Claim 20,000 pro-Alkatiri demonstrators waiting outside Dili

PM - Monday, 26 June , 2006 18:14:00
Reporter: Mark Colvin

MARK COLVIN: Arsenio Bano is the Minister for Labour and Social Affairs in Mr Alkatiri's Government.

He told me a short time ago that Mari Alkatiri's resignation had not yet formally taken effect.

More alarmingly, he claimed that there were 20,000 pro-Alkatiri demonstrators waiting outside Dili, although he claimed they were under control.

This is how Arsenio Bano described the Prime Minister's present situation.

ARSENIO BANO: He's waiting for our President to respond to his declaration so he can, we can actual start talk about an interim government.

MARK COLVIN: Is there still a government? If the Prime Minster has resigned, who is now governing East Timor?

ARSENIO BANO: You misinterpret what I'm saying. I'm saying that he's ready to resign because it's going to also take out if the President resigns. So to avoid that he has already declared that he is ready to resign and ready to dialogue with the President to form a new interim government.

So I can say that he has basically tried to find a way out, the best way to contribute to the next step, so he is not yet resigned but he is ready to do that.

MARK COLVIN: So he is still Prime Minister for the moment?

ARSENIO BANO: For the moment, I can… my understanding is yes.

MARK COLVIN: Can we put it this way then, he has offered his resignation and is waiting for the President to accept the offer?

ARSENIO BANO: Yes.

MARK COLVIN: If the President accepts, and it does seem likely given what he has already said and done, if he accepts, what happens then?

Is there, as you say, an interim prime minister appointed, or is there the calling of an early election?

ARSENIO BANO: Ah, it can be, anything can happen if the President accepts. It's going to also depend on the new interim government and depends on how the new interim government.

MARK COLVIN: If there is an early election, do you think that Fretilin will suffer because of what has come out of this crisis?

ARSENIO BANO: What I can say is that we have people in the streets, they are members of Fretilin, they continue to call themselves Fretilin. And people who are within actually prevent them to do counter demonstrations. In fact, there is a lot of members of Fretilin that are ready to be called to do the elections but we, as a member of Fretilin, say in contrary on that. So I think…

MARK COLVIN: So you say that Fretilin has been holding back its people and stopping them from putting on counter demonstrations?

ARSENIO BANO: That's exactly, yeah, yeah, that's exactly what we have been doing in the past one of two weeks, and we have now almost 20,000 people out of Dili, but I think that's not the way to solve the problem.

MARK COLVIN: It's very easy to say that you've got 20,000 people ready to demonstrate, but the other side has people who are actually demonstrating. I mean, it's an easy claim to make isn't it?

ARSENIO BANO: It is correct, but we have that proof. In fact, we been try to tell these people, they are only half an hour away from here, Dili, there has been calm that has been built up in the past three days, and we said that, don't counter, it is not the way to solve the problem.

MARK COLVIN: Do you think they will continue to obey those orders now that Mari Alkatiri has offered to resign? Do you think they'll be angry about that?

ARSENIO BANO: I think they are upset, but we have to try to explain the nature of the problem. I think counter demonstration or any demonstration will continue, (inaudible) the country will suffer.

MARK COLVIN: That's Arsenio Bano, Minister for Labour and Social Affairs in Mari Alkatiri's Government.