Transcript UNMIT Press Conference - 1st March 2007

Obrigado Barrcks, Caicoli, Dili

Allison Cooper, UNMIT Spokesperson: Good morning everybody and thank you for coming. Just before we get underway I want to give you some feed back on press accreditation, which you raised last week. There are forms for you to collect here, which will require you to fill in your details, return them to the Public Information Office with a copy of your press credentials or a letter form you editor. From there we are going to issue you with passes. It may take a week or 10 days from now but this will hopefully facilitate your entry into the barracks and identify you as the press to the authorities. The other thing I want to let you know about, on behalf of my colleagues in STAE and CNE in relation to the presidential elections this afternoon, there is an event at the Court of the Appeal, they will be placing the names on the ballots and the CNE and STAE has invited you all to attend. I think someone from the organization will be contacting you all but they have also asked me to pass this information on to you. Just to repeat it will be at three o’clock at the Court of Appeal. Now I am going to hand over to the SRSG Mr. Atul Khare, he will make a statement followed by DSRSG Reske-Nielsen then we are going to open it up to questioning. Brigadier Rerden joins us today along with the UNPPOL Commissioner Mr. Tor and we will all be available to take any questions you may have. Thank you.

SRSG Khare: Good morning, thank you Allison. The Security Situation in Dili has remained stable throughout the last week.

UN Police is continuing to focus on martial arts groups and related violence with a number of tactics including strengthened police numbers, dedicated mobile and static police in high risk areas.

As we announced last week, three new static police post had been opened in Kampung Baru, Fatuhada and Bairro Pité. We are negotiating with the Government for permanent premises for additional static police force.

On the issue of fugitive Major Reinado you would understand that there is very little I can say as any outcome to the current situation is not something that I would like to speculate on.

Two weeks ago on 12th of February, I told the Security Council that justice is a precondition for national reconciliation. All the leaders of Timor Leste have repeatedly told me that impunity will not prevail in this country.

We have seen the statement of his Excellency President Xanana Gusmão broadcast on RTTL.

The United Nations welcomes the appeal by President Gusmão to the citizens of Timor Leste to maintain peace and calm.

Now, the priority of the United Nations is to assist the Government of Timor-Leste with the help of the International Stabilization Forces (ISF) to secure the environment in preparations for the conduct of democratic elections.

UNMIT together with the Government of TL and the ISF call upon Reinado to hand himself in to the authorities and to allow the Timorese people to continue to resolve their differences democratically, peacefully and judicially.

UNMIT, in consultation with the Government of Timor Leste and the ISF is currently considering all possible options to deal with the current situation.
Clearly there are operational security issues that will preclude any discussion of any potential plans.

Any actions that may be taken will be consistent with the United Nations support to the Government of Timor Leste, the ISF and all the relevant institutions to consolidate to stability.

UNPol has officers deployed in Same district who are assisting ISF in the operation. (estão fechados dentro da esquadra da PNTL, apenas com rações de combate para comer)

The United Nations has also provided for the safety of its staff members working in the Same district.

UNMIT, the Government of Timor Leste and the ISF will keep you informed about any further developments on this matter.

Let me now pass on to Deputy Special Representative Finn Reske-Nielsen to say a few words.

DSRSG Reske Nielsen: Good morning, bom dia. I wanted to say a few words about the humanitarian situation in the country. The shortage of rice was a contributing factor to the disturbances in Dili last week but as you know the government with the support of the World Food Program and IOM started the sale of rice in several locations in Dili on Friday and that has continued over a period of several days.

The government has adopted a strategy that will continue the sale of rice across the country with approximately 130 metric tones in the east, 130 metric tones in central region and 130 metric tones in the west. This operation is starting just now and will continue until the distribution is completed. In the meantime it is expected that commercial shipment would be coming in the coming weeks but that the rice shortage would not be completely dealt with until the end of the month. I do want to note that the rice shortage is not unique to Timor-Leste, there are similar shortages in the other countries in the sub-region.

Let me also say a few words about the situation in the IDPS camps. Over the past month or so we have seen an increase of more than 5000 people in the camps and four new camps have been established.

United Nations is working with the government of Timor-Leste in order to address the situation and we are also in contact with the donors to see, to request them to provide additional humanitarian support in accordance with the appeal that was issued in January this year. Several meetings have taken place over the past few days at high level, between United Nations and the government and further meetings will take place between today and tomorrow to reach an agreement on how together we can best tackle this situation.

At the present time, approximately $US 8 million dollars has been pledged for the appeal of last January and that means we still have a shortfall of about $US 8.5 million. We are trying to cover that by having further consultation with the donor community.

SRSG Khare: Thank you. We will take a few questions but I will request that people who are interested in asking questions raise their hands and identify themselves and to which organization they belong and we will be here for about the next 20 minutes to half an hour to take these questions. I’ve seen Lusa first, yes Pedro?

Q: Thank you Sir. Mr. Reske-Nielsen could you detail how many displaced IDPs are right now in Dili and how many persons are receiving food aid?
DSRSG Reske-Nielsen: Thank you. It is very difficult to give you a precise number because the population fluctuates in the camps. We have, however, an estimate as of early January that there were approximately somewhere between 25,000-29,000 people in the camps in Dili. And as I mentioned over the past month, we have seen an increase of more than 5000 and that would be the figure. In terms of the distribution of food we have, for the past several months, provided food to around 70,000 people per month and that means that over the past several months we have distributed food to a larger population than the actual population in the camps.
Late last year it was decided that as of the beginning of 2007 we would phase out this blanket distribution in Dili and focus on vulnerable groups only. However, following the events of the past few weeks we have found it prudent to advise the government that we would continue with blanket food distributions for the time being in order to stabilize the situation.

Q: Why did the people decided to move to the IDPs camps?
DSRSG Reske-Nielsen: When you break down the increase of 5000 over the past month or so, you will see that the biggest increase was actually last week and it was undoubtedly related to the disturbances that we saw earlier in the week which was brought under control by late Wednesday.

Q: Have you given a deadline for Alfredo to surrender?
ISF Commander Mal Rerden: I think it is important at this time of situation with Alfredo Reinado to make sure that we don’t speculate about issues relating to the operations.

Q: With the current situation and in preparation for the election, the New Zealand government has stated that they are prepared to send further troops to assist the security during the elections. My question is: is that necessary? Second is that true that the Prosecutor General is now involved in the negotiations with Major Alfredo?

SRSG Khare: Thank you. You know that the resolution adopted by the Security Council on 22nd February on our request has agreed for provision of an additional formed police unit of up to 240. This additional police force on our recommendations approved by the Security General had been sanctioned specifically for the pre-electoral, electoral and immediate post-electoral period. We are making all efforts to ensure that these people arrive soon. As far as ISF is concerned I would request Brigadier General Rerden to respond to the same question and also to your second question.

Brigadier General Rerden: With regards to election security, the International Forces have worked closely with UNPOL and the government to develop a very robust security plan, which has the important ingredients of all aspects of UNPOL capabilities and the security forces capabilities. These have been integrated into a plan, which is now well and truly briefed to the government. With regards to other question concerning Alfredo Reinado, the International Forces continue to support the government of Timor-Leste and the United Nations in all aspects of security to ensure that the people of Timor-Leste can enjoy a secure environment and can resolve their differences in a peaceful and democratic way and we will continue to do that.

SRSG Khare: Associated Press followed by Lusa

Guido, Associated Press: My question is to the Brigadier. The information I received from Alfredo side, said that the ISF had given him a deadline up to 17:00hrs today to surrender. Do you have any comment on that?

Brigadier Rerden: There has been no deadline. There has only been one message to Reinado. That is that he is to surrender, he is to give up his weapons and he is to submit himself to the justice process of Timor-Leste. There is no negotiation, this is a requirement that he submits himself to the justice system and gives up his weapons.

Lusa: In a private meeting yesterday with the presidency with the national media where the President Xanana asked basically a black out of Reinado. Did it come to the attention of the mission and if so is it somehow worrying in a pre-election period? I have a second question to Brigadier Rerden who issued, if anyone issued the rule to prevent journalists to go to Same. Was it the ISF, was it the East Timorese government or both?

SRSG Khare: Thank you. Obviously I would not comment on private meetings, which are held by authorities of this country. Situation in Same is currently difficult and challenged. UNPOL has helped in escorting foreigners and also some representatives of the media back from Same for their own safety and security. We will continue to request the media to assist us in ensuring that the media representatives are not in danger by movement into the area of operations.

Q: On the second question sir, that was not answer, who issued the order? Was there a very precise order to prevent the journalist, because that doesn’t have to happen in any conflict situation?

Brigadier General Rerden: There was no order issued concerning the movement of journalists. There was simply a request from the government of Timor-Leste for us to ensure that people could not move in to Same area, all people to reduce the risk of endangering any citizens’ safety and security in this difficult situation. As always in all this circumstances the prime concern is for the safety and security of the citizens of Timor-Leste.

Q: Brigadier Rerden, you said you don’t want to make speculations. But you are telling that something is happening. So what is the situation in Same? That statement will give the people the opportunity to make speculations. Can you explain clearly, are you going to arrest him or not?

Brigadier General Rerden: The question is one way; there is no speculation on my part. We are assisting the government of Timor-Leste to resolve a security situation and the circumstances of that operational plan and I’m not going into details.

Q: Are you going to take any precautions in not [inaudible]

SRSG Khare: As of now, the UN police officers remain on duty along with their PNTL counterparts, very few unarmed civilians, UN officers who were assisting in the electoral process had been redeployed to Dili. Some people who have made requests for assistance by UNPOL to come to Dili had been escorted in such a manner, as I told you, a few journalists for their own safety, were returned back to Dili. There is no reason for a large scale of Same and we shall continue to examine these cases on a case by case basis as they come to our notice. Yes?

Q: What about the conditions of the civilians in relation to food, water, because of the road block the people can not move… [inaudible…]?

Brigadier General Rerden: The situation there is understood. It is being addressed and there is as much as I can tell you.

SRSG Khare: Yes, the last one.

Q: With the consequences…[inaudible]… will jeopardize…[inaudible]?

Brigadier General Rerden: This is a serious situation and I think it is important that everyone understands the consequences of this situation are directly the responsibility of Alfredo Reinado.

His actions have led to this situation and no one else. And if the people of Timor-Leste want to understand the circumstances they need to understand why his actions led to this. International Security Forces and the government and the United Nations are trying to resolve a very difficult situation which requires understanding from the people. But the consequences are solemnly the responsibility of Alfredo Reinado. He has one option. He can help the people of Timor-Leste by surrendering himself and removing the threat of his weapons to the people that he is with right now. It is his responsibility if he cares about the people of Timor-Leste, if he cares about the people that are with him now he would give up his weapons and surrender. Anything that happens from now it is his responsibility.

SRSG Khare: I would suggest that we do not over dramatize the situation there are no children dying without meals none whatsoever so far. (ainda não há... incrível! Do género quando houver vamo-nos preocupar...)

So do not over dramatize the situation because that I would consider as being unnecessarily provocative. I want to stress again what has been stressed. I told the SC on 12th of February that efforts are being made to ensure that Reinado submits to justice in a peaceful manner. You can read that statement which I made to the SC on 12th of February. As the President Gusmao himself indicated, several efforts were made over the past two months to ensure that the justice process can continue in a peaceful manner. As Brigadier Rerden has said and as President Gusmao has said in his statement it is surely the responsibility of Alfredo Reinado at the situation which we are facing now. And I do strongly encourage him again as I said in my statement, that I hope that he will submit himself to justice in a peaceful manner if he really loves the people of Timor-Leste and if he really wants stability in this country.

Q: The New Zealand soldiers forces that are coming, is that additional forces or replacements?

Brigadier Rerden: That question is one that should really be asked to the New Zealand government. It is their decision about the size of their commitment to the International Forces. We are very grateful that the New Zealanders, a long time ally of Australia and the International Forces benefit greatly from their inclusion in the International Security Forces.

SRSG Khare: Thank you, thank you. We will stop here. Thank you for coming and we will see you next week.

NOTA DE RODAPÉ:

A população de Same NÃO tem nada para comer e não pode sair de Same. Estão aterrorizados pelo bando de Reinado e ninguém os protege.