Brig. Gen. Taur Matan Ruak said that F-FDTL keeps its position to solve Alfredo Reinado's case through dialogue.

"Since then we preoccupied that the problem of Alfredo should be solved. If we all know that it is important to be hand in hand, sitting together to look for reasons in togetherness," said Matan Ruak. (TP)

PSD questioned subsidy for political party

The vice president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Lucia Lobato has questioned the subsidy that will be provided by the government for the legislative election campaigns.

"Until now we haven't heard some political parties received such subsidy," said Lucia on Wednesday (23/5) in national parliament. (STL)

4.300 policemen and 1.000 ISF ready to secure the parliamentary election

At a press conference held by UNMIT on Thursday (24/5) in UNMIT HQ Obrigado Barracks Caicoli Dili, the DSRSG Eric Tan Huck Gim stated that United Nation Integrated Mission in Timor Leste (UNMIT) will deploy 4.300 policemen and 1.000 militaries from International Stabilization Forces (ISF) for free, fair and peaceful parliamentary election next 30 June.

Mr. Tan mentioned that such numbers composed by 1.700 from UNPol and 2.800 from PNTL. "These total will be on duty in the community and conflicts across the country," said Mr. Tan. (STL)

The incident of 25 May 2006 is the reflection for PNTL and F-FDTL

The president of republic, Jose Manuel Ramos Horta has called on the F-FDTL and PNTL to reflect on the incident of 25 May 2006, which resulted in the death of PNTL and F-FDTL officers.

"Today is one year since the the massacre on the 25th of May last year; it is the bad image which should not be raised in the future.

We should reflect upon it and examination it to ensure that such a problem does not happen again to either institutions," said Horta in his speech when visiting on Thursday (24/5) in F-FDTL HQ Tasi Tolu Dili. (STL)

UNPol denied the allegation of populations in Hudi Laran toward Malaysian

The intern commissioner of UNPol, Herman Prit denied to the allegation from the population in Hudi Laran which said that Malaysian Police collaborate with martial art PSHT.

"It is the false allegation," declared Mr. Prit at a press conference held by UNMIT on Thursday (24/5) in UNMIT HQ Obrigado Barracks Caicoli Dili. (STL)

Political parties signing joint agreement

The 14 political parties including two coalitions which will compete in legislative election on 30 June will sign a joint agreement today (25/5).

The joint agreement is the joint compromise which should be obeyed by overall political parties during the electoral campaign until Election Day.

"Political parties which had been registered will sign joint accord tomorrow (today) about the code conduct announced by CNE," informed CNE spokesperson Fr. Martinho Gusmco in CNE office Kintal Boot Dili. (TP)

May 24, 2007

Bishop Ricardo: "Alfredo's case is a very sensitive case"

Bishop of Dili Diocese Mgr. Alberto Ricardo da Silva said that the Church is ready to be the mediator in solving Alfredo's case knowing that both Alfredo's lawyer and the Attorney General consider this a sensitive case.

"I am waiting for them [Alfredo's lawyer and Prosecutor General] to organize and recommend that the church mediate a dialogue, yet until now neither Alfredo's lawyers nor the Prosecutor General have consulted me on this," said Bishop Ricardo on Wednesday (23/5) in his office on the first official visit of the President of Republic, Jose Ramos Horta.

After the meeting, Ramos Horta said that his visit focused on Alfredo's case in an effort to solve it peacefully.

He said that the principal case which should be solved is the problem of Alfredo Reinado Alves with his men and that of the petitioners. He said the church wants to contribute to any pacific solution of this case. (DN and STL)

Lucia: "the new President of Republic has to be opened" Ex- presidential candidate from Social Democratic Party (PSD), Lucia Lobato speaking to journalists on Wednesday (23/5) in National Parliament said that all the people and the Constitution have to provide maximum support to the President of Republic in helping him to conduct his tasks properly.

Ms. Lobato also said that as the new President of Republic, Horta should be open to collaboration with all people in the country. (DN) Lawyers agree, replace the President of Court of Appeal and the Attorney General

The president of Association of Timor-Leste's Lawyer (AATL), Benevides Correia Barros (also the lawyer for Alfredo Reinado) said on Wednesday (23/5) night that AATL agrees that to improve the judicial problems and systems in Timor the President of the Court of Appeal, Claudio Ximenes, and the Attorney General, Longuinhos Monteiro, should both be replace.

On the contrary, the lawyers from the Board of Law Support – Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH), Arlindo Dias Sanches said that President Jose Ramos Horta has to extend Claudio Ximenes' duty of work as the President of the Court of Appeal since no other Timorese has 20 years of experience as Mr. Claudio has in judicial matters. (DN and TP)

UN wants to show impartiality in Timor Leste

At a press conference held by UNMIT over the last few days in UNMIT HQ Obrigado Barracks Caicoli Dili, the Special Representative of Secretary-General for Timor Leste (SRSG) Mr. Atul Khare declared that the United Nations in Timor Leste (UNMIT) wants to show its impartiality to all the people of Timor-Leste as the democratic process is implemented in this country.

He said that the UN, the ISF and UNPol in Timor Leste will show their impartiality to the people of Timor-Leste. He also appealed to all who are involved in criminal acts to stop the violence.

Horta will give his veto to the law of alteration The president of republic Jose Ramos Horta questioned about the alteration of electoral law article 46.

Mr. Ramos said that such alteration of the electoral law does not harmonize with the democratization of Timor Leste.

Furthermore, Horta added that before promulgating such an alteration to the law, he will hear the opinions of CNE, STAE, the Church and all political parties.

After his meeting with Bishop Dili Dom Alberto Ricardo da Silva on Wednesday (23/5) in Lecidere Dili, Horta said he will only make a decision after very careful judicial counsel. (STL and TP)

Fretilin accuses PD involved in Lecidere incidents

The spokesperson of Democratic Party (PD), Rui Menezes denied the accusation by Joaquim do Santos, member of national parliament from ruling party Fretilin, who accused members of PD of being involved in Lecidere incidents.

"It is the false accusation; our members are not involve in such conflict," said Mr. Menezes on Wednesday (23/5) in National Parliament. (STL)

Atul Khare: sports is a tool of peace

Sports is an essential tool for creating peace and national reconciliation," says UN Envoy Atul Khare.

The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) congratulated the 77 athletes who have returned to Dili after competing at the Arafura Games which took place in Darwin, Australia from 12 to 19 May 2007.

The Arafura Games is a leading international sporting competition for emerging champions of the Asia Pacific region. Held every two years in Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, the Arafura Games is billed as a meeting of 'Sporting Neighbours' and attracts developing athletes from the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

The Timorese team, which included athletes with disabilities, participated in sports such as women's volleyball, tennis, boxing, badminton, table tennis and cycling. In the end, the team walked away with a total of eight medals – two silver and 6 bronze.

"Sport is a universal language, which teaches values such as respect, tolerance, teamwork and fairness," said the Special Representative to the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste, Mr. Atul Khare. "It is an essential tool for creating peace and national reconciliation," he added.

UNMIT arranged special UN flights to transport the athletes to and from Darwin, as well as provided logistical support. "We are pleased to have assisted these young athletes in representing Timor-Leste in this important event," said the SRSG.

UNMIT is mandated through Resolution 1704 to "assist in further strengthening the national institutional and societal capacity and mechanisms for the monitoring, promoting and protecting of human rights and for promoting justice and reconciliation." (STL)

Railos case is under investigation After meeting with president of republic, Jose Ramos Horta on Tuesday (22/5) in Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili, the Attorney General, Longuinhos Monteiro said that the case of former commander of secret armed force of Fretilin, Vicente da Conceicco Railos is now under investigation related to the accusation toward him for his involvement in Tibar incident last year.

Longuinhos explained that last week the lawyers who hold this case had been told to take measures for Railos' situation. (STL)

New community establishment, a Programme that needs refugees' opinions

The coordinators of IDPs Francisco Pereira from Motael and Leopoldo Pinto from Jardim Colmera reminded that when government wants to build a new community establishment for IDPs, the programme needs refugees' consultation to avoid such unwanted discrimination.

"Significant of discrimination means that it should not be Loro Sa'e and Loro Monu, however it should be one of Timorese and we expected that the terrible rumors will not be the barometer for new community establishment," said Francisco Pereira on Wednesday (23/5) in Motael Dili. (STL and TP) ISF ready to agree with decision of High Level Committee The spokesperson of International Stabilization Forces (ISF), Major Ivan Benitez said that ISF is ready to agree with whatever decision made by the State of Timor-Leste either halting or continuing the operation on Alfredo Reinado and his men.

According to the programme of president of republic, Jose Ramos Horta will hold a meeting with the High Level Committee today (24/5) in Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili.

ISF always is ready to agree with the decision made by the State because Timor Leste is a sovereign nation and the ISF is here to provide and ensure security to the people in the country, said Mr. Benites on Wednesday (23/5) via mobile. (TP)

May 23, 2007

US$ 500.000 subsidy to political parties for the legislative campaign

After meeting with the president of republic, Jose Manuel Ramos Horta on Tuesday (22/5) in Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili, the third Prime Minister of Constitution, Estanislau Aleixo da Silva, stated that the Government will provide US$ 500.000 subsidy for all political parties in the electoral campaign of legislative election.

"Government has subsidized approximately US$500.000 to provide for all political parties that will compete in upcoming parliamentary election; however it is still waiting for the proposal from CNE. The fund has been presented to president of republic," said da Silva. (DN, STL and TP)

Longuinhos: optimistic on the dialogue with Alfredo

Prosecutor General Longuinhos Monteiro stated that he believes the manner of dialogue to resolve Alfredo's case will be successful.

The manner of dialogue has been opened and he is confident that a resolution can be reached, Longuinhos said after meeting with the President of the Republic Jose Ramos Horta on Tuesday (22/5) in Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili.

Mr. Monteiro added that President Jose Ramos Horta invited him to provide information about the role of the Public Ministry over the last five years. He also said that the President presented questions about the case of Alfredo and his men. (DN and TP)

Clash in Maliana, 3 injured and 1 murdered

The clash between two groups on Sunday (20/5) in Maliana district, sub-district Bobonaro resulted in three injured and one death.

The spokesperson of UNMIT, Ms. Allison Cooper, on Tuesday (22/5) said that the clash happened at the time of rice distribution in Maliana district.

Because of such confrontation, Ms. Allison said that PNTL and UNPol continue to maintain security in places of high risk. (DN)

Conflict in Lecidere: 3 UNPol injured and 49 people captured

The UNMIT spokesperson Ms. Allison Cooper said on Tuesday (22/5) in UNMIT HQ Obrigado Barracks Caicoli Dili that the clash between two groups on Sunday (20/5) in Lecidere Dili resulted in the injury of three members of UNPol and the capture of 49 people currently awaiting trial.

Ms. Cooper said that UNPol did not know the motivation behind the confrontation but that UNPol quickly responded and brought the situation under control. (DN)

Claudio waits for the decision of the president of republic

The president of the Court of Appeal, Claudio Ximenes, said that if the President of Republic (PR) Jose Ramos Horta allows him to maintain his role as the President of the Court of Appeal in the next period, he will remain but, he said, the ultimate decision will be determined by the President of the Republic.

Mr. Claudio said that as a Timorese, he is already contributing within this role to the judicial system but should he change his position he will continue to contribute to the judicial process," said Mr. Claudio after meeting with the President of Republic Jose Ramos Horta on Tuesday (22/5) in Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili. (DN and TP)

Joaquim: Claudio deserves to be re-nominated

The member of national parliament from ruling party Fretilin, Joaquim do Santos said on Tuesday (22/5) in national parliament said Claudio Ximenes deserves to be re-nominated as the President of the Court of Appeal. (DN)

L-7 calls for Ramos Horta to solve the refugee problem

The president of UNDERTIM party, Cornelio Gama alias L-7, called on the President of Republic, Jose Manuel Ramos Horta to use his competencies to solve the refugee problem and to maintain and stabilize the national unity and security in the country.

"Promptly we want to solve the refugees' problem, so the population can return home," said L-7 while participating in the fifth Timor-Leste's restoration of Independence Day on Sunday (20/5) in government palace. (STL)

Government agrees with Ramos Horta in halting the operation on Alfredo

The third Prime Minister of Constitution, Estanislau Aleixo da Silva, stated that Government agrees with the President of the Republic Jose Ramos Horta in halting the operations of International Stabilization Forces (ISF) to capture Alfredo Reinado Alves, if the decision benefits the people and the nation. (STL and TP)

Government will not force IDPs to return home

The coordinator of Emergency Programme of IDPs, Jose Asa, informed that the Government will not compel IDPs to return home.

According to Mr. Asa, IDPs decided that they will not return home due to the conflict between martial arts groups.

He said the IDPs feel strongly about this and that their security is not guaranteed. Those who have had their houses burned will return when their houses are rebuilt, said Mr. Asa on Tuesday (22/5) in his office in Caicoli Dili. (TP)

Legislative campaign will start on 27 of May

The spokesperson of CNE Fr. Martinho Gusmco reportedly stated that the electoral campaign of political parties for legislative election will be held for 30 days and will run from 27 of May until 27.

Fr. Gusmco informed that before campaigning, all political parties have to provide a detailed schedule of the campaign itself and present it to CNE for acknowledgment.

"Our tasks is not just to acknowledge and approve it; we also want to know the movement of the electoral supervision," said Fr. Martinho on Tuesday (21/5) in Lecidere Dili. (TP)

Threats to Alfredo's lawyer: state has to provide protection

In relation with the declaration from Alfredo's lawyer, Benevides Correa Barros, alleging threats received from some groups, the members of National Parliament from the Democratic party (PD) and PST, Rui Menezes and Pedro da Costa Martires told journalists on Tuesday (22/5) that the State has an obligation to provide protection to Alfredo's lawyer.

According to these members of Parliament, the State is responsible for providing protection for those lawyers who have a moral obligation to assist the State and Government in the judicial process to resolve crisis in the country. (TP)

May 22, 2007

Political parties should act upon the alteration law of electoral

The members of national parliament from KOTA, Manuel Tilman said that the alteration of electoral law article 67 will be obeyed by all the political parties and any complaints will have to be investigated.

Speaking to journalists on Monday in the national parliament, Mr. Tilman said that such articles, especially about the neutrality of administration indicate that all public officers and directors have to be neutral.

Mr. Tilman also stated that all political parties have to act upon such electoral law morally. (STL)

Horta is asked to stabilize the national unity

In response to Jose Ramos Horta's first presidential speech. the member of national parliament from ruling party Fretilin, Joaquim dos Santos said on Monday (21/5) that the new President has to show worldwide that he is the symbol of the state that can guarantee national unity and the function of democratic institutions. (STL)

Xanana Hands over the key of Palacio das Cinzas

Former president of republic Kayrala Xanana Gusmao handed the key of Palacio das Cinzas over to the new president of republic Jose Manuel Ramos Horta on Monday (21/5).

It is the symbol of handing the role of president republic over Horta to commence his duty in Palacio das Cinzas as the president of republic Timor Leste. (DN, TP and STL)

Xanana becomes the president of CNRT

Ex president of republic Kayrala Xanana Gusmao officially was sworn in as the president of the CNRT on Sunday (20/5) by the president of political Committee of CNRT Virgilio Smith.

After the swearing in the president of CNRT Xanana Gusmao said that if people give confidence for such political party in upcoming legislative election, he will combat the corruption, collusion and nepotism in this new born country. (DN)

Antonio Ximenes: "Horta's speech is discriminative"

The president of Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Antonio Ximenes reportedly said that the first speech of president of republic Jose Ramos Horta in national parliament is discriminative because Horta mentioned three chiefs of catholic church namely, Pope Bento XVI in Roma and two others from the Bishop of Dili; diocese Dom Alberto Ricardo da Silva and Bishop of Baucau diocese Dom Basilio do Nascimento.

He revealed that Horta was elected by the people of Timor Leste not the leaders of the church. (DN)

Horta: "Alfredo does not need to be afraid of submitting himself"

The president of republic Jose Manuel Ramos Horta has called on Alfredo Reinado not to be afraid of the judicial process.

Horta said that security will be guaranteed by the state to prepare dialogue to achieve any solution problems faced by him. (DN)

PD has no criminal militants In relation to the clash in Hudi Laran, the information said that the conflict was done by the militants from Democratic Party (PD).

In response to such information, the spokesperson of PD, Rui Menezes said on Friday (18/5) in national parliament that Pd has no criminal militants and sympathizers.

Furthermore Menezes added that PD only has the militants who obey the rules of PD of peace and stability to contribute this tiny nation. (DN)

CPD-RDTL will collaborate with Horta

The president of the republic Jose Ramos Horta has received a letter of congratulation from CPD-RDTL last Thursday (17/5).

The letter mentioned that CPD-RDTL will collaborate with new president of republic Jose Ramos Horta in the country. (DN)

Parliamentary campaign, people concern about security

Populations have not been secured in relation with the clash on Sunday (20/5) in ASDT office Lecidere Dili.

Many people told DN that they are concerned about the security in participating in the upcoming legislative campaign. (DN)

Horta: "as the chief of state, I should not contact Alfredo"

The president of republic Jose Ramos Horta reportedly said that as the President, it is not his role to contact Alfredo Reinado Alves.

"As a chief of state I should not contact with Reinado, however it should be done by the president of the court of appeal, bishops and Reinado's lawyer," said Horta.

Horta added that if Alfredo wants to contribute to justice he should respond to the letter of ex president republic Kayrala Xanana Gusmao. (DN)

PD will not make any coalition with other parties

At a swearing ceremony for the members of Democratic Party (PD) on Saturday (19/5) in Baucau villa, the national political commissioner from PD, Luis Pinto said that the Democratic Party will not make any coalition with other political parties in the upcoming legislative election on 30 June.

He revealed that this message is given by the president of PD, Fernando de Araujo Lasama in Dili. (TP)

Alfredo's letter is prioritized in the 1st meeting of PR and Government

The letter from Alfredo Reinado Alves will be a priority in the first meeting between president of republic Jose Ramos Horta and the Prime Minister Estanislau da Silva.

The meeting between the president of the republic and government was held today (22/5) in Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili.

"Tomorrow we will held a meeting with prime minister Estanislau da Silva and his vice Rui Maria de Araujo to discuss and response Alfredo's letter and residence," said Horta. (TP)

Alfredo's lawyer is threaten

The lawyer of Alfredo Reinado Alves, Benevides Correia Barros reportedly said for the past two months he has felt threatened by some groups.

Mr. Benevides suspected that such action related to the case of Alfredo Reinado including his declaration which published in newspapers about the group of "Maputo".

He added that even if he has not identified such group, he will seek the way and presenting to the public minister for any security guaranteed. (TP)

May 18, 2007

Weapons disarmed when the dialogue is going

In response to the letter of the president of republic, Xanana Gusmao on 14 May, the former commander of the Military Police, Alfredo Reinado Alves has called on the state to provide time for dialogue to solve the national crisis.

Reinado said that he will disarm for the talks and submit himself to the judicial procedure.

Mr. Reinado also said that the military and political operation against him should be stopped. (TP)

SRSG congratulates Horta's victory

At a press conference held by UNMIT on Thursday (17/5) in UNMIT HQ Obrigado Barracks Dili, the SRSG Atul Khare congratulated President-Elect Ramos Horta on his victory in the second round of presidential vote.

The SRSG stated that President-elect Ramos Horta will be sworn in as the country's second president at a ceremony in Dili on Sunday.

In congratulating the people of Timor-Leste on two peaceful rounds of the presidential election, the Special Representative of the Secretary General in Timor Leste, Atul Khare said he was confident that a new era of political consolidation had arrived.

"I am sure that Dr Ramos Horta will honor the pledge made to him by the 69 per cent of voters who had selected him as their preferred presidential candidate," Mr Khare said.

I must also pay respect to Francisco Lu-Olo Guterres who has accepted his defeat graciously.

During both round of the presidential election, both candidates have conducted themselves with dignity, professionalism and have show respect of democratic principals.

As the new President, Dr. Ramos Horta will be well placed to guide the nation into a new phase.

This era will see Timor Leste take its position alongside other nation states of the globalize world while retaining its political and cultural identity defined by its history. At the United Nations, we look forward to working with Dr Ramos Horta and all citizens of Timor Leste to assist in this emerging and exciting time." Mr Khare said. (STL and TP)

Lu-Olo and Alkatiri visited Rogerio in the Prison

The president and secretary general of Fretilin, Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo and Mari Alkatiri visited former Minister of the Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato yesterday in Becora prison Dili.

Lu-Olo said the visit was to inspect the condition of Rogerio Lobato and other prisoners in Becora. (STL and TP)

PD is ready facing the parliamentary election

The president of the Democratic Party (PD), Fernando de Araujo Lasama said that even if he did not get into the second round of presidential election, his party is going forward now.

"We will not step back. We move forward in competing with other political parties in the parliamentary election," said Lasama on Thursday at the hotel Timor in Dili. (TP)

Clashes between martial arts are the political games

The president of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Antonio Ximenes has called on political leaders not to use martial arts gangs as part of their political games.

Mr. Ximenes said that the clashes were not raised by PSHT, 77 and KORK, others created it on behalf of the martial arts groups. (TP)

UN concerned Gang violence in Bairo Pite

The UN's top envoy in Timor-Leste has expressed his concern over signs of a resurgence of gang fighting in the nation's capital following group violence in the past 24 hours the day before yesterday.

The fighting, which included rock-throwing and arson, occurred Wednesday (16/5) between 6.30 and 7pm between two groups of approximately 100 people in the Bairo Pite area of Dili.

The fighting continued yesterday morning between 10 and 11 o'clock in the same area. A total of small four houses and a vehicle were burned.

Both yesterday and Wednesday, Malaysian and Portuguese Formed Police Units along with UNPol and the International Stabilization Force (ISF) attended and quickly brought the situation under control. Tear gas was fired.

So far there have been a total of 17 arrests. Nobody has been injured.

The Special Representative of the Secretary General in Timor- Leste, Atul Khare visited the area yesterday morning to talk with residents affected by the violence. He was accompanied by the UNPol Commissioner Rodolfo Tor.

"While the police – with the assistance of the ISF – took control of the situation very quickly I am concerned to see fighting between groups of young people," Mr Khare said.

"People who commit criminal acts will be treated as criminals by the police. Claiming to act out of political motivation following last week's election will not be tolerated" Mr Khare said.

"In the past 24 hours I have told all political leaders in this country that violence justified as political is unacceptable and I have their agreement.

"Specifically I have been in contact with the President-Elect, Dr Jose Ramos Horta, the President of Fretilin, Dr Mari Alkatiri and the President of the Democratic Party (PD) Fernando Araujo Lasama. They all agreed that any persons committing criminal acts who claim to be party supporters should be put in jail." (STL)

May 15, 2007

F-FDTL is ready to have a dialogue with petitioners

After meeting with the F-FDTL commander, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, on Monday (14/5) at the government palace, the Vice Prime Minister, Estanislau Aleixo da Silva, said that F-FDTL is ready for a dialogue with petitioners to look at a peaceful manner to resolve the problem.

Mr. Estanislau said that the meeting would be an important and positive step to solve the petitioners' case. (DN, TP and STL)

Alfredo's case is an alternative of justice

Alfredo Reinado Alves' lawyer, Benevides Correia Barros, said that Alfredo Reinado's case is the alternative for people who are hungry for justice during this national crisis.

Mr. Barros also said that his client is 100% willing to engage in dialogue to come to a solution.

"Our client Reinado is willing to engage in a dialogue, however conditions need to be created"said Benevides on Monday (14/5) when assisting the plenary at the national parliament. (DN, TP and STL)

The final result of the presidential election

At a press conference held by CNE on Monday (14/5) in Dili, CNE President Faustino Cardoso Gomes stated that the results of national vote showed that Jose Manuel Ramos Horta got 285.835 votes (69,18%) and Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo had 127.342 votes (30,82%).

The presidential candidate, Jose Manuel Ramos Horta is waiting for the Court of Appeal's approval to recognize him as the new president of the republic. (DN, STL and TP)

Mal Rerden: situation remains in calm

The commander of International Stabilization Forces (ISF), Brigadier Gen. Mal Rerden, reportedly said that the situation across the country remains calm after the poll last week.

According to Rerden, the people of Timor-Leste have accepted the results of a democratic process in a peaceful and calm manner.

Rerden added that even though the situation remains calm, ISF maintains its position to guarantee the security until the completion of the upcoming parliamentary elections. (DN)

Railos asks Rogerio to tell the truth about Alkatiri

Vicente da Conceicao Railos was pleased with the imprisonment of former Interior Minister Rogerio Tiago Lobato. However, he is disgruntled that Rogerio did not disclose information on the people who ordered him. Railos called on Rogerio to tell the truth about the former Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri and his involvement in that case.

"I am very happy Rogerio is imprisoned, but I call on him to disclose Mari's involvement in the weapons distribution case," said Railos on Monday (14/5) via Mobile Phone. (TP)

STAE Director is ready to step down

STAE Director Thomas Cabral directly contacted the Vice Minister of State, Valentim Ximenes, on Monday (14/5) to say that he is ready to be discharged from his role as the STAE director.

In response to the declaration made by the Vice Minister of state Valentim Ximenes to investigate the STAE Director on charges of manipulation in Lautem district during the run-off presidential elections, Mr. Cabral declared that he challenged such declaration as the person to be investigated should be the electoral coordinator of Lautem district. (TP)

Horta wins, Fretilin moving with democracy

CCF Bonifacio Magno Pereira said that Fretilin accepts the victory of Ramos Horta in the presidential election, and Fretilin will work on the upcoming parliamentary election.

"We do not question this victory; it is clear that in a competition between two people, one should become the winner," said Bonifacio on Monday (14/5) at his office in Caicoli Dili.

Furthermore, he added that Fretilin tried to identify its weaknesses as a lesson for the upcoming legislative election on 30 June. (TP)

May 12/14, 2007

Lu-Olo concedes Horta's Victory

The presidential candidate from Fretilin party Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo has conceded Horta's victory in second round of presidential election. He said he bows to the decision which has been given by all people of Timor Leste in choosing their new president.

Lu-Olo made the comments are a press at a press conference held by the Committee Central of Fretilin (CCF) in Dili on Friday and congratulated Jose Ramos Horta on his win.

At the same time the secretary general of Fretilin and the former prime minister of Timor-Leste, Mari Alkatiri said that Fretilin will remodel itself upon the internal dynamic of the party. (STL)

Xanana's Farewell, F-FDTL should never be pressured by any political sides

President Xanana Gusmao has issued an appeal for the Commander of the F-FDTL not be pressured but rather to ensure the security and sovereignty of the country.

During the farewell speech at the F-FDTL headquarters, Mr Gusmao said that liberty and democracy are the new contest for the people of Timor Leste and that it is the responsibility of the F-FDTL to defend the people from any internal and external threat.

At the same occasion, the commander of F-FDTL Brigadier Taur Matan Ruak called Jose Ramos Horta, as the new president of republic and supreme commander of F-FDTL, to promote peace and development in Timor-Leste.

TMR revealed that F-FDTL is not going to work with the new supreme commander, but will act in accordance with the order of the new supreme commander to submit to the state. (STL)

Manipulation could not defeat Horta

At a press conference on Friday (11/5) in Elections Media Center Caicoli Dili, the Coalition for Monitoring the General Elections (KOMEG) stated that the run-off election raised indications of manipulation in some districts, yet the manipulation did not prevent Horta from winning his victory. (STL)

Alfredo intends to submit himself

After Rogerio Lobato was sentenced last week fugitive Alfredo Reinado said in his letter to president of republic, Xanana Gusmao that he intends to submit to justice and proceed along the existing lines of law and order that prevail in Timor Leste.

The letter was received recently by Xanana Gusmao in Dili.

"Alfredo wants to negotiate in submitting himself to justice" said Ramos Horta quoting Alfredo's letter.

The president-elect said that Reinado's surrender would be welcomed. (STL)

CNE receives 125 complaints

The spokesperson of CNE, Fr. Martinho Gusmao said that CNE has received 125 complaints related to the process of the second round of presidential election.

"In relation with national vote counting, CNE received 125 complaints from the voters about the electoral process, and CNE will study the complaints before taking any decision," said Fr. Martinho on Sunday (13/5) at a press conference in Elections Media Center Caicoli Dili. (STL)

Uatolari: police off duty – people fled to church

The run-off presidential election has passed and the result shows that presidential candidate Jose Manuel Ramos Horta is elected to be the new president of republic.

However some supporters of the losing presidential candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo in Uatolari Viqueque district are not accepting the election's result.

After announcing the result of presidential election, Fretilin militants in Uatolari allegedly threatened and intimidated people and caused people to flee to the church and to PNTL HQ in Uatolari, Viqueque district. (STL) Japan trusts in Timor-Leste

At a press conference held by Japanese Embassy in Dili on Friday (11/5) at Hotel Timor, the Japanese Ambassador in Timor Leste, Kenji Shimizu and director of Japanese Observation Mission, Ozawa stated that the second round of presidential election on last 9 May was well conducted. Japan said that it trusts that people and the government of Timor-Leste will hold its parliamentary election well. (STL)

PNTL using operational system in conflict prevention

UNPol has worked closely with the PNTL to prevent any public disturbance that may have been created during the second round of the presidential election. The intern commander of PNTL Afonso de Jesus made the comments to journalists at a press conference last Wednesday.

"We will use the same system as previous during the campaign, election day and result announcement in responding to the conflicts," said Afonso. (STL)

Rogerio Lobato treated as other prisoners

The lawyer of former Minister of Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato; Paul Remedios said on Friday (11/4) at Rogerio's residence Farol Dili said that Rogerio will be treated equally as other prisoners in Becora jail. (STL)

UNMIT praises Rogerio Lobato submit himself to justice

UNMIT has appreciated the orderly unfolding of the judicial process over the past few months in the ongoing case of the Former Minister for Interior, Rogerio Lobato. Justice is a pre- requisite for reconciliation and stability.

Lobato was one of number of individuals who were recommended for investigation and possible prosecution by the Commission of Inquiry Report for his role in the violence that besieged Timor- Leste in April and May last year.

He was sentenced by the Dili District Court on March 7, 2007 to seven and a half years in prison. Immediately following the decision, lawyers for Lobato filed an appeal which was yesterday dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

The head of the United Nations Mission in Timor Leste, Atul Khare has commended all relevant parties involved in the trial of the former Minister for the Interior noting that Lobato submitted voluntarily and peacefully to justice.

Mr Khare expressed his hope that that others including Alfredo Reinado would follow this example.

Mr Khare added that the observation of both prosecution and defence to the fundamental principles of the rule of the law bodes well for the future of justice and reconciliation in Timor Leste.

Yesterday's decision shows that a culture of impunity will not be tolerated in Timor-Leste and that respect for the legal process will lead to the longer term goals of national reconciliation and unity

United Nations police officers (UNPol) provided security at the Court of Appeal in Dili yesterday and also assisted in the transfer of Lobato to Becora Prison later in the day.

UNMIT looks forward to working with the national authorities to ensuring that all recommendations set forward in the COI report are implemented.

UNMIT is mandated through Resolution 1704 to "assist in further strengthening the national institutional and societal capacity and mechanisms for the monitoring, promoting and protecting of human rights and for promoting justice and reconciliation. (TP)

Fretilin should be courageous to face a self improvement

The military and political observer, Julio Thomas Pinto told journalists on Saturday at the Hotel Timor in Dili that Fretilin should be courageous enough to self improve and possibly restructure ahead of the parliamentary election.

"The great obstacle for Fretilin, should the leaders of Fretilin be courageous enough to face it, is self improvement. It is clear that Fretilin has to be restored, however time is limited," said Julio. (TP)

If Alfredo replies to Xanana's letter, the state will halt the operation officially

The state will officially halt the operation of International Stabilization Forces (ISF) on Alfredo Reinado if he replies to Xanana's letter promptly.

"If Reinado replies Xanana's letter promptly, it will make the official suspension," said Ramos Horta on Friday (11/5) in his office.

RH said Xanana Gusmao will send a letter in next few days in responding to the letter of Alfredo last week.

Horta revealed that Alfredo's letter was asking for a dialogue, that would be making him to submit himself to the justice, but the ISF operation should be halted. (TP)

May 11, 2007

Lu-Olo: victory and defeat exist in democracy

The presidential candidate from Fretilin party Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo affirmed that either victory or defeat will be accepted by him and that he would accept the result with dignity. (DN)

Operation on Alfredo still goes on

At a press conference held by UNMIT on Thursday (10/5) in UNMIT HQ Obrigado Barracks, the Special Representative of Secretary General in Timor Leste Atul Khare said that the commander of International Stabilization Forces (ISF) Brigadier Mal Rerden has not halted the operation to capture fugitive Alfredo Reinado.

Mr Khare revealed that the process in halting the operation on capture Reinado could not be done because there is no clear reason for doing so. He said the ISF's operation to capture fugitive Reinado is continuing. (DN)

Atul Khare: "UNMIT is ready to cooperate with the elected president"

At a press conference held by UNMIT on Thursday (10/5) in UNMIT HQ Obrigado Barracks, the SRSG in Timor Leste, Atul Khare declared that UNMIT is TO prepared to collaborate with new president of republic. He said UNMIT will continue to serve in developing the democratic process within Timor Leste. (DN)

Atul Khare: "Police's task does not ban the Media's activities"

In response to a question at UNMIT's weekly press briefing yesterday, the SRSG Atul Khare said the role of the media in Timor Lest is very important. The answer followed the question about police interference against the media at a Primary School in Aituri Laran, Lahane Dili. The SRSG said it was the role of the media to collect and provide detailed information for all the people of Timor Leste. He added that UNPol provides security in accordance with voting laws and they do not ban the activity of the media. (DN)

Horta asking UN to handle the legislative election

After handing the Ambulance from Kuwait over Timor Leste on Thursday 10/5) in Dili port, East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta said that he will ask for United Nations (UN) to assist in providing technical support for the parliamentary elections.

He revealed that ahead of the parliamentary election on 30 June, he will consult with other political parties on the role that the UN should play. STL)

ISF Spy plane crashed

Australian military chiefs in East Timor have grounded a fleet of unmanned surveillance planes after one crashed into a house in Dili. The remote control aircraft crashed after taking off and ploughed into a house. No one was hurt. An Australian Air Force team has flown to East Timor to investigate the accident. (TP) Rogerio imprisoned in Becora jail for 7 and half years

The Court of Appeal in Dili has ruled on the final decision in the case of Rogerio Tiago Lobato.

The president of court of appealed, Claudio Ximenes mentioned that Lobato has been sentenced for seven and a half years. (DN and TP)

May 10, 2007

Preliminary election results: Horta is top rank in Dili

The secretary general of KOMEG Joao Travolta last night said that from 113 polling centers in the Dili District, the presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta is leading the count with 26.223 votes. The counting is being monitored by the Coalition for Monitoring the General Election (KOMEG).

KOMEG said the other Presidential candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo has 5.284 votes.

Travolta said that until last night KOMEG had not received results from the other 12 regions in Timor Leste. (DN, TP and STL)

Julio: People are apathy in the run-off election

The military and political observer Julio Thomas Pinto has stated that participation in the second round of the presidential election is different to the first round. He said that people were showing less enthusiasm at polling stations in Dili.

"According to my observation people are not showing the same enthusiasm and we are not sure why. Perhaps it because their candidate had been defeated in the first round and they think that both candidates are similar," said Mr Pinto. (DN)

GNR and PNTL provided security in Farol polling center

The United Nations GNR police officers and the PNTL have both contributed to the provision of security at polling centres in Dili to ensure that the election ran smoothly and that the electoral process was not impeded.

The observation was reported by Diario Nacional after observing voting at a polling centre in Farol, Dili. (DN)

Horta: "I will accept the result of election"

The presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta told journalists yesterday while at the plling centre of Noble da Paz School in Dili that he will accept the result of the election after any challenges are heard through the Court of Appeal.

He added that whether he is successful or not he will work to ensure that the nation is stabalised. (DN and TP)

Lu-Olo: ready to accept the results of the election

The presidential candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo said after voting on Wednesday at the polling centre in Farol in Dili that he is ready to accept the result of the election as part of the democratic process.

He said that he would like to win or lose with dignity. (DN and TP)

Xanana: "all people should receive the result of run-off presidential election

The President of the Republic Xanana Gusmao said that regardless of who wins the presidential election, it should be accepted calmly.

"I call for all people to be calm for today (Wednesday) because people have the great decision to elect the president of republic.

Regardless of whoever wins or loses, it is the democratic process," said Xanana. (DN)

Thomas Cabral: voters turnout in the runoff election

At a press conference held by STAE on Wednesday in Caicoli Dili, the director of STAE Thomas do Rosario Cabral said that there has been a good voter turnout for the presidential election.

He said the percentage could be similar with the percentage of the previous vote which was 81.67% He said he expected an announcement within the next few days. (DN)

Rui: People have adequate maturity accepting the result of election

After voting in Farol polling center on Wednesday the vice prime minister and also minister of health Rui Maria de Araujo said that the people of Timor Leste have a sufficient maturity to accept the result of the second round of the presidential election.

He revealed that such maturity had been shown in the first round of presidential election last month. (TP and DN)

May 8, 2007

UNMIT takes 30 ballot boxes without confirmation from STAE

On Friday (4/5), two UN cars have allegedly taken 30 ballot boxes out without any knowledge from STAE.

The Director of STEA, Thomas do Rosario Cabral, said that the conductor of both cars brought the 30 boxes to Hotel Timor without any knowledge from STAE and that they were not accompanied by either PNTL or UNPol.

"Such attitudes compromise the transparency and tranquility of the electoral process and STAE has presented it to CNE and UNMIT in order that such attitudes should not happen again," said Mr Cabral at a press conference on Monday (7/5). (TP) STAE should be impartial in run-off Election

The member of national parliament from KOTA, Clementino Amaral, told TP on Monday (7/5) that STAE, and in particular the director of STAE, should demonstrate impartiality in the second round of the presidential election.

"From now on STAE has to avoid the bad things and should show its impartiality to all people through the director of STAE itself, in order that there will be no manipulations as in first round," said Clementino. (TP)

Second round election, Chief of PNTL Viqueque suspended

According to a complaint received by CNE, the chief PNTL of Viqueque district, Gaspar da Costa, is behind violent actions and has been accused of attacking the supporters of some candidates in the first round of the presidential elections last month. As such, he is being suspended during the second round of the presidential elections.

The general commander of PNTL, Afonso de Jesus, stated on Monday (7/5) in PNTL HQ Caicoli Dili that since the case was received, he had directly suspended Gaspar da Costa for a one month period pending findings of the international investigation. (TP)

3100 PNTL are providing security for the election

The general commander of PNTL, Afonso de Jesus, informed journalists on Monday (7/4) at PNTL HQ Caicoli Dili that there are 3100 members of PNTL in all districts who are prepared to secure the run-off presidential election.

He stated that as PNTL is mandated to guarantee security based on article 147, they had to provide the maximum security. (TP)

Court of Appeal, Judgment on Rogerio's case is on the way

The Secretary Intern Administration of the Court of Appeal, Maria de Fatima, told journalists on Monday (7/5) that the Court of Appeal will soon announce the date of judgment on ex-interior minister Rogerio Tiago Lobato.

Today State declares ways of solving Alfredo's case

The high-level meeting held on Monday (7/5) publicly raised too many questions about the case of fugitive Alfredo Reinado. Today however, (8/4) the President of the Republic, Kayrala Xanana Gusmao, will declare the way in resolving Alfredo's Case.

The meeting was composed of the President of Republic Kayrala Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta with his two vices, Commander of ISF Brigadier Mal Rerden, Commander of F-FDTL Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, Prosecutor general Longuinhos Monteiro, vice president of national parliament Jacob Fernandes, SRSG Atul Khare and DSRSG Fin Rieske Nielsen. (TP)

Atul Khare deployed Mobile Team

To instill confidence in the people about the good security conduct during the second round of presidential elections, SRSG Atul Khare was accompanied by the UNMIT Police Commissioner, Mr.

Rodolfo Tor, and other senior UNMIT officials, while monitoring the security. A meeting was also held with local authorities in deploying the Mobile Team which is composed by three members of PNTL and two members of UNPol.

Mr. Khare explained the new security plan for the districts, which involves Sector Mobile Teams comprising of United Nations Police (UNPol) and the Timorese police officers from the PNTL. Each team, which monitors between four and five Sucos will provide security, support and will encourage the residents to vote on Election Day. (TP)

High Level commission decide to halt the Alfredo operation

In its seventh meeting held on Monday (7/5), the high level commission officially decided to demand that the ISF halt the operation to capture the fugitive Alfredo Reinado Alves, preferring to concentrate instead on opening dialogue.

The decision will be announced by the President of the Republic, Kayrala Xanana Gusmao, today in Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili.

The high level commission discussed the condition and situation of the fugitive Reinado with his men who had been given the sign to proceed with a dialogue. The Catholic Church agreed to be the mediator for such dialogue in order to overcome and find the solution for this crisis.

The meeting was composed of the President of Republic, Kayrala Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta with his two vices, Commander of ISF Brigadier Mal Rerden, commander of F-FDTL Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, Prosecutor general Longuinhos Monteiro, vice president of national parliament Jacob Fernandes, SRSG Atul Khare and DSRSG Fin Rieske Nielsen. (STL)

Population of Comoro anticipating manipulation

To anticipate manipulation in the run-off presidential elections, the population of Comoro have called on each other to pay attention and to the process in order to ensure the elections would be held in a free, transparent and democratic manner.

"In entering the second round of presidential elections, we, the population of Comoro, remind each other to anticipate some maneuvers similar to those used to manipulate the polling centers during the first round of elections last month," said the member of representative Suku Comoro Lino Pereira. (STL)

Ramos Horta promises to raise F-FDTL salary

Ramos Horta, in his campaign on Sunday (6/5) in Baucau, promised to try to increase the salary of F-FDTL and PNTL members as they are always away from their families and relatives.

"F-FDTL and PNTL have to get higher salaries then public servants," said Horta. He said that he will build barracks for these two institutions to be close with their families and relatives.

Ramos Horta also said that F-FDTL are the national forces of the country and that he would not disperse F-FDTL when elected as the president of republic as has been indicated by recent rumors spread throughout the country.

May 4, 2007

Jose da Costa: alliances between parties have no impact on other political parties

The Dean of Faculty of Political Science of National University, Jose da Costa Magno speaking to journalist on Thursday (3/5) said that the alliances between political parties will have no crucial impact on other parties, since each party has its own strategies to gain the votes.

"Since the first parliamentary election, they allied and there were no consequences for others," said Magno.

Vote for Horta, vote for capitalism

A member of National Parliament from Fretilin, Joaquim dos Santos speaking to journalists yesterday (3/5) said that voting for Ramos Horta means voting for feudalism and capitalism since Ramos Horta is supported by opportunists and capitalists.

Mr. Joaquim also questioned why Ramos Horta accused Fretilin of backing the crisis.

"Ramos Horta was part of the government, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he is the one negotiating here and there, why does the crisis still exist?" said Joaquim.

Domingos Sarmento: Ramos Horta using blanket politics

Domingos Sarmento, the Minister of Justice at his office in Caicoli, Dili on Wednesday (2/5) said that during the campaign Ramos Horta used to say that Fretilin was using money politics, however Horta is using blanket politics over people in Deleixo village in Ermera 24 hours before presidential election in April 9.

Mr. Sarmento said that Ramos Horta got most votes in that village because he provided blankets and preserved food to the villagers.

"He used to accuse Fretilin, but he himself is using blanket politics to buy votes," said Sarmento

Railos: "I am the militia that was formed by Fretilin"

In response to the declaration of presidential candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo that he is a militiaman, Vicente da Conceicao Railos said that he agreed with Lu-Olo's statement.

"...Last year, Fretilin distribbuted weapons to us to kill and intimidate people. People in Liquica recognize me as a member of a group of terrorists, not just a group of militiamen," said Railos via mobile yesterday (3/5). (STL)

CNE dos not authorize STAE to give observer cards to the members of government

In answering the statement from some ministers concerning the provision of ID cards for the members of government to be VIP observers for the runoff election, the spokesperson of CNE Fr. Martinho Gusmao reportedly said that CNE does not authorize STAE to do that. He added that CNE has sent a letter to STAE in demanding that they do not issue such cards. (DN)

UNPol presented Sarmento-Somoco's Case to the general prosecutor

The case of the Minister of Justice, Domingos Sarmento and Vice Minister of Interior, Agostinho Sequeira Samoco, has been presented to the prosecutor general by UNPol.

The spokesperson of UNPol, Monica Rodriguez said that weapons, Rama Ambons and cash (US$5.000) found by Australian forces in the possession of the campaign team of presidential candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo in Ermera were presented to the prosecutor general of republic in the last few days.

"It is true that the case concerning the electoral campaign of presidential candidate Lu-Olo in Ermera is now under investigation and has been presented to the general prosecutor, for further information please contact the prosecutor general," explained Monica via phone on Thursday (3/5). (STL)

Run-off election, UNPol provided maximum security

After the weekly meeting with President of Republic, Xanana Gusmao on Thursday (3/5) at Palacio das Cinzas Caicoli Dili, the Second vice Prime Minister, Rui Maria de Araujo told journalists that the government of Timor-Leste cooperates with UNMIT, UNPol and ISF to provide maximum attention to security and improve the system of security for the run-off presidential election.

He added that UNMIT, UNPol and ISF brief the council ministry on the affected places in the districts and in Dili. (STL and TP)

PD will have a coalition after general election

The Democratic Party (PD) will make a coalition after the general election 2007/2012 period for the reason that PD is not prepared to make coalition before parliamentary election and politically it is not a strategic priority for PD.

"after the result of the parliamentary election we can see the percentage achieved which by the coalition party, then we will create a coalition together to form government and opposition," said Rui Menezes on Thursday (3/5) in national parliament. (STL)

F-FDTL will be deployed at the national hospital

The vice Minister of Health, Luis Lobato speaking to the journalists on Thursday (3/5) in the National Hospital (HNGV), Bidau Dili, said that the government is planning to deploy F-FDTL in the HNGV to provide security to the doctors, nurses and patients.

"We have security provided by UNPol and ISF (New Zealand). I think we will deploy F-FDTL in HNGV if there is no ultimate solution for this matter," said Luis. (STL and DN)

Press should be courageous

Member of parliament from Social Democratic Party (PSD), Maria Paixao, called for all media outlets in Timor-Leste to be courageous in dedicating their life to the society.

"I congratulate to all press in Timor-Leste and I demand them to work constantly to provide information because the reality shows that the politicians could not access the current information without the press," said Paixao on Thursday (3/4) on World Press Freedom Day. (STL)

Leandro blames Fretilin Leaders supporting

The member of national parliament and supporter of fugitive Alfredo Reinado Leandro Isaac, accused Fretilin of giving major support to the operation of the International Stabilization Forces (ISF) to capture Alfredo Reinado and his men. Moreover, the operation only persists thanks to this support.

Leandro admired the declaration of president of republic Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta to halt the operation.

Leandro said that Fretilin, through its leaders, such as president of national parliament Lu-Olo and vice of Prime Minister Estanislau da Silva, have always been against halting the operation on Alfredo and there is no agreement in the high level committee about this matter.

"I would cease the operation now, however Estanislau and Lu-Olo reject this on the grounds that there is no agreement to halt the operation. The operation is also supported by the majority of the members of national parliament after ISF attacked to Alfredo's camp in Same in last two month," said Leandro on Tuesday (01/5) in Same-Manufahi. (TP)

Alfredo occupies strategic sites across Timor-Leste

The member of national parliament Leandro Isaac reportedly said that the fugitive Alfredo Reinado Alves has occupied all the strategic sites across the country.

In response to the strategic places mentioned, Leandro stated that 80% of the strategic places are in the west region; however he doesn't know the other strategic places in the eastern region.

Leandro revealed that after the raid by ISF on Sunday (4/3) in Same, about 70-80 members of Alfredo's group fled with 30 automatic weapons. (TP)

Lu-Olo demands that Horta declare his wealth

The presidential candidate from Fretilin Francisco Guterres Lu- Olo told journalists on Thursday (3/5) through a press conference that his adversary Jose Ramos Horta seeks to flee away from his moral obligation to declare his wealth by a letter, so Lu-Olo demands that Horta declare his wealth publicly.

Furthermore he said he has declared his wealth in a letter on 23 April. (DN)

Attack on journalists means an attack against international law

The Secretary General of the United Nation Ban Ki-Moon delivered his message on freedom of the international press on Thursday (3/5). Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated that the UN is mandated to act as a defender of the free presses.

He also stated that an attack on the free press is an attack on international law, humanity, freedom and all things which the United Nations struggles for. (TP)

The General Prosecutor: no comment on Railos' case

The prosecutor general, Longuinhos Monteiro did not want to comment on the case of ex secret armed commander of Fretilin Vicente da Conceicao Railos.

"We have no time to comment publicly on Railos because the prosecutor general has too many tasks," said Longuinhos through his secretary via the phone on Thursday (3/5). (TP)

Presidential Candidates are not providing a good program during the campaign

The president of Christian Democratic Party (PDC) Antonio Ximenes and the better sector manager of world vision in East Timor Agosto Ferreira Soares separately told journalists on Thursday (3/5) that the campaign of both presidential candidates Jose Ramos Horta and Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo in the rural areas are preoccupied with personalities and that people do not believe them.

May 3, 2007

Lu-Olo: "Fretilin only has only one candidate"

At a press conference on Wednesday (02/05) at the Central Committee of Fretilin (CCF) in Comoro Dili, presidential candidate Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo affirmed that there is only one presidential candidate of Fretilin.

Lu-Olo questioned why Ramos Horta used Fretilin in his presidential campaign. He explained that Horta left Fretilin in 1984, so he should not speak as a member or candidate of Fretilin. (DN and TP)

Horta discusses security issues with the political parties

Presidential candidate and Prime Minister Jose Manuel Ramos Horta held a meeting on Wednesday (02/05) at his residence with the political parties supporting him to discuss security issues during the run-off presidential election.

"It is important to prepare for incidents of intimidation especially in areas such as Viqueque, Baucau and Los palos – not only during the presidential run-off but also during the parliamentary election," said Horta.

The meeting was attended by PSD, PD, ASDT, PMD, UNDERTIM, PST, and Fretilin 'Reformist,' including the youth representative from Viqueque district. (DN)

Australian forces find gun and cash in Fretilin cars: Ramos Horta

In response to the accusation by presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta that Australian forces found weapons and cash in Fretilin's cars during Lu-Olo's campaign, the Fretilin campaign coordinator for Ermera district, Domingos Sarmento, said that he would bring the Australian forces to the tribunal if no evidence is found on the case. (TP and STL)

UN report on 1st round of election: Horta accuses STAE of manipulation

Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta reportedly said that the UN report on the first round of elections stated that there were many incidents of manipulation by STAE, the government and Fretilin. (TP)

IRI providing training to almost 700 members of political parties

A press statement from USAID on Wednesday (02/05) stated that USAID through the IRI will continually support Timor-Leste in the electoral process. Currently, it provides training to almost 700 members of political parties; 50 participants are women.

The training focuses on the development of messages, campaign strategy and internal communications.

"The training provide new idea on how to approach our supporters a campaign," said a participant. (TP)

Fretilin's leaders concerned with ISF presence

After officiating the inauguration of a library last Saturday (28/4) in Bercoli village, the Leader of the Fretilin party, Jose Maria dos Reis, said that he was concerned by the presence of the International Stabilization Forces (ISF) across the country, particularly in region I (Los palos, Baucau, and Viqueque).

He said that the ISF in the eastern region do not coordinate with local authorities. (TP) CVA: big money, no results

According to the report from the Human Rights and Justice Association, the work of The Commission of Truth and Friendship (CVA) between Timor-Leste and Indonesia spent much money but did not achieve any major results. CVA, which was set up to establish the truth regarding the referendum, will begin a third round of questioning today. (TP)

Resignation: Ramos Horta waiting for an official letter from CCF

Prime Minster Jose Ramos Horta said that he is prepared to resign when he receives the official letter from the Central Committee of Fretilin (CCF).

Horta said that before taking any decisions, CCF should consult with the president of the republic, Xanana Gusmco. (STL)

CNE is not impartial

Fretilin's vice secretary-general, Jose Manuel Fernandes, observed that the CNE was not impartial during the first presidential election by only publicly declaring complaints against Fretilin. (STL)

Some candidates buying votes

CNE spokesperson Fr. Martinho Gusmco and Maria Angelina Lopes Sarmento told journalists at a press conference on Wednesday (02/05) that the National Elections Commission (CNE) received complaints from several districts, namely in Dili, Ermera, Viqueque, Suai and Manatuto, that some candidates started distributing rice and giving money to gain votes for the runoff presidential election. (STL)

HNGV will go on strike if the government does not move the IDPs

The National Hospital of Guido Valadares (HNGV) threatened to go on strike following threats to their doctors and nurses by unidentified groups.

Some windows of the hospital were destroyed and some IDPs were injured.

"It is better for us to be on strike rather than become victims of their actions. We will publicly announce this and confirm that no treatments will take place during this period," said a doctor. (STL)

Ramos Horta questions the money found on Lu-Olo's followers

Presidential candidate Jose Manuel Ramos Horta questioned whether the money (US$5.000) and weapons found by the ISF on Lu-Olo's campaigners belonged to the government or Fretilin.

The Minister of Justice Domingos Sarmento said the money belonged to the government to fund several projects in Ermera, while Fretilin's Antonio Lima claimed that the money belonged to him. (STL)

STAE violates electoral law

The Chairperson of Joint Commission Monitoring of General Election (KOMEG) Fr. Agostinho de Jesus Soares reportedly said that the attitude of the STAE Director, who did not allow entrance to the CNE commissioners, went against electoral law No. 5/2006.

Fr. Agostinho de Jesus Soares on Wednesday (02/05) said that the CNE has the authority to control the electoral process.