EAST TIMOR: EU PRESIDENT BARROSO APPEALS FOR NATIONAL DIALOGUE
Dili, 24 Jan. (AKI) - European Union president and former prime minister of Portugal, Jose Manuel Barroso, has appealed for national dialogue in East Timor, the violence-ridden former Portuguese colony. Information obtained by Adnkronos International (AKI) revealed that - in a letter addressed to East Timor's president, Xanana Gusmao and the country's prime minister, Jose Ramos Horta - Barroso has asked that the Fretilin political party and its secretary general, Mari Alkatiri, be included in any dialogue for the future of the country.
The letter is expected to be delivered to the two Timorese leaders this week, by the EU special representative to East Timor, Miguel Amada, who is presently in the country.
Alkatiri was forced to resign last June, after unrest led to the death of 37 people. The violence was spurred by Alkatiri’s decision to dismiss 600 soldiers who were on strike after complaining of racial discriminations within the army. During the unrest, Alkatiri and Gusmao squared off in what most observers described as a power struggle. Alkatiri was replaced by Horta, who is seen as a close ally of Gusmao.
Fretilin is the country’s largest political party, and Alkatiri is still considered the frontrunner in the national election, slated for next May.
The Portuguese began to trade with the island of Timor in the early 16th century and colonised it in mid-century. Lisbon maintained control until East Timor declared itself independent on 28 November 1975 and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later. The 800,000 inhabitants of the tiny Southeast Asian country voted for independence in 1999 and gained this status in May 2002.
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Fresh evidence in Balibo Five case
January 25, 2007 - 5:44AM
A retired signalman who worked at a top secret listening station near Perth in 1975 says he heard Indonesian soldiers in East Timor talking about the "elimination" of the Balibo Five.
Official reports maintain the Australian-based journalists - Greg Shackleton, 27, Gary Cunningham, 27, Tony Stewart, 21, Malcolm Rennie, 28, and Brian Peters, 29, - were killed in crossfire in the East Timorese town of Balibo in 1975, but their families insist they were murdered by Indonesian troops.
NSW Coroner Dorelle Pinch last month called on radio operators who worked at the Shoal Bay Defence Signals Directorate Receiving Station, near Darwin, in 1975, to come forward ahead of an inquiry into the death of Mr Peters.
But a signalman from a top-secret communications unit near the Pearce RAAF base, near Perth, has come forward with information he says has been troubling him for 30 years.
The signals officer, who spoke to News Ltd on condition of anonymity, said his training officer, Flight Sergeant Alan Oldacres-Dear, told trainees he heard Indonesian military discussions of the "elimination" of the journalists.
"I want the families of the men to know that the people who knew about this then ... that this eats into you, this vow of silence," he told News Ltd.
"The O-D used the words 'to be eliminated."
The NSW coronial inquiry begins on February 5.
© 2007 AAP
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Secret post recorded talk of journo 'eliminations'
By Janet Fyfe-Yeomans
January 25, 2007 01:00am
Article from: Daily Telegraph
INDONESIAN troops were recorded by a previously unknown top secret Australian listening station discussing the execution of five young Australian journalists.
The RAAF No.3 Telecommunications Unit was so highly classified that little reference to its existence was made even in formal air force publications.
Police and lawyers investigating the deaths of the five journalists in Balibo in 1975 have focused on whether radio traffic about their deaths was picked up by the Defence Signals Directorate at Shoal Bay, near Darwin.
But for the first time, a former signals officer at the now-disbanded 3TU, which was close to RAAF Pearce, outside Perth, has revealed they also heard the Indonesian military discussions.
The fresh evidence comes as NSW deputy coroner Dorelle Pinch finalises procedural matters before the inquest into the death of one of the journalists, Brian Peters, begins on February 5.
The signals officer, who has asked that his identity remain secret, said his training officer, Flight Sergeant Alan Oldacres-Dear, told trainees he heard the recording of Indonesian soldiers in East Timor discussing the "elimination" of the journalists, who were covering the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.
The retired signals officer said the truth had "eaten him away" for 30 years.
"I want the families of the men to know that the people who knew about this then ... that this eats into you, this vow of silence," he said.
"The O-D used the words 'to be eliminated'."
Channel 9 cameraman Brian Peters, 29, and reporter Malcolm Rennie, 28, Channel 7 reporter Greg Shackleton, 27, cameraman Gary Cunningham, 27, and sound recordist Tony Stewart, all died in Balibo on October 16, 1975.
Flt Sgt Oldacres-Dear, known as O-D by his men, died in 1987 and his son, Neil, confirmed his father worked at the remote receiving station but said he never discussed his job.
However, The Daily Telegraph has confirmed that 3TU, the only RAAF unit to have been continuously operational 24 hours a day for 45 years, did monitor radio traffic from Australia's northern neighbours in conjunction with the DSD.
"It is all still secretive. We weren't allowed to discuss ourselves what we did and who we listened to," former 3TU Association president Barry Mayne said.
The only written history of the unit suggests little evidence remains to help investigators working with the inquest.
It states that many official records, particularly between 1960 and 1978, are missing.
