FRETILIN guarantees stability in Timor-Leste; calls on all to do same for March of Peace

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE

FRETILIN

Media Release

October 10, 2008



FRETILIN leaders yesterday reconfirmed that the proposed March of Peace will
take place, and rebuked a government minister for alleging that the March
would destabilize the young nation. FRETILIN President Francisco Guterres
Lu'Olo said that it was the de facto Minister for Economy and Development
who had to answer for his support for rebel soldier Alfredo Reinado in 2006,
when political violence engulfed the capital.

FRETILIN has guaranteed that the proposed March of Peace will be peaceful
and lawful, but is yet to determine when the March will go ahead, despite
repeated rumors and clear attempts by some to whip up emotion on the issue.
Other parties like PPT and Kota, and ASDT who have withdrawn from the AMP
government, will join the March of Peace.

On September 27, 2008, the Prime Minister, Mr Gusmao, said during a speech
in Ainaro, "I hear from here that you are preparing a March of Peace to
Dili. I will wait for you there and put you all in jail." FRETILIN has
called this an attempt to intimidate people from exercising their
constitutional and democratic rights, and shows his dictatorial tendencies
yet again.

"FRETILIn is the political party that ushered in Timor-Leste's historic and
successful struggle for national liberation and independence, and today is
the largest political party. We will continue to make every effort to
promote and maintain peace, stability and democracy in Timor-Leste and for
the people of Timor-Leste, said Lu'Olo yesterday.

"I myself spent 24 years in the mountains and rivers and valleys of
Timor-Leste, fighting the invader in our country. We no longer have anyone
to fight. I have a young family, I want this country to be peaceful and
stable so that my children can grow up with peace and can gain an education
to continue to realize the dream I carried during all the years in the
struggle. I have read a media release from the de facto Minister for Economy
and Development in the AMP. I have to say that I don't need someone who
spent the whole struggle in the comfortable surrounds provided by Australia,
and financial benefits just for being a Timorese in the diaspora, to lecture
me on peace and conflict," he said.

Lu'Olo was elected to the Constituent Assembly that drew up Timor-Leste's
constitution in 2001, to which he was then elected as President. He then
served as the President of the National Parliament between May 20, 2002 and
August 7, 2007.

"It was people like the de facto Minister who supported criminals like
Alfredo Reinado and those demonstrators who burnt the houses of FRETILIN
supporters in 2006. They were the ones who stood clapping whilst the
so-called army petitioners marched into Dili to demonstrate in April 2006,
which then resulted in a violent end and triggered the suffering and mayhem
that came from the violence.

"Just ask the displaced people, they can tell why they were forced from
their homes. Ask the families of people still exhuming their sons why they
were killed? It's because of the division of the nation by those whom the de
facto Minister supported, Mr Alfredo and the petitioners. So, I ask, who
needs to answer for the 2006 crisis? Who was it that had constant contact
with Mr Reinado?" asked Lu'Olo.

"FRETILIN will do everything to ensure that there will be no violence
resulting from the proposed Peace March. That is precisely what it is, a
Peace March. That is the intention and the goal: a reaffirmation of FRETILIN
as a force for Peace, Democracy, the Rule of Law and Justice, all things
people are thirsting for in this country.

"FRETILIN as a party has since 2001 held the largest demonstrations and
rallies in Timor-Leste, involving hundreds of thousands of people without
violence and respecting law and order and the rights of others. That's more
than we can say for the demonstrations organized by people now in the de
facto government and their allies in the National Parliament, including the
President of the Parliament himself, whose supporters brought down to Dili
in May - August 2006 attacked FRETILIN supporters and even killed many,"
said Lu'Olo.

"Despite having been the victims of the 2006 violence, organized and
orchestrated to bring down the then FRETILIN Prime Minister Dr Alkatiri,
FRETILIN and its supporters will never do to them what they did to us. We
respect them as fellow Timorese and part of the human family. We have
suffered too much from conflict to do that ourselves," Lu'Olo stressed.

"We ask the National Police, the UN Police, the International Stabilisation
Force, who have the role of maintaining law and order, to ensure that when
the Peace March is held, it proceeds in peace and without attack from others
who don't agree with it. We ask them to be remain totally independent and
just follow the law, whatever attempts the government is currently engaged
in. We undertake to fully cooperate with PNTL and UNPOL.

"Let's close all avenues to some external to our party who want to open up
for violence. There is no place for it. It is important that the March go
ahead and that it is peaceful, for the sake of democracy in this country. If
the largest party cannot demonstrate peacefully and lawfully, then what of
the small parties and civil society? That will mean the end of democracy. We
will not permit that to happen," Lu'Olo concluded.

For information contact: José Teixeira MP on +670 728 7080

Nilva Guimarães (media officer) on +670 734 0389