Vigaristas, intriguistas... sempre os mesmos.

Alkatiri alleged to have recruited armed group

The World Today - Thursday, 8 June , 2006 12:26:00

Reporter: Liz Jackson

ELEANOR HALL: Claims are emerging in East Timor today of an armed group whose members say they were recruited on the instruction of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to destroy his political opponents.

Mr Alkatiri has today denied those claims, which were made to Liz Jackson of the ABC's Four Corners program, and Liz Jackson joins us now in Dili.

So Liz, you met this group last night. What did they tell you about their connection to the Prime Minister?

LIZ JACKSON: Well, basically they were a group of about 30 men who came to meet us very late at night. A number of them had travelled three, four hours to be at the meeting. They came at about 12 o'clock, one o'clock at night.

They claim that they were recruited by the former Interior Minister, Rogerio Lobato, on the instructions of the Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

And they say that they were asked to do two things: one, to settle down differences between those people from the east and the west of Timor, but also far more seriously they claim that, three of them claim... the central leadership of this group claim that they knew their mission and were specifically told their mission was to eliminate political opponents, to eliminate the so-called petitioners group and people who break the Fretilin rules.

ELEANOR HALL: And what did you understand by this term eliminate? Did you… a political term, or, you know, a term that actually involves killing people?

LIZ JACKSON: Well, I did specifically ask that question and they said specifically that the Prime Minister said that they should kill political opponents.

I should add that they claim… they don't claim that they have actually done that. They don't claim to have killed political opponents.

But they do claim that they were formulated to last a year, until the next elections, and that their job was to intimidate the support.

ELEANOR HALL: Were they given weapons?

LIZ JACKSON: Oh, they brought weapons. I mean, they brought weapons to the meeting last night. I mean, they claim, and give dates and times of places where they were given weapons and people who gave them weapons. They say that in all they had 18 assault rifles, 6,000 round of ammunition, two vehicles and uniforms.

ELEANOR HALL: They claim they were given weapons. By whom?

LIZ JACKSON: Well, they say basically organised by the former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato.

ELEANOR HALL: And Liz, just who are these people? How do you verify their claims?

LIZ JACKSON: Well, that's extremely difficult. I mean, I think that one thing that you can clearly verify is that they are civilians and they do have weapons. So that in itself is a matter of concern.

In terms of verifying their claims, they've given us a list, a full list, of the 30 names of the people.

So I suppose to the extent that they're prepared to put up their hands in the current climate and say: "We are people who… former Falantil fighters, who have accepted weapons on behalf of the present Government and senior ministers within that Government" - their preparedness to face up to that puts it one stage above second-hand rumours.

And as I say, there's no doubt that they are people who are well armed. They're a highly disciplined group. And this was the message they wanted us to put out into the public domain and put to the Prime Minister.

ELEANOR HALL: Why do they want this message out there now?

LIZ JACKSON: I think they're part of a… they clearly have an interest in seeing the removal of the Prime Minister.

ELEANOR HALL: Now, you've since spoken to…

LIZ JACKSON: I mean they explicitly state that…

ELEANOR HALL: Sorry, you've since spoken to Mr Alkatiri. How did he respond to these claims?

LIZ JACKSON: Well, he said that he didn't know the leader of the group.

He said yes, he did know Commander Reilos (phonetic). He did accept that he'd met him on the day that was listed in the chronology, but said that none of the matters that Commander Reilos suggested had been put to him were put to him.

And he just said it's one more attempt to demonise him, it's one of the many rumours, and denied absolutely that a Fretilin secret security team existed.

ELEANOR HALL: Liz Jackson in Dili, thank you.