East Timor News Digest 4 – April 1-30, 2010
- East Timor prosecutor appeals against Pires acquittal - Sydney Morning Herald
- Pires calls for review of East Timor legal system - ABC News
- East Timor PM says foreign aid 'squandered on consultants' - Radio Australia
- Gusmao lashes Australia for duplicity - Sydney Morning Herald
- East Timor opposes floating gas plant - Associated Press
- East Timor may derail Woodside project - Australian Associated Press
- Woodside and East Timor disagree over gas plant location - Radio Australia
- Woodside's Sunrise plans still opposed by East Timor - Bloomberg
- East Timor unveils spending splurge - Agence France Presse
- East Timor urges decision on gas development - ABC News
- 'Building trust in Timor-Leste's police, challenging' - New Kerala
- East Timor police declare war on mysterious 'ninjas' - Agence France Presse
- Questions raised about capacity of East Timor's police force - Radio Australia
- Why East Timor has declared war on ninjas - Time Magazine
East Timor prosecutor appeals against Pires acquittal
Sydney Morning Herald - April 9, 2010
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Authorities in Dili have appealed against the acquittal of the Australian Angelita Pires on charges of conspiring to kill East Timor's top two political leaders.
The appeal lodged by the Office of Prosecutor-General has delayed Ms Pires's plan to run for political office in East Timor. But Ms Pires, 44, has begun writing a book about her life as the lover of the slain rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, based on diaries and letters.
A Darwin-based barrister, Jon Tippett, QC, told the Herald that Ms Pires's legal team was preparing to oppose the appeal, to be heard by a panel of Supreme Court judges.
"We were surprised to learn of the appeal because we believe that during a seven-month trial all of the relevant information was disclosed," he said.
"The trial judges heard the evidence and made judgments that we say were reasonable and sound. This appeal is nonsense and will be strongly contested."
Ms Pires, who has been visiting Darwin, has been advised against any unnecessary travel to East Timor before the outcome of the appeal, which is expected to be held within several months.
Pires calls for review of East Timor legal system
ABC News - April 8, 2010
An Darwin woman found not guilty of trying to assassinate East Timor's president two years ago says the country needs to review its judicial system.
Last month a panel of three judges found Angelita Pires not guilty of the attack on Jose Ramos-Horta in February 2008.
Ms Pires was the girlfriend of major Alfredo Reinado, the rebel leader who was fatally shot during the assassination attempt. More than 20 of Ms Pires's co-accused were found guilty.
But Ms Pires claims the prosecutors in East Timor have decided to appeal against the court's verdict on her. "A ludicrous appeal whereby nothing has changed," she said.
"There's still no evidence and just the very fact that the prosecution can appeal on a non-guilty verdict, a finding of no innocence, is completely unfair. It is a judicial system that needs to be reviewed and the right reforms put in place."
East Timor PM says foreign aid 'squandered on consultants'
Radio Australia - April 12, 2010
The Australian government is standing by its aid program in East Timor after a scathing assessment of the performance of donors by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
At a conference of development partners in Dili, Mr Gusmao lashed out at donors, accusing many of squandering aid budgets on their own consultants. But East Timor itself is also coming in for criticism, about its own wealth from resources and how that should be spent.
Presenter: Elizabeth Byrne
Speakers: Professor Stephen Howes, development economist, Crawford School of Economics and Government, Australian National University; Stephen Smith, Australian Foreign Minister
Byrne: Xanana Gusmao's speech takes a wide aim at its donors from the recent US embargo on the port of Dili to the division of Timor Gap spoils by Australia and Indonesia in the late 1980s. Development economist Stephen Howes from the Australian National University says the frustration stems from East Timor's slow development.
Howes: The fact that it has now been independent for more than ten years but half the population still lives in poverty. And I think even more than that the fact that they've got all this oil revenue but that they are not able to convert that into development success. I think that's at the root of this frustration and at the root of this outburst.
Byrne: East Timor remains the world's youngest country. Its growing pains are palpable, reaching a low point in 2008 when the President Jose Ramos Horta was shot. It was just one of many symptoms of East Timor's troubles. Mr Gusmao has blamed donors for not doing enough to help the country progess. He's accused them of providing only technical assistance, with some insisting it be in areas of their choosing. He says others promise assistance which doesn't eventuate. Only a very small number agree to make physical investments, and he says, most of the money goes to their own consultants. East Timor's major donor, Australia, rejects the criticism. Foreign minister Stephen Smith.
Smith: I'm very comfortable with the support we give to East Timor to build the capacity to manage their affairs and to improve the service delivery to their people.
Byrne: Mr Smith wouldn't be drawn though on a scathing assessment in Mr Gusmao's speech on Australia's wider history with East Timor, going back to World War Two.
Smith: I'm not proposing to engage in a running commentary about Australia or East Timor or Indonesia's view of history.
Byrne: Stephen Howes says the most important thing will be security.
Howes: Having a military presence and a police presence, I think that is very important to maintain long term so that East Timor isn't allowed to slide back into basically what was a civil war a few years ago.
Byrne: And he says how the country uses its resources revenue will also be critical.
Howes: If East Timor can maintain stability and I think it can only do that with long-term help from donors then it has at least the potential to convert this oil revenue into development benefits for the people. It's not easy. And a lot of small, resource-rich countries suffer from the resource curse. So I don't think it's going to be easy. But it's going to be impossible without internal security and stability. And I think that's the key role which the donors have to provide long term.
Byrne: Xanana Gusmao has also used the speech to propose his own strategic plan for the future. He wants East Timor off the list of fragile states and to become a medium income country within 15 to 20 years.
Gusmao lashes Australia for duplicity
Sydney Morning Herald - April 9, 2010
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – In a fiercely anti-Western speech, East Timor's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, has accused Australia of sacrificing the lives of 60,000 Timorese in World War II and secretly plotting for Indonesia to take over what was then Portuguese Timor in 1963.
Mr Gusmao said that "adding insult to injury" Australia signed an agreement with Indonesia to share wealth from the Timor Sea while "around 200,000 Timorese died trying to protect their rights during 24 years of war".
Mr Gusmao, a former freedom fighter, said the Japanese occupation of East Timor from 1941 to 1945 covered the entire country and caused great suffering to the Timorese, including the deaths of about 60,000 people.
"According to reliable opinions, this suffering could have been prevented if the Australian forces had not come to [East Timor] in order to wage war here, so as to prevent the Japanese from invading Australia," he told an international donor's conference in Dili on Wednesday.
Mr Gusmao said that according to historians and researchers, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand secretly agreed to East Timor's integration into Indonesia in 1963 "as the best solution for world peace".
"We got to see the result of this agreement in 1975," Mr Gusmao said, referring to Indonesia's bloody invasion of East Timor.
He made the comments before an imminent announcement on the multibillion-dollar Greater Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea. A consortium lead by Woodside has repeatedly rejected East Timor's demand that gas from the project be piped to a processing plant in East Timor, saying its only options are a floating plant above the field or piping the gas to an existing plant in Australia. Revenues from the project are to be split evenly with Australia.
Mr Gusmao also criticised the US over its decision to impose an embargo on Dili's port because it is not regarded as secure enough to protect ships from terrorist attack. "What do they want from us? ... Do they want us to declare open war on terrorism, so as to become even more vulnerable to this world phenomenon?"
Analysts said Mr Gusmao remarks indicated he was moving East Timor away from the influence of the United Nations and Western nations, including Australia. Mr Gusmao referred to a "certain disconnection between us and our partners".
Despite billions of dollars in aid to East Timor "we feel sad for the results ... in building our state", which remained fragile and the poorest in the region, he said. In an apparent reference to UN and foreign aid agency workers, Mr Gusmao said there are people who want East Timor to continue to be ranked as an unstable country "as they surely prefer working in [East Timor] than in Afghanistan or in Iraq".
"Other people are infiltrating [non-government-organisations] who in the name of democracy and human rights only seek to misguide our people and to generate mistrust among the Timorese."
Mr Gusmao denounced the former Fretilin government's policy of saving billions of dollars from oil and gas reserves, which was recommended by the World Bank and other international agencies. He said $5.39 billion in savings held in the US needs to be spent in East Timor to promote fast sustainable growth and to build basic infrastructure.
"The people do not need cash in American banks to help pay American deficits."
East Timor opposes floating gas plant
Associated Press - April 30, 2010
Jakarta – East Timor has rejected a proposal for a floating liquefied natural gas platform in a disputed Timor Sea gas field as a waste of time and money.
Australian energy firm Woodside Petroleum Ltd., which leads a consortium developing the massive Greater Sunrise gas field, announced Thursday that its preferred option was to load tankers at sea from a world-first floating plant.
But the government of East Timor, also known by its Portuguese name Timor-Leste, said the plan was not in the best interests of the country and reiterated that it wants a pipeline to its shores. Australia has also said it would like a pipeline to its northern city of Darwin.
"The nation is firmly committed to building an onshore petroleum industry, inclusive of a pipeline to Timor-Leste from the Greater Sunrise field," Secretary of State Agio Pereira said in a statement. "Timor-Leste will not approve any development of Greater Sunrise that does not include a pipeline to Timor-Leste."
Pereira said the consortium was fully aware of East Timor's position and that its alternate plan reflected "an unacceptable level of arrogance."
"This approach has significantly compromised future relations with the government of Timor-Leste," the statement said.
The gas field – in a disputed area of sea between Australia and East Timor – is estimated to hold 240 million barrels of light oil and 5.4 trillion cubic feet (154 billion cubic meters) of natural gas worth tens of billions of dollars.
East Timor sees the resources as key to lifting its 1.1 million people out of poverty, by stimulating the local economy and creating jobs. The nation has no major industry and unemployment is more than 30 percent.
Woodside chief executive Don Voelte said at a meeting in Perth on Friday that he would lead a delegation to East Timor and Darwin next week to discuss the consortium's ideas.
Woodside and joint venture partners Royal Dutch/Shell, Osaka Gas and ConocoPhillips are licensed to develop Greater Sunrise. Darwin is 280 miles (450 kilometers) from Greater Sunrise. While impoverished East Timor is closer, Woodside argued that a deep trench off the East Timorese coast made a pipeline there technically difficult to build.
Woodside said there were several steps to go before the partners made a final investment decision on the field. Australia has not commented on the consortium's preferred option, saying only that it looks forward to receiving Woodside's development plan.
East Timor may derail Woodside project
Australian Associated Press - April 30, 2010
Xavier La Canna – Woodside Petroleum Ltd will send a high-level team including chief executive Don Voelte to East Timor, after the tiny nation threatened to sink plans for a multi-billion- dollar gas project.
East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, on Friday accused the Australian oil and gas company of arrogance over a decision not to house a liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plant on its shores.
It threatened to pull the plug on a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) development at the Greater Sunrise fields, between Australia and East Timor.
The oil company responded at its annual general meeting in Perth, where Mr Voelte promised to send a delegation to East Timor next week.
"Myself and the head of our Sunrise project, Jon Ozturgut, and our team will travel to Dili next week as well as to Darwin and speak to the Northern Territory's Chief Minister Paul Henderson as well as the various officials include (Jose) Ramos-Horta, the president of Timor Leste," Mr Voelte said.
The statement from East Timor's government came after Woodside on Thursday revealed that joint venture partners unanimously agreed to use a floating platform to process LNG from the Greater Sunrise fields. Woodside is the operator of the joint venture project that also has participation from ConocoPhillips, Shell and Osaka Gas.
Both Darwin and East Timor had been vying to house the $5 billion facility, which will process the gas from the huge field, believed to have a gas resource of 5.13 trillion cubic feet, plus 225.9 million barrels of condensate.
East Timor's secretary of state for the Council of Ministers, H.E. Agio Pereira, on Friday said his nation was committed to building an onshore petroleum industry, which included a pipeline from his country to the Greater Sunrise field.
"Timor-Leste will not approve any development of Greater Sunrise that does not include a pipeline to Timor-Leste," Mr Pereira said.
"Woodside was acutely aware of the government's position before today's announcement but chose to proceed regardless. This is not only a source of great concern, but reflects an unacceptable level of arrogance," Mr Pereira said.
Mr Voelte said East Timor's reaction was premature. "I just know what is going to happen and that is the citizens of Timor-Leste are going to start to wonder why their government doesn't promote something that will improve their lives, will provide millions of dollars of income, provide jobs and everything else," Mr Voelte told the shareholders' meeting. "It is probably just a bit of positioning I suspect," he said.
Woodside has said it chose the floating LNG option because under an agreement between East Timor and Australia in 2007 the fields had to be developed in line with best commercial advantage.
RBS analyst Johannes Faul said Mr Voelte should have been smarter in the way he approached working with the East Timorese government.
"He has obviously got them offside so now has to fly up," Mr Faul said. "It is all about damage control and to contain their (East Timor's) anger," he said.
Shares in Woodside were up five cents at $45.50 on Friday.
Woodside and East Timor disagree over gas plant location
Radio Australia - April 29, 2010
A high stakes dispute between Australian Oil and Gas company Woodside and East Timor's Government has come to a head. Woodside operates the Greater Sunrise gas field, but negotiations over its development have been deadlocked over a disagreement about where a plant to process the gas should be based. Today Woodside announced its preferred option, a platform floating above the field rather than piping the gas for processing in Darwin. But East Timor has said before that it wouldn't accept such a plan.
Presenter: Sara Everingham
Speakers: Peter Strachan, Resources Analyst; Charles Scheiner, La'o Hamutuk Association; Paul Henderson, Northern Territory Chief Minister
Sara Everingham: It was back in 2006 when Australia and East Timor agreed to equally split field royalties from the lucrative Greater Sunrise fields. But it was only today that the Greater Sunrise operator Woodside announced its plans for processing the gas.
It wants to use a platform floating above the field rather than piping the gas to Darwin. The resources analyst Peter Strachan says floating LNG is new technology but is clearly the best option.
Peter Strachan: I think that the industry was really expecting that the floating solution would come out trumps over the solution of piping the gas all the way to Darwin; I think that was really the logical, technical and financial solution for the partners.
Sara Everingham: Is this floating platform, this is new technology is it?
Peter Strachan: It is new technology.
Sara Everingham: Is it the first time it's been done?
Peter Strachan: It will be the first time it's been done but Shell is looking at a similar process at their Prelude project in the Carnarvon basin. It's coming; there are a number of projects in the wing that will develop floating liquefied natural gas.
Sara Everingham: Woodside says that under an agreement between Australia and East Timor it had to choose the most commercially viable plan. The chief executive officer Don Voelte says the Darwin option was rigorously assessed, as was a proposal to pipe the gas to East Timor to be processed at an onshore facility there.
But some time ago Woodside ruled out the East Timor option. Peter Strachan again.
Peter Strachan: If they're going to build this project, it's going to be a five or six billion dollar, at a minimum expenditure and Woodside's not going to pluck that money out of the air, they'll have to go to a bank and for the bank to approve the financing, the bank is going to look at the political risk and the political risk is going to play very highly on their ability to lend funds to this project.
And clearly a floating facility, or a facility in fact that went to Darwin would have a much lower political risk than one which would see billions of dollars worth of the bank's money, being spent in East Timor.
Sara Everingham: But East Timor's Government argues Woodside never properly considered processing the gas in East Timor. In January the Government stepped up its rhetoric and said it wouldn't accept Woodside's development plan.
Charles Scheiner is a researcher at a development monitoring NGO in East Timor.
Charles Scheiner: It's a very widely held view among the people and among the political leaders of all parties that the Greater Sunrise gas and oil field is Timor-Leste's largest natural resource and that that resource needs to be used to the maximum benefit of this country.
Sara Everingham: Under the Greater Sunrise Treaty both Australia and East Timor have to approve the plan for processing the gas. In a statement Australia's Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says Australia will consider Woodside's plan. The Northern Territory chief minister Paul Henderson is disappointed.
Paul Henderson: I've had a discussion with Don Voelte this morning, the chairman or the CEO of Woodside Australia and Don Voelte has said to me very strongly today there will be significant economic and business benefits and opportunities for Territory business.
Sara Everingham: East Timor's Government is yet to respond to today's announcement by Woodside. It remains to be seen if the country's Government will match its words with actions.
The analyst Peter Strachan says East Timor might decide to leave the gas in the ground in a bid to find a better deal, but will have to put up a good argument to do that.
Peter Strachan: It may well be that the East Timorese will dig their feet in and want to have processing onshore in East Timor and I'm not sure whether they can actually do that under the terms of the treaty that East Timor has with Australia.
Sara Everingham: If all the parties don't agree on a location for processing the gas by 2013, the treaty on Greater Sunrise, between Australia and East Timor could collapse.
Woodside's Sunrise plans still opposed by East Timor
Bloomberg - April 12, 2010
James Paton – Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, continues to face opposition from East Timor's government to proposals for developing the Sunrise project in the Timor Sea.
East Timor objects to plans to pipe the gas to Darwin or use a floating plant, Agio Pereira, a government spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement today. East Timor is committed to processing the fuel on its own soil, he said.
Woodside had sought to make a decision by the end of March on how to proceed with Sunrise, one of more than a dozen proposed liquefied natural gas ventures in Australia targeting rising demand for cleaner-burning fuels.
Roger Martin, a spokesman for Woodside in Perth, said by e-mail he declined to comment.
Woodside is the operator of the Sunrise project, with a 33 percent stake. ConocoPhillips has a 30 percent interest, Royal Dutch Shell Plc has 27 percent and Osaka Gas Co. has 10 percent.
East Timor unveils spending splurge
Agence France Presse - April 7, 2010
East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao pledged Wednesday to increase government investment of the tiny country's oil wealth to boost economic growth and living standards.
Gusmao told international donors at the country's eighth annual development partners meeting that "the people need us to create conditions to improve their livelihoods".
"The people do not need cash in American banks to help pay American deficits. President Obama doesn't need our $US5 billion ($A5.39 billion)," he said.
The former freedom fighter was in fiery form as he denounced the country's previous policy of saving money derived from oil and gas reserves.
"If the needs of the country require fast and sustainable growth, we have to invest in basic infrastructure, and for this to be possible, we need to unblock the mistaken policy of savings in order to invest those revenues in the best way," he said.
"The people of Timor-Leste need the money here to be invested in human capital, in agriculture, in industry, in infrastructure and in social services such as education, health and assistance to the most vulnerable ones," Gusmao added, referring to the country by its formal name.
The meeting was attended by representatives of foreign governments, the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, the Catholic Church and civil society groups.
East Timor has a population of around 1.1 million people and remains heavily dependent on international aid eight years after achieving formal independence from Indonesia.
But it is constrained by laws designed to ensure fiscal responsibility to withdraw only three per cent of its petroleum wealth each year, meaning the money is piling up mainly in the form of US bonds.
The new commitment to investment comes a week after Jeffrey Sachs, a renowned US economist and special adviser to the UN secretary-general, visited Dili and urged the government to rethink the way it uses its oil wealth.
Ameerah Haq, special representative of the UN secretary-general for East Timor, voiced her support for Gusmao's proposed belt- loosening and said it was important to wean the economy off oil- based development.
"In this regard, I agree with Professor Sachs that there should be bolder, yet fiscally responsible, withdraws from the Petroleum Fund, to invest more heavily in human capital and productive physical assets to support strong socioeconomic development in the years to come," she said.
East Timor urges decision on gas development
ABC News - April 7, 2010
Sara Everingham – East Timorese president Jose Ramos-Horta says it is time to break the impasse between Australia and his country over the development of the Greater Sunrise gas field.
It is four years since Australia and East Timor agreed to equally split billions of dollars of field royalties from the Greater Sunrise field. But since then the project has stalled over the location of a plant to liquefy the gas.
Dr Ramos-Horta has been in a high stakes dispute with the field's developer, Woodside, over the benefits that would go to East Timor's economy and he says a solution is needed soon.
"In our own self-interest we must move on, make a decision on development of Greater Sunrise," he said.
East Timor's government wants the gas piped to a plant in East Timor. Under the treaty, Woodside and its development partners must choose the most viable plan.
Woodside has ruled out the East Timor option and is deciding between a platform floating above the field and piping the gas to Darwin.
Dr Ramos-Horta suggests a floating platform might benefit all sides. "We might rhetorically say 'leave it for the future' but this country has a growing population, growing needs," he said.
"In the next 10, 20 years we might have a population of 3 million. Just in the next five years, we have to create thousands, thousands and thousands of jobs for the younger people coming into the job market."
East Timor's government has been threatening to oppose the project if the plant is not built in East Timor.
Timor option
The country's secretary of state for Natural Resources, Alfredo Pires, says studies confirm the East Timor option is viable. "We believe much stronger that the Timor-Leste option should be the option that has to be taken into consideration," he said.
Mr Pires is concerned that a floating platform would be the first of its kind.
"We must not forget that the floating LNG is a new option and... Timor-Leste should think about whether we want to be part of this guinea pig experiment, or we might allow other countries to try it first and then come back to us," he said.
A spokesman for East Timor's opposition, Fretilin's Jose Teixeira, agrees a floating platform should be ruled out. "We think there are natural advantages that Timor Leste has to offer," he said.
"Primarily in terms of the cost of labour, which is much lower, the access to manual labour from other parts of Asia makes the Australian destination a lot more expensive, including the fact that it is three or four times further away from the field than Timor Leste."
A spokesman for Australian Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says the matter is a decision for Woodside. Woodside recently set two deadlines for a decision on where to liquefy the gas but it missed both of them.
Resources analyst Peter Strachan says if all the parties do not agree to a plan by 2013, the treaty between East Timor and Australia for developing Greater Sunrise could collapse.
"Maybe East Timor is stalling the project in the hope that the existing contractors will just get fed up and sell it to someone else," he said, adding that the East Timor option is too risky.
There have been reports East Timor has asked other companies in Asia to look at piping the gas to Timor.
Mr Strachan says the dispute has damaged East Timor's reputation as a place to do business. Woodside has a number of other big projects on its plate but says it hopes to make a decision on Greater Sunrise soon.
'Building trust in Timor-Leste's police, challenging'
New Kerala - April 23, 2010
New York – Timor-Leste's police force has made considerable strides since its creation ten years ago, the top United Nations police official in the nation has said, while adding that the key challenge remains bolstering the trust of the people in the fledgling institution.
UN Police Commissioner Luis Miguel Carrilho told the UN News Centre that Timor-Leste is now a "safe country" with extremely low crime rates.
The restaurants in the capital and most populous city, Dili, are bustling, and "you can see people enjoying their daily routines," he added.
The main task, the official said, is to "increase the trust of the community in the Timorese police [known as PNTL] and to make sure that we leave behind a sustainable and credible police force."
For this to happen, he noted, the UN Police (UNPOL) must transfer their skills to their Timorese counterparts, maintaining open lines of communication between the two sides.
But Carrilho cautioned that this is an "ongoing process," given that it takes generations to build a police force. "The police will evolve as the society evolves," he pointed out.
The PNTL is taking a community-based approach to policing, addressing all issues as they arise, endeavouring to prevent crimes from occurring and bringing all culprits to justice.
Also of paramount concern is ensuring that human rights are always respected, that force is only used as a last resort and that the police remain "rigorously" apolitical, said Carrilho.
Last month, parades were held in Dili to mark the first decade of existence of the PNTL, established on 27 March 2000 by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), which was set up to assist the country during its transition to independence in 1999.
Since then, the Police Commissioner said, "very, very positive" steps have been taken to enhance the standing of the PNTL.
Since last year, the UN has been handing over policing responsibilities to Timor-Leste as part of the gradual transfer of the security functions it assumed in 2006 after dozens of people were killed and 155,000 others, or 15 per cent of the population, were driven from their homes in an eruption of violence in the newly independent country.
To date, the PNTL has resumed primary responsibility over six districts, including Baucau, the second largest city, as well as three units – the Police Intelligence Service, the Police Training Centre and the Maritime Unit.
Carrilho underscored that there are "no timelines" when it comes to transferring functions to the PNTL, with decisions to hand over responsibility being made jointly by Timorese and UN authorities. Even after the PNTL assumes primary responsibility over districts and units, UNPOL is continuing to support and mentor Timorese officers.
So far, he said, there has been no major fluctuation in the crime rate in districts that have been handed over, a sign that "the PNTL is able to provide a good service."
The current UN peacekeeping mission in the country, known as UNMIT, was set up in 2006 to replace several earlier missions, including UNTAET, in the country that the world body shepherded to independence in 2002. It currently comprises nearly 1,500 UNPOL staff from nearly 40 countries.
Last month, the top UN official in Timor-Leste said that the world body and the Government will be consulting closely on how the UN can best support the country's efforts to secure a stable and prosperous future between now and 2012, when it is expected that UNMIT will close its operations there.
"I look forward very much to the dialogue with the Government about how best UNMIT and the United Nations can support the national process in the next three years," said Ameerah Haq, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Timor-Leste and head of the UN mission.
She said that she expects that UNMIT – whose current mandate runs until February 2011 – will continue this year at its present strength, but will gradually start phasing down starting next year.
East Timor police declare war on mysterious 'ninjas'
Agence France Presse - April 6, 2010
Matt Crook, Dili – East Timor police have declared war on mysterious "ninjas" accused of murder and subversion in a new twist to the young country's struggle to establish security.
The latest whispers of ninjas to transfix the nation emerged after the murders of a 15-year-old girl in the western district of Bobonaro on December 22 and a baby boy in Covalima, also in the west, on January 19.
Police chief Longuinhos Monteiro donned full military gear to lead the operation, telling reporters that "any ninjas who want to take us on, your final stop will be Santa Cruz cemetery".
But many observers dismiss the ninja threat as a political game and suggest the authorities are using techniques of social control learned from the Indonesian army's brutal 24-year occupation.
"It's a method used by the Indonesian military to limit the movement of the citizens," said Rogerio Viegas Vicente, program manager for leading Timorese human rights group HAK Association.
Kidnappings and disappearances were commonplace during the 1975- 99 occupation, in which more than 100,000 people died, and the East Timorese remain edgy when it comes to rumors of shadowy assassins.
Indonesian death squads referred to as ninjas terrorized villagers and reports of masked ninjas committing crimes have persisted since formal independence in 2002.
In 2008, residents of Dili and the northern coastal district of Liquica reported that ninjas were trying to kidnap their children.
The Australian government's travel guidance advises citizens to avoid "martial arts groups" in East Timor – an apparent reference to youth gangs that have fought street battles in recent years.
But human rights researchers who have investigated the murders say the ninjas being hunted by the police in Bobonaro and Covalima do not exist.
"They're ordinary crimes that happened, the same as in other districts," Vicente told AFP.
Police launched a full-scale anti-ninja operation on Jan. 22 and recently extended it for six months with support from the armed forces.
Twenty members of dissident political group CPD-RDTL and underground political organization Bua-Malus were arrested on February 5 on suspicion of involvement in "ninja" activities.
Police released all but two, who were detained in relation to the killing of the girl in Bobonaro. Police inspector Mateus Fernandes claimed that CPD-RDTL and Bua-Malus were attempting to launch a coup against the state.
But HAK says the girl's murder was the result of a private dispute fuelled by political rivalry. Members of CPD-RDTL, meanwhile, have levelled a string of allegations of human rights abuses against the police.
The country's rights ombudsman is now investigating the police for what independent analysts said was an over-the-top response to a low-level political feud.
"CPD-RDTL and Bua-Malus are extensions of political interests in East Timor," said Edward Rees, a senior adviser to humanitarian group the Peace Dividend Trust.
"While political competition is healthy, imposing heavy-handed police operations is more than what is really necessary for managing criminal acts mixed with political activism."
An investigation by HAK researchers found evidence of police abuses including "ramming with rifle butts, kicking, beating with batons, cutting people's hair with a knife, threatening their life and speaking sharply to people" who would not admit to being ninjas.
HAK also found that police officers received "arbitrary orders or plans from their superior to detain individuals identified as CPD-RDTL members".
As a result, the police operation has created more insecurity than the alleged ninjas, Vicente said.
This does not augur well for a force that has been mentored by the United Nations and is starting to take more direct responsibility for security as the UN presence in East Timor winds down.
Speaking at a news conference, police chief Monteiro denied the anti-ninja operation had a political motive. "What kind of politics do the police carry out? The politics of the police is to maintain security and public order," he said.
Questions raised about capacity of East Timor's police force
Radio Australia - April 1, 2010
East Timor has marked the tenth anniversary of the founding of its own police force. At a weekend ceremony, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said he hoped the handover of all police responsibilities from the United Nations to the Timorese force would be finished by the end of this year. But the shooting death of a popular musician in Dili in December allegedly shot by a Timorese officer – is just one incident that's raised questions about the capacity of the force.
Presenter: Sara Everingham
Speakers: Lino Correia, East Timorese whose brother was shot; East Timor police commander Longuinhos Monteiro; East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta
Lino Correia: It's almost 12 o'clock when my brother he called me and says Kuka is got shot in a party somewhere in Delta Nova.
Sara Everingham: The brother of 25 year-old Kuka Lebre is trying to piece together what happened the night his loved one was shot dead.
Lino Correia: There are five witnesses for my brother; according to their story, there were people outside who tried to create a problem inside the party. The police came once they get down from the car they right away shoot.
Sara Everingham: Lino Correia has been back to the scene to make a video to collect his own evidence. It's alleged Kuka Lebre was shot by a police officer and his family is deeply suspicious of the internal police investigation. Lino Correia says his brother's death was a shock.
Lino Correia: We start crying because it's really, really pain to hear about that.
Sara Everingham: Kuka Lebre was a popular musician in East Timor. His death touched many people in the country. After the shooting Timorese police patrols in Dili were put on hold and the accused officer was suspended. East Timor police commander Longuinhos Monteiro says the matter is being dealt with properly.
Longuinhos Monteiro: If you broken disciplinary action, there's an appropriate way appropriate mechanism to deal with and it's working.
Sara Everingham: East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta.
Jose Ramos-Horta: It is, no matter the causes of the loss of a human life, most serious when a human is life is lost in the hands of police, particularly when the person is unarmed but as serious as it may be, it happened once in the year, other than that our police behaviour has improved dramatically in the last few years.
Sara Everingham: But more questions were raised about the police force's conduct when a video emerged on YouTube. It appears to show Timorese police officers hitting a lone protester in the presence of United Nations police. The Timorese police Commander Longuinhos Monteiro again.
Longuinhos Monteiro: You cannot be insisting us to be 100 per cent professional and be angels. Not any police force in the world didn't commit any mistake always; I can prove it.
Sara Everingham: At a ceremony on Saturday marking ten years since the establishment of East Timor's police force the country's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao acknowledged that serious disciplinary problems are still damaging the public's view of the police.
But he praised the force for becoming a more credible institution and he said a new merit-based promotion system is making the force non-partisan and professional.
The government hopes the hand back of all police responsibility from the United Nations to the Timorese police will finish by the end of the year. The President Jose Ramos-Horta says it can't happen soon enough.
Jose Ramos-Horta: I want the country want a quicker handover from the United Nations police to Indonesian police responsibilities.
Sara Everingham: The international crisis group has warned that the Timorese Government has promoted a paramilitary style of policing but it argues the UN handover should be expedited because the UN taskforce has limited powers over East Timor's police force and has limited support from the government. The President wants an expanded training role for countries such as Australia.
Jose Ramos-Horta: In terms of the UN training, a lot is left to be desired because there are so many nationalities doing that training, imparting knowledge or experience from their respective countries.
Sara Everingham: The UN's police Commissioner in East Timor Luis Carrilho says so far the UN's handover to the Timorese force has been a success.
Luis Carrilho: Yes I believe that we will leave behind a credible police force.
Sara Everingham: But the family of Kuka Lebre is not so sure.
The case of the shooting is now in the hands of East Timor's public prosecutors.
Why East Timor has declared war on ninjas
Time Magazine - April 22, 2010
Ishaan Tharoor – For most, the presence of an outfit of ninjas conjures scenes of Japanese comic book assassins or, perhaps, of mutant turtles dwelling in a sewer. But in East Timor, ninjas have become a national security threat. The impoverished country, perched on the fringes of the Indonesian archipelago, is in the grips of a six-month campaign aimed at curbing "ninja" activities – a euphemism, ostensibly, for clandestine, anti-government militancy. Earlier this year, Longuinhos Monteiro, East Timor's police chief, donned commando fatigues and personally led an operation into the country's western marches. He sent out a warning via the press: "Any ninjas who want to take us on, your final stop will be Santa Cruz cemetery [in the capital, Dili]."
To understand the way of the East Timor ninja, one has to look at the nation itself. After becoming formally independent in 2002, East Timor remains very much a fledgling – even experimental – state with a pack of international institutions and NGOs propping up a government that has limited capabilities of its own. The police chief's ninja-fighting bravado was spurred by the mysterious murders of a teenage girl in December and an infant child in January. But, critics say, his campaign masks the misdeeds and brutality of the country's own police, who are slowly taking back control from a force of international peackeepers. Moreover, the threat of "ninjas" resonates deep in the psyche of a nation still traumatized and torn by years of occupation and civil strife. "This idea of a masked man, of a covert agent that's difficult to identify – a kind of ghost – haunts this place," says Silas Everett, country director for East Timor at the Asia Foundation.
The term "ninja" in East Timor doesn't quite evoke a real band of fighters, but a hidden, sometimes imaginary menace stalking the country. It came into parlance in the 1990s, when shadowy militias backed by the Indonesian army targeted East Timorese independence activists. Villages were terrorized and countless people kidnapped and killed in the dark by men garbed in black. It's estimated that over 100,000 East Timorese lost their lives during Indonesia's 24-year-long occupation of the former Portuguese colony. (The country's current population is a little over one million.)
The fear of the death squads played into ancient archipelago lore of a lurking, shapeless apparition that snatches babies and horses in the dead of the night. In a country where forms of witchcraft and sorcery are still widely practiced, the new, real danger of the ninja acquired mystical properties. It's still not uncommon, say researchers, for East Timorese to leave a glass of water outside their door, a knife bobbing within, to ward off the nocturnal ninja.
The new police campaign has not turned up anything quite as fantastical, arresting 20 members of a ragtag dissident group in February. Observers and members of Dili-based NGOs say the police are possibly exploiting the specter of a ninja threat to settle political scores. This is not uncommon in East Timor – despite its small size, the country is riven with a tangled mess of factions and enmities. Fissures remain between those from the west and east of the country, as well as camps once loyal and once opposed to colonial rule under Lisbon and later Jakarta. Divisions within the army led to widespread violence in 2006 that was calmed only by the intervention of peacekeepers sent by Australia and a handful of other nations. In 2008, a unit of renegade soldiers nearly succeeded in a brazen attempt to assassinate both East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel laureate, and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. With society so fragmented and law and order so fragile, gangs have come to fill the void.
While nobody in East Timor would ever self-identify as a "ninja," as many as 90,000 people – almost a tenth of the population – may belong to one of the country's fifteen-odd "martial arts" groups, or gangs, according to James Scambary, an Australian researcher who is a leading authority on gang culture in the country. Some of these organizations began as cells of resistance to Indonesian occupation between 1975 and 1999; others were first set up by Jakarta as a means to foster patriotism. The end result is a country full of militarized communities with deceptively fanciful names like the "Wise Children of the Land" or "Brotherhood of the Faithful Heart of the Lotus Flower." They have come to swallow up and represent whole neighborhoods and villages, engaging in extortion and fighting with rival gangs over property and turf and, on occasion, over differing political affiliations. "All of these groups see themselves not as gangs, but as security," says Scambary. "They're organs of their communities and provide a form of welfare and protection."
Scambary notes that, parallel to the growing predominance of these violent martial arts groups, there has been an emergence of new apocalyptic, millenarian cults in East Timor, where deeply rooted animist traditions mix with colonial Portuguese Catholicism as well as a new wave of Brazilian Pentecostalism. One group is reportedly parading an 11-year-old boy around as the son of Christ. The head of another claims to be Christ's brother; he is also a member of parliament in Dili. These sects are increasingly engaging in criminal activity, though on a smaller scale than the martial arts groups. Still, says Scambary, they, too, are "harbingers of the sort of social discontent" and disorder that led up to the chaos of 2006.
East Timor ranks near the bottom of the United Nations' human development index. Nearly half the country is illiterate and 40% of its male population is unemployed. Newly found reserves of offshore oil and gas are slowly enabling the government to fill its meager coffers, but East Timor's political leadership is considered too mired in its own squabbles to steer the country toward safe ground. A backlog of some 4000 cases in the courts feeds into a culture accustomed to vigilante justice. Despite a significant UN program to nurture its development, the country's police force is widely seen to be ineffectual, as well as caught up in gang rivalries. Yayasan HAK, a Dili-based human rights group, says it has evidence of police abuses committed during the recent anti-ninja campaign – detainees who refused to admit being ninjas were allegedly kicked and beaten with rifle butts.
Indeed, in this environment of instability and uncertainty, the mythical figure of the ninja proves all the more unsettling. Everett of the Asia Foundation recounts a story told to him by UN officials who had been summoned to an outlying district of the country by villagers, claiming they had seized a ninja. Upon arriving, they were directed toward a woman said to be literally holding the would-be assassin. They found her and looked on in disbelief. Says Everett: "She was clutching nothing but air."