Notícias - em inglês

The Age - October 28, 2006

Timor army chief wants Australian forces probe
Lindsay Murdoch in Dili


THE commander of East Timor's army has called for an investigation into the behaviour of Australian troops in Dili, including claims that they have taken sides in the conflict that plunged the country into violence.

Brigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak also called for Australia's troops to be put under United Nations command, saying their mission has obviously failed because six months after they had arrived in the country, Dili "looks like cowboy city".

Violence escalated in Dili this week with at least eight people killed and many others injured in attacks.

"I am asking for an investigation so that the prestige of the Australian force can be recovered," General Ruak told The Age in a rare interview.

"The reality is there have been a lot of accusations made, there are a lot of rumours going around (and) there is an enormous perception (about Australia taking sides) and now it needs to be made clear that it doesn't exist."

Australia's force commander in Dili, Brigadier Mal Rerden, strongly defended the behaviour of his 1000 troops, saying that in the last few days there has been an orchestrated campaign against the Australians to try to force them to leave.

"I think there are elements out there who have their own agenda and there are criminal elements who prefer not to have a neutral professional force on the ground to control them," Brigadier Rerden said.

He said his force was trying to find out who was behind the rumours that have provoked rock-throwing gangs to confront Australian police and troop vehicles.

"I think the question should be asked who is doing this and why are they doing it," Brigadier Rerden said.

General Ruak said he would write to the East Timorese Government within days calling for "state bodies" to conduct the investigation.

He said having Australia's troops and UN forces under different commands has not worked. "One says to go up and one says to go down," he said.

"When dealing with a conflict there should only be one commander."

The Howard Government has lobbied the UN to keep command of its troops in Dili, despite objections from many countries. The UN is reviewing its position.

Brigadier Rerden defended Australia's stand. "We are operating in close co-operation with the UN forces," he said.

The UN will soon have 1600 international police, including 200 Australians, and 500 civilian personnel deployed to help quell violence and organise elections next year.

Australia is expected to maintain a force of about 1000 troops at least until after the elections.

Signalling that he and his troops are becoming restless after being confined to barracks for six months, General Ruak, a former guerilla fighter against the Indonesians, said he wanted to discuss with the East Timor Government the role his troops could play in bringing peace.

On Thursday, he released a statement calling for an East Timorese parliamentary committee to investigate what he said had been a coup to bring down the government of former prime minister Mari Alkatiri amid attempts to force the formation of a government of national unity. He also said that a UN inquiry into the violence had failed to consider political issues.

The inquiry recommended that he be prosecuted for distributing weapons to civilians. But Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta has stood by General Ruak, issuing statements reiterating his "full confidence in him and his leadership".

Until this week, General Ruak had made no public comments since agreeing to keep his troops in their barracks after they joined in gunfights in Dili in April and May.

"We have become prisoners in our own country while having to observe the violence," he said. "The country became independent because of our sacrifices."

General Ruak made it clear that his command's relations with Australia's commanders had collapsed. He said that on two occasions for up to 45 minutes Australian troops had held him at check-points.

Australian soldiers had not recognised his authority even though he had papers authorising free movement and was wearing his full uniform.

Brigadier Rerden said he was aware of one occasion where General Ruak was held up for 10 minutes at a check-point while his identity was checked.

Brigadier Rerden said both he and Mick Slater, the former Australian commander in Dili, had been asking for weeks to see General Ruak, who always had been unavailable.

Two men were murdered on Dili's waterfront yesterday when they went to buy fish, witnesses said. Youths knifed them in a frenzied attack.

The East Timor Government was preparing a statement last night declaring its confidence in Australia's security forces and support for their work.

***

Sydney Morning Herald - October 28, 2006

Australia has failed: Timor army chief
Lindsay Murdoch in Dili


THE commander of East Timor's army has called for an investigation into the behaviour of Australian troops in Dili, including claims they have taken sides in the conflict that plunged the country into violent upheaval.

Brigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak also called for Australia's troops to be put under United Nations command, saying their mission had obviously failed because six months after they arrived in the country Dili "looks like cowboy city".

Violence has escalated in Dili, with at least eight people killed and many injured in attacks this week, including two youths stabbed to death in a gang attack on Dili's waterfront yesterday.

"I am asking for an investigation so that the prestige of the Australian force can be recovered," General Ruak told the Herald in a rare interview.

"The reality is there have been a lot of accusations made. There are a lot of rumours going around. There is an enormous perception [that Australians are taking sides] and now it needs to be made clear that it doesn't exist."

Australia's commander in Dili, Brigadier Mal Rerden, strongly defended the behaviour of his 1000 troops, saying that in the past few days there had been an orchestrated campaign targeting the Australians to try to force them to leave the country.

"I think there are elements out there who have their own agenda, and there are criminal elements who prefer not to have a neutral professional force on the ground to control them," Brigadier Rerden said.

His force is trying to find out who was behind the rumours that have provoked gangs to throw rocks at Australian police and troop vehicles.

General Ruak said he would make a written submission to the East Timorese Government calling for "state bodies" to conduct the investigation.

Having Australian troops and UN forces under different commands had failed, he said.

"One says to go up and one says to go down," he said. "When dealing with a conflict there should only be one commander."

Australia lobbied strongly in the UN to keep command of its troops in Dili, despite objections from many countries. The UN is reviewing the arrangement, which Brigadier Rerden strongly defends.

General Ruak said his command's relations with Australia's commanders had collapsed. He said he had twice been held for up to 45 minutes by Australian troops at checkpoints, even though he was in uniform and carried papers authorising free movement.

Brigadier Rerden said he was aware of one occasion where General Ruak was held for 10 minutes while his identity was checked.

The UN will soon have 1600 international police, including 200 Australians, and 500 civilian personnel deployed in East Timor to help quell violence and organise elections next year.

On Thursday General Ruak issued a statement calling for an East Timorese parliamentary committee to investigate what he said had been a coup to bring down the government of Mari Alkatiri, to force the formation of a government of national unity.

He also said that a UN inquiry into the violence had failed to consider political issues.

The inquiry recommended that General Ruak be prosecuted for distributing weapons to civilians.

The Prime Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, has stood by General Ruak, issuing statements reiterating his "full confidence in him and his leadership".

***

UNMIT Daily Media Review - Friday, 27 October 2006

National Media Reports
TP - Timor Post
DN - Diario Nacional
STL - Suara Timor Lorosae
RTTL - Radio e Televisao de Timor-Leste


Request For One Command

In an extraordinary plenary session on Thursday, the National Parliament discussed a Resolution concerning “The Security System in Timor-Leste” which recommends that the international forces presently in the country should be under a unique/one command. MP Francisco Carlos (Fretilin) said the aim of the resolution is to bring all the international forces in the country under the command of the United Nations, noting that despite the number of forces, violence continues. Carlos pointed to the recent problem in Comoro where GNR did not participate because they do not cover that area. He also said the Australian Commander, Mick Slater assured that the situation would be under control following the release of the COI report. But in the past three days, violence has increased. The resolution passed with 43 votes in favour and 6 abstentions.

In the plenary session the Parliament also approved a Resolution concerning “The strengthening and Guarantee of court Independence”. This document passed with 42 votes in favour, 2 against and 4 abstaining. The President of the National Parliament, Francisco Guterres ‘Lu-Olo’ said a Commission composed of 7 MPs has been established to listen to the opinions and analyse the COI report and its recommendations. Guterres said he heard information about F-FDTL proposals for a Parliamentary Commission but has not formally received a letter from the head of the Defence Force.

MP Manuel Tilman (KOTA) said violence in the capital Dili, especially in Comoro on 24-26 October is a strategy of some nations for sending more troops from Australia. Tilman said on Tuesday, 24/10 the UN Security Council re-evaluated the situation in Timor-Leste which remained calm until two days before discussion. Other reasons he said, were that some local leaders are receiving the support of an NGO, that martial arts groups are taking advantage of the situation to put on a show of importance, and that violence might be aimed at killing all the leaders. So those who are not in the government can have the opportunity to be in charge of the nation. He is of the opinion that to resolve the problem he proposes to first identify those involved in fighting in the IDP camp in the Jardim, opposite Hotel Timor, Airport, Obrigado Barracks and Comoro, adding a leader is managing the youths for rock throwing. (TP, STL)

‘Fretilin Mudança’ Rejects Dialogue

Fretilin ‘Grupu Mudansa’ has rejected the proposed dialogue by Fretilin Central Committee due to the conditions presented to them. According to a press statement signed by Vitor da Costa, of ‘Grupu Mudansa’ the conditions can only be achieved during the dialogue and not before as proposed by Fretilin Status Quo.

The three points proposed to the ‘Grupu Mudansa’ demand acceptance of the Court of Appeal decision, acceptance of the results of the COI report, and that ‘Grupu Mudansa’ must cease their activities. Therefore, Vitor said his group would focus on moving ahead and concentrate on the extraordinary congress as planned. (STL)

Australian Aid To Prosecutor General’s Office

The Australian government through its aid agency AusAid has donated office equipment to the Prosecutor’s General office worth US$25 thousand dollars. Robin Scott, AusAid advisor for the development and cooperation in Timor-Leste, said the donation would help the Public Ministry to continue its work since some of the equipment was stolen and damaged during the recent violence. (TP, STL)

Combined Team To Investigate Escapees

The Ministry of Justice has established a Commission to investigate the 57 prisoners who escaped Becora jail on August 30. The Vice-Minister of Justice, Isabel Ferreira, heads the team, which is composed of members from HAK Association, UNPOL, and UNMIT human rights unit. The Commission was established following a dispatch by the Ministry of Justice to investigate if prison guards were involved in the escape of the prisoners. To fulfil the recommendations of the COI report, the Ministry of Justice has requested UNDP to recruit more international judges, prosecutors, defenders and interpreters. The Ministry has also established a team to look into equipment needed by the court and the jail.

Acting SRSG Finn Reske-Nielsen said UNMIT and the International Community would continue to support Timor-Leste’s judicial system. According to Reske-Nielsen the country’s court is still fragile as per the recommendations of COI, hence the international community must provide assistance.

Domingos Sarmento, Minister of Justice said some recommendations of the COI report in relation to the judicial system that it still is weak, are not in pursuance with the RDTL Constitution and are based on rumours (STL, TP)

RTTL news headlines
27 October 2006

The Commission of the Investigation for the case of the fugitive of 57 prisoners officially submitted their report to the Ministry of Justice

Yesterday, the Commission of Investigation that has been established to investigate the involvement of the prison guards in the escape of the 57 prisoners reportedly submitted their findings to the Ministry of Justice. One of the findings stated that the commission did not find any direct involvement of the prison guards in the escape plan, but it was found that the prison guards did not follow the regulation applied in that prison. However, in response to these minor infraction findings, the Minister of Justice reportedly promised to take the recommendations into consideration to improve the whole judiciary system including the quality of management, administration, training, and security.

Ministry of Justice and UNDP held a three-day conference to discuss the process of Penal Code of Timor-Leste

In conjunction with UNDP, Ministry of Justice reportedly hosted a three-day seminar to discuss the East Timor Penal Code. Among the issues discussed were the roles of Prosecutor General, Judges, Private and Public Defense Lawyers. Speaking to the journalists after the first day seminar, Claudio Ximenes explained that East Timor would start to use its own Penal Code soon. Hence, we divulged the matters for the judiciary actors, including judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers particularly those who have just finished their training.

***

AAP - Friday, October 27, 2006

UN: Timor violence likely organised

The latest wave of deadly gang warfare in East Timor appears to be "organised" the United Nations said on Friday as more bodies were discovered.

There are also reports that waring youths have been fuelled by drugs and alcohol in what the UN said could be further evidence that the violence is orchestrated.

UN police said at least two more people were killed overnight Thursday or on Friday morning. They are also investigating reports of a further two deaths.

Fighting broke out among large groups of youths in the beachfront Dili markets area, near the US embassy, on Thursday night and again on Friday morning.

"We have confirmed two dead bodies found, two more are looking likely," UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said.

"We've had reports that have been credible of bodies being found ... but we are still confirming those."

A 29-year-old man died of apparent gunshot wounds, while a 25-year-old had knife wounds, an Australian Army spokesman said.

It comes just days after two Timorese were killed fighting at a refugee camp near Dili's Nicolau Lobato International Airport, which also forced the temporary closure of the facility.

The UN said the situation was currently calm, but security forces are on alert for further unrest.

"These incidents of fighting over the last few days, they have involved quite large numbers, ... two, three hundred people in the fighting," Edwards said.

"When you get that number of people involved it suggests that these are organised in some manner.

"We are trying to establish what is behind this, if it is being organised, who is doing the organising, at this stage we don't have anything with certainty on that."

But Army spokesman Keith Wilkinson described the latest deaths as "isolated", and said they were not linked to the recent violence near the airport.

"These aren't linked at all," he said.

The UN said the violence had been contained to a pocket of the city and the rest of Dili, and East Timor, appeared calm.

There are almost 1,000 Australian troops in East Timor providing support to the UN mission, and around 900 UN police officers.

It's expected to be closer to its full-strength of 1,600 UN police officers in about a month's time.

"Obviously you'd like there not to be incidents like this happening but I think it has to be understood in its context," Edwards said.

"With 900 (officers) you can't be in all places all the time, so how you operate - you go out patrolling and when something happens you respond to it.

"That has happened and each time it has happened the situation has been brought under control.

"We are not at full strength yet, ... for the moment the situation is being dealt with, it is being contained."

The violence comes just a week after the release of a UN report released into the crisis in the nation in April and May when rival security forces clashed after the government sacked a third of its armed forces.

The special UN commission named senior government and security force personnel it believed should be further investigated or prosecuted over the crisis, in which dozens of people were killed and 150,000 forced from their homes.

***

ABC - Friday, October 27, 2006. 6:20pm (AEST)

Death toll rises in Timor gang clashes
By Anne Barker in Dili

Authorities in East Timor now say up to four people may have been killed in violence today.

Hundreds of people were involved in this morning's fighting.

At least two men were reportedly stabbed to death when rival gangs clashed at Comoro, just outside Dili.

The United Nations says as many as four may have died.

A spokesman says the frequency and size of such clashes suggests the gang fighting is highly organised but the UN is at a loss to explain why.

In each incident gang members throw rocks or darts, or wield machetes, knives and firearms.

International police and soldiers are out in force on Dili's streets, but often arrive too late to prevent the random killings.

***

AAP - October 27, 2006 01:20pm

Two died during Dili unrest: commander

ONE of two people killed in unrest in East Timor this week died after being hit by a dart fired from a catapult, the commander of Australian forces in Dili said today.

Following unrest which peaked with a pitched gang battle involving some 400 people, Brigadier Mal Rerden said the death toll stood at two, contrary to some reports which put it at four or six.

He said one man was shot with a pistol and the killer was seen running away and disappearing into one of Dili's internally displaced person camps.

The other person died after being struck by a dart fired from a catapult, a weapon commonly used by East Timorese gang members.

Brigadier Rerden said both incidents were being investigated by the UN police.

More than 1000 Australian troops and police are now in East Timor, patrolling the streets and maintaining order.

The situation was today described as peaceful following a week of violence, in which an Australian contractor was injured.

The renewed unrest is thought to have been prompted by the release of a UN report on the causes of a deadly conflict earlier this year.

Brigadier Rerden said he would not say there had been a resurgence of gang warfare.

"The nature of some of the activity here in Dili is that the gangs do get worked up at different times and do attack each other. What we have seen this week has been significant for the size of some of those," he told ABC radio.

"On one night we had a group of about 400 fighting each other. It is one of those spikes that can happen from time to time."

Brigadier Rerden he did not believe this had been a particularly difficult period.

He said UN police and the international security forces had sufficient personnel to retain control and to allow the East Timorese to get on with life.

Brigadier Rerden said he did not believe the absence overseas of Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta had contributed to the instability.

East Timor's government was functioning and he had attended meetings with government officials over recent days, he said.

***

REUTERS - Friday October 27, 2006

Calm returns to East Timor capital

DILI - East Timor's main airport in the capital Dili has reopened, two days after it was closed following deadly clashes between groups of youths armed with guns, rocks, and bows and arrows.

The closure of the main air hub highlights the fragile security situation in the fledgling nation, despite the presence of an Australian-led peacekeeping force.

Local officials said two people were killed in the violence but Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the death toll might be as high as four.

"We have reopened the airport and many of our employees have come to work. A police post will be opened at the airport," said Romaldo da Silva, director of the East Timor civilian aviation authority. He said the clashes had caused minor damage.

The gang fights started on a main road leading to the airport, resulting in the death of one person by gunfire. Another died in a subsequent clash.

Australian security forces in East Timor were investigating the violence.

***

The Age - October 27, 2006

Dili gangs turn on Australian forces
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili

GANGS are targeting Australians in Dili as East Timor's army command yesterday called for a fresh investigation to identify who is behind rising violence.

Gangs are roaming Dili looking for Australian security vehicles to attack. They scream abuse such as "Aussies go home" as they pelt vehicles with rocks.

The Australian Government warned in an updated travel advisory yesterday that "Australians and Australian interests may be specifically targeted and we advise all Australians to exercise extreme caution."

More than 1300 Australian troops and police and hundreds of other international security troops have been confronting gangs responsible for violence that has left at least six Timorese dead and many others injured since last weekend.

An Australian employee of CHC Helicopters Australia was badly injured when youths attacked him at Dili's airport on Wednesday.

Rumours have spread in Dili that Australians have been taking sides in the conflict, which Australian commanders deny.

Foreigners in one Dili waterfront hotel checked out yesterday, saying they feared an attack on the premises because it is Australian-owned.

Breaking months of silence, East Timor's army commander, Taur Matan Ruak, issued a statement yesterday saying the violence was politically motivated, with the aim of overthrowing the Fretilin Government, dissolving parliament and establishing a government of national unity.

Brigadier-General Ruak, a 23-year veteran of East Timor's former guerilla army, said a United Nations investigation into the violence, which was released last week, had "failed to put it in a political context".

The inquiry recommended that he be charged with giving arms to civilians when the violence erupted in April and May.

The army command's decision to demand a fresh inquiry has increased political tensions.

General Ruak and his commanders have made it clear that they are no longer prepared to remain silent despite earlier agreeing to be confined to their barracks.

Their call is likely to be backed by Fretilin, the party of deposed prime minister Mari Alkatiri, which has a majority in parliament.

From the Vatican where he was about to meet Pope Benedict, Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta appealed for calm, saying the latest incidents in Dili had caused him "great concern, disappointment, sadness and heartache".

Mr Ramos Horta praised General Ruak, saying his statement demonstrated a courageous spirit, pointing out that the army commanders had apologised for the damage caused directly and indirectly by them during the crisis.

Heavily armed Australian soldiers were waiting at Dili airport yesterday to protect passengers arriving on the first flight from Darwin after the violence forced the airport's closure for 24 hours.

Soldiers manned posts along most main roads as mourners attended the funeral of a gang leader who was murdered on a Dili street on Wednesday.

Aid agencies are warning of a humanitarian crisis in refugee camps when monsoon rains arrive within weeks. More than 55,000 people are living in the camps, too afraid to go home.

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