East Timor government not split, Labor MP says

In The Age
Last Update: Monday, May 29, 2006. 9:48am (AEST)

Federal Labor backbencher Warren Snowdon says his sources in East Timor have denied there is a split in the East Timorese Government,and have accused Prime Minister John Howard of destabilising the elected Government.

On Friday, Mr Howard said it is time for the country's political leaders to lift their game, and East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has acknowledged a failure of government leadership in therun-up to the current crisis.

Portugal's Foreign Minister has described Mr Howard's remarks as interference in the internal affairs of East Timor.

Mr Snowdon says his contacts in East Timor insist that reports about a split between Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and President Xanana Gusmao are wrong.

"They're very concerned about the assertions being made that somehowor another there's a split between the Prime Minister and the President, that they're not working effectively together, that they've sort of got opposing views about all this," he said."I'm told from sources I have, that are quite reliable, that isn't thecase and they want the world to know that's not the case.

"Mr Snowdon says his sources are angry at Mr Howard's remarks and see such comments as destabilising the Alkatiri Government.

"They're very concerned that this is being used by people who... are opposed to the Government as a means of destabilising the Governmentand painting a picture to the world that, somehow or other, the Timorese Government under Alkatiri has failed in its work," he said.

"They point to the fact that the donor countries met recently, apparently, and indicated their support for the progress that had been made in East Timor.

"I think you have to be very careful of making those assertions that the Prime Minister has made.

"We still have an elected government in East Timor, they will have elections in a couple of months time and they will have the opportunity to express their views."

Mr Snowdon's view is in contrast to that of Labor's foreign affairsspokesman Kevin Rudd."There is plainly disagreement between how the Prime Minister sees things, Mr Alkatiri and how others within the East Timor Government see things," he said.

"When Parliament resumes in East Timor, whether that will prove to bean effective forum for resolving these disagreements we don't yet know.

"We hope that the new UN special envoy Ian Martin is able to play aparticular role in bringing these conflicting views to some point of resolution."


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