The Sydney Morning Herald.
Gusmao offered means to sack PM
Lindsay Murdoch in Dili and Cynthia Banham
June 12, 2006

"SUPPORTERS of East Timor's President, Xanana Gusmao, are frustrated by his inability to solve the country's political crisis and want a "conference of intellectuals" to consider constitutional amendments to increase his power over the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri.

Meanwhile, Mr Alkatiri denies having ordered the assassination of his political opponents and says he has nothing to hide from any United Nations investigation.

The Sun-Herald revealed yesterday that Fernando "Lasama" Araujo, the leader of East Timor's second-largest party, went into hiding after police told him they had been ordered to kill him by people at the highest level of government. Mr Araujo said he believed the order was given by Mr Alkatiri, a long-time political foe.

Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres, the president of Mr Alkatiri's ruling Fretilin party, last night lashed out at critics of the Prime Minister, saying Mr Alkatiri never ordered anybody killed.

"Fretilin will win the national elections next year, even though many people are trying to accuse us," Mr Guterres told Timorese journalists in Dili.

Australian Federal Police in Dili would not investigate Mr Araujo's claim, the Justice Minister, Chris Ellison, said yesterday. They were busy investigating killings in the capital, he told the Nine Network. "What we have to deal with, in the first instance, is restoring law and order and preserving the evidence from those crimes that have been committed and bringing to justice those who are guilty of those crimes no matter who they are."

Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said there was a role for the UN to "get to the bottom of this matter" and to independently investigate numerous accusations flying around East Timor at the moment.

Alfredo Reinado, the commander of a group of armed rebel soldiers, told journalists yesterday that "there has not been much progress" in solving the crisis that Mr Gusmao assumed responsibility for fixing two weeks ago.

In a church in Maubisse, a village in the mountainous west of East Timor, Major Reinado yesterday said he supported a "conference of intellectuals", saying that Mr Gusmao "needs help" in finding a solution to the crisis.

"Time is the most dangerous weapon. That can kill people," Major Reinado said. "We need decisions now."

The swaggering, Australian-trained soldier turned up at the church with a dozen men armed with automatic weapons. They were accompanied by two Australian SAS soldiers who also carried automatic weapons.

An opposition MP, Manuel Tilman, said the conference participants, mainly academics, would look at how Mr Gusmao could suspend a part of the constitution, opening the way for him to dissolve Mr Alkatiri's government and set-up a coalition of national unity.

"The President does not have the powers he needs at the moment," said Mr Tilman, one of the members of a committee that drafted the constitution.

A Timorese journalist in Ermera, the coffee growing region of the country's west, said yesterday that hundreds of protesters who went to Dili last week to present Mr Gusmao with a petition demanding he sack Mr Alkatiri are threatening to return to the city if they do not get a response from him soon.

The commander of Australia's peacekeeping force in East Timor, Mick Slater, said at the weekend that Mr Gusmao was "engaging" three rebel soldier groups, including the one led by Major Reinado."

Porque se dá importância a um deputado de um grupo parlamentar que tem 2 deputados e que exige uma revisão constitucional?

Porque é que todos os dias aparecem estes rebeldes holiwoodescos?

Porque é que não se desarmam estes senhores e se desarmam os seguranças do Chefe de Estado?

Porque é que o Reinado tem uma escolta de SAS australianos?

Porquê?

E já agora, que intelectuais?!

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