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É a economia, estúpido!...

Blog sobre Economia do Desenvolvimento, em particular sobre a economia de Timor Leste e aquilo que, naquela, pode ser útil ao desenvolvimento económico deste país.

Direitos humanos: Uso excessivo da força dos militares da ONU em Timor-Leste - AM

Lisboa, 27 Mai (Lusa) - Uso "excessivo" da força e "tratamento cruel", por parte dos militares da Missão Integrada da ONU, e deslocados sem assistência são apontados a Timor-Leste pela Amnistia Internacional no relatório de 2008, hoje divulgado.

A organização não governamental adianta que as violações dos direitos humanos cometidas por polícias e militares, na generalidade, incluem "detenções arbitrárias" e "disparos fatais".

O relatório refere também que cerca de cem mil pessoas deslocadas no interior do país, em resultado da onda de violência de 2006 e 2007, continuam a precisar urgentemente de comida, abrigo, água e saneamento.

ER.
Lusa/Fim

Próximo domingo chegará em Lisboa, o Secretário Geral da Fretilin, Mari Alkatiri

Blog FÓRUM ACADÉMICO DA FRETILIN
Informação

Aos camaradas, amigos e colegas,

Na qualidade do Coordenador Geral de F.A.F.C (Fórum Académico da Fretilin em Coimbra), venho por este meio a informar à todos os membros de FAFC, amigos estudantes e não estudantes residentes em Coimbra, que no próximo domingo chegará em Lisboa, o Secretário Geral da Fretilin, Mari Alkatiri. Para quem está interessado em participar neste encontro, por favor contacte a Direcção de FAFC (963259077).

Participe neste encontro, é uma oportunidade, pois queremos ser bem informado.

Os melhores cumprimentos
Coordenador Geral
António Guterres

UNMIT Daily Media Review - 28 May 2008
(International news reports and extracts from national media. UNMIT does not vouch for the accuracy of these reports)

Ministry of Justice: the Government does not need to report to NP about its recommendations – Diario Nacional and Televisaun Timor-Leste

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato said that the Ministry of Justice does not need to notify the National Parliament on what they have recommended to the president.

Minister Lucia Lobato said that the Constitution does not say that the President has to inform the National Parliament before giving pardon to prisoners.

“All of us know, especially the deputies, know the duty in all institutions of the Government based on the Constitution.

What is the authority of Parliament, the Government’s authority, President’s authority and the Court’s authority? Each institution has its own area of authority to carry on as the constitution states.

In connection with the pardoning of prisoners by the President, particularly the deputies want to know about prisoner Rogerio Lobato. I think Constitution does not say that when President wants to extend forgiveness to the prisoners he must inform the deputies in National Parliament.

If it is written in Constitution, I humbly ask the deputies to show me the article,” said Minister Lobato.

She also said that the Ministry of Justice still has not received any information from the president about granting pardons to the prisoners as the case is being taken to court.

ASDT withdraw from AMP – Timor Post, Suara Timor Lorosa’e, Diario Nacional, Radio Timor-Leste and Televisaun Timor-Leste

The Social Democratic Association of Timorese (ASDT) decided to withdraw form the Alliance of Majority in Parliament (AMP) on Tuesday (27/5), saying that the party’s has not yet received any response from Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão on its demands.

ASDT President Francisco Xavier do Amaral stated that ASDT is no longer a part of AMP. Any difficulties people face can be directly addressed to CNRT, PD and PSD.

Earlier ASDT had proposed to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão to remove the Minister of Commerce and Tourism Gil da Costa Alves and the State Secretary of Environment Abilio Lima from their positions. ASDT is also asking the Prime Minister to place ASDT members as much as possible in the role of ambassador, district and sub-district administrators in areas where the party received the majority of more votes during parliamentary elections.

“Up until now we have no response from the Prime Minister. Such political dynamics may have a strong impact on the economic crisis in the country and people will lose their confidence in the AMP,” said ASDT President Xavier do Amaral on Tuesday (27/5) in Lecidere, Dili.

Mr. Xavier said that people’s lives were getting more difficult as the large state budget approved by the National Parliament has not yet reached the people.

“Starting from today (27/5), we declare directly to the people that everything that is going wrong is the fault of AMP fault. Just ask CNRT, PD and PSD. ASDT has no responsibility anymore for decisions made by the AMP Government,” he said.

ASDT President Xavier do Amaral also said that he is still concerned with some of his members’ statements that they want to be independent MPs in the parliament.

“I (Xavier) ask them (ASDT members) to respect to the votes of ASDT supporters when they make decisions. The members in the parliament have rights and in a democracy can do it. But they were not voted in by the parliament/government. They were chosen by the ASDT supporters to take a seat in parliament, so they have to follow ASDT. They are free to discuss anything but we [ASDT] do not regard them as ASDT members and their statements are not considered as representing the party,” said Xavier.

Another ASDT member of the NP, João Manuel Carascalão said the as an MP will continue to support the AMP Government.

“As an MP, I have a moral conscience and a big responsibility to serve the community and state, not only the party.

In parliament, we are the representatives of the community, not only the representative of the party,” said Mr. Carrascalão.

With other ASDT MPs, Mr. Carrascalão said that they are not concerned about ASDT's decision concerning them.

PNTL human rights violation against people continues to take place – Televisaun Timor-Leste

A human rights violation victim, Silvina Assuncão de Jesus yesterday (27/5) reported her case to Committees A and B in the National Parliament. Silvina said the case occurred when the members of the Task Force forced them to leave the place where they were staying. At that time, the members of Task Force destroyed the victim's kiosk, causing here to lose approximately US$200. Ms. Silvina is asking the Government to reimburse her loss.

In a separate matter, Chefe Aldeia of Caicoli, Tomas Jose Goncalves said the Government should inform the local authority in the community before they send the population to live there.

“If the Government wants to relocate some part of the population to any place in the community, they have to make an agreement or hold a dialogue with us first so that we can be on the alert and prevent any disturbances. Also, we can know whether those people have their own house or not”, explained Tomas.

In response to this case, President of Committee A, Antoninho Bianco said he has instructed the victim to report the incident to the PNTL in order to investigate those members who tortured the population.

“Some of members of the Task Force yesterday tortured a victim in Caicoli. In relation to this, we have directly contacted the PNTL and asked them to gather evidence from the victim to thoroughly investigate all the parties involved. Also, we have also contacted the Provider of Human Rights and asked them to also gather evidence from the victim, so that if there is no follow-up from PNTL about this case, the Provider of Human Rights can present this case to General Prosecutor to be investigated”, confirmed Bianco.

The Commander of Joint Operation Command Filomeno Paixão said the JOC also has taken any measures regarding human rights violations which were allegedly committed by the members of the F-FDTL during its field operations. According to Filomeno, 73 cases have been identified so far - 39 of the cases were committed by F-FDTL and the other 34 were committed by the UN.

Ministry of Finance to present audit report – Televisaun Timor-Leste

Minister of Finance Emilia Pires said that the internal audit report of the former Government is ready to be presented to the parliament.

“As discussed with the auditors, auditing processes generally take a long time to do complete as they conduct the audit unit by unit. The report has been prepared and still need some work as the previous government did not have a good system in place.

There are no documents and audit archive and it is difficult to find the auditing files,” said Minster Emília.

Fretilin-PUN: unhappy with NP plan to buy 65 cars for MPs – Timor Post

MPs from PUN and Fretilin have reacted strongly to the plan of the National Parliament to buy new 65 cars [Toyota Prado] for the 65 MPs in parliament. According to PUN-Fretilin, saying it is unconscionable to proceed with this plan while the people are suffering.

MP Fretilin Aniceto Guterres said that initially Fretilin did not accept the plan of buying cars for the MPs as people are starving due to the food crisis.

“I concur that the parliament need cars to carry out assessments and other duties, but not cars for every MP,” lamented Mr. Guterres.

PUN MP Fernanda Borges said that her party is in the parliament to represent people and she is happy with US$10 per diem [per day. There is no need for cars as the cars are so expensive and will put too much strain on the State budget.

“For me this is a serious step to take for the State. If the cars are bought for the current MPs, then the next MPs will also need cars, as we do now,” questioned Ms. Borges.

The Vice President of the National Parliament Maria Paixão said that the cars will be bought to facilitate the work of the MPs and may be sold at a lower price.

UNDP Finds "No Mal-Intent" For Money Herfkens Is Asked to Return, Charges Denied – Inner City Press [at the UN: News Analysis], 27 May

Dutch parliamentarians are demanding that Evelyn Herfkens, who took $7000 a month rent from her government while ostensibly working only for the UN Development Program, repay the money. This despite a letter last week from UNDP's Kemal Dervis, attempting to whitewash the scandal.

Dervis acknowledges that Herfkens had been handed a copy of the rules which she went ahead and broke, and that governments are charged with knowing these rules. But he concludes, on what basis is not clear, that there was no intention to break the rule, no "mal-intent."

So $280,000 in illegally received money can be kept? The UN speaks from time to time again impunity. But UNDP, even when it’s Administrator admits that rules have been broken, tries to promote impunity.

UNDP's Dervis frames the issue, Herfkens $ and PRO-FIT and Zimbabwe answers not shown

Similarly, in Timor Leste, UNDP continues to pay Roque Rodrigues, the former defense minister who the UN's commission of inquiry said should be prosecuted for handing out guns to mobs. On May 22, UNDP partially answered these follow-up questions, posed on May 14:

Is UNDP paying Rodrigues' salary?
You say that Rodrigues "does not have any UN status."

What do you mean; he is a contractor, right?
Isn't this his status -- he holds a SSA contract with UNDP? Or are you referring to privileges and immunities; that he has no such status, given that he is a contractor?

Did the Govt of Timor Leste specifically request that UNDP hire Mr. Rodrigues as a consultant?

If so, which official made this request?

UNDP responded that "anyone one on a consultant/SSA contract has only functional immunity so his UN status has no bearing on any potential legal developments in Timor Leste relating to developments prior to his employment with the UN.

In fact, the only immunity he may have relates to his membership of the Council of State. Lifting that would require a decision by the President of the country. The SRSG has already spoken to the President about this who confirmed that he would do so.

The UN in Timor Leste continues to support the work of the Commission of Inquiry is committed to full accountability for all those whom the report names."

On May 22, Inner City Press asked UNDP some questions, some of which have so far been answered as noted below:

Q: What ever happened to the promised investigation by OAPR of UNDP's award of no-bid contracts to a firm called PRO-FIT?

At the time, UNDP promised its own investigation. did it ever happen? Will UNDP make it public? So far not answered.
UNDP claimed a couple months ago that internal investigations and a Kimberly Process investigation had cleared UNDP from any wrongdoing in Zimbabwe, concerning UNDP’s Support of Diamond Mining Operations.

But UNDP refuses to make public the investigations.

What is the basis for UNDP not sharing copies of these investigation reports: Will UNDP releases the reports? So far not answered.

Q: Has UNDP hired consultants whose responsibilities include monitoring the computers and communications of staff and other consultants? If yes, are Mr. Dervis and/or Mr. Melkert aware of this monitoring, and are they given any of the information that is collected? Does UNDP or these consultants monitor the computers or communications of the Independent Review Panel?

Partially answered: “On the issue of the monitoring, UNDP does not have any consultants or staff or anyone "whose responsibilities include the monitoring of computers and communications of staff and other consultants." (To use your words). We, of course, are not in any way shape or form monitoring the computers of the Independent Review Panel. Frankly, allegations that UNDP would be involved in such practices are just downright preposterous."

We'll see.
Q: Beyond UNDP, what about the question of UN requiring letter from a media's country's mission for accreditation?

Answered thusly: "I have been advised that for regular accreditation missions do not get involved. However, they do get involved when a visiting senior official travels with a press corps. In those instances, the mission would sent the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit a list of journalists who need to get a one or two day pass."

We less sure of this last answer, as several journalists have been asked to get letters from their country's mission to the UN Developing.

E Timor army denies abuse claims – BBC News, 27 May

At sunset, Dili's sweeping coastline echoes back the sounds of the city: the sellers of snacks and cigarettes; the tinny music leaking from foreign-owned bars; the occasional motorbike rezoning along the beach road.

One wonders what it all sounds like to Gastao Salsinha, under lock and key in a military house.

For two years the noises he slept to were those of the mountainous jungle where he hid with his men - almost 600 of them, former soldiers whose sacking from the army led to a spate of political violence.

Their complaint - that the army discriminated against those from the west of the country - opened up old wounds in the capital between Timorese from the eastern districts and those from the west.

It was while negotiations to resolve this dispute were going on in February that some of the group launched a double attack on the president and prime minister.

Now Mr Salsinha and others suspected of involvement in that attack are in custody in Dili.

But after two years of failing to catch them, how did East Timor's armed forces get them down to the capital without firing a shot?

Special joint command
Filomeno Paixão is the man in charge of the operation; head of a specially-created unit combining the army and the police under one joint command.

First, he told me, it had been his conviction that Mr Salsinha would surrender given the right opportunity.

The army had spent a lot of time, he said, spreading the word that they would not shoot Mr Salsinha; and getting the local community, his family, and church leaders to use their influence with him.

The joint command has been widely praised for its success.

Two years ago, during the crisis following the sacking of the soldiers, the army and police were shooting each other in the streets of Dili; now they are pulling off sensitive psychological operations in East Timor's rural areas.

“When the army arrived, they gathered everyone together and said if the rebels didn't hand themselves in, they'd kill us.”

Commander Paixão says the operation relied on persuasion. But some of those close to the operation say it went further than that.

Villages 'threatened'
The road through Ermera's mountainous interior eventually gives out, and reaching the villages targeted by the army means coaxing a car up steep shale paths and along narrow, grassed-over tracks.

In the first place we stopped in was a hamlet of coffee farmers. They gathered round to describe the effects of the army operation.

They told us that they were not allowed to go to their fields for a week. The army threatened that if Salsinha did not surrender, they would not harvest their crops, they said.

This is coffee country.
Coffee is East Timor's main non-oil export, and a financial lifeline for people here.

According to the UN, blanket restrictions like the ones they described would be illegal - even during military operations.

But that is not all they had to say.

One young man told me: "When the army arrived, they gathered everyone together and said if the rebels didn't hand themselves in, they'd kill us."

"That's true," his friend said.

There are other, far more serious, allegations being talked about here, but no evidence for them as yet.

Beatings
Rumors travel fast in East Timor, and there are political reasons why the people of Ermera might want to discredit the army - this is, after all, a western district, and the place Salsinha and the other rebels chose to run to.

But then there are reasons, too, why the army might want to put pressure on the people here.

At a neighboring village, we met the brother of one of the rebel soldiers the army was looking for.

He told me: "They took me from my house and beat me on my back and stomach, using their hands, feet, and also guns."

"They were asking 'Where is your brother?' I told them I didn't know, but they beat me anyway."

His village chief told us there were eight others from this community who had been through the same experience. According to him, one was an elderly woman.

Ermera is the place the rebels chose for protection, but when I talked to people about Mr Salsinha and his family, they were angry.

'Furious'

"Mad" and "furious" are the words they used.

And that chill wind has reached the house of Mr Salsinha's wife, down in the district capital, Gleno.

During the operation, she said, local people began issuing threats against her family.

It was one of the factors - though she says not the over-riding one - that helped persuade her husband to turn himself in.
Commander Paixão denies the army ill-treated any civilians during the operation.

He told me he had sent two teams to the area to investigate reports of abuses, but that none had been found to be true.

Investigations are also being carried out by the UN and the Timorese parliament.

The joint command, meanwhile, has not yet been given a date for its disbandment.

Many analysts and politicians agree deep-seated reform of East Timor's army and police is needed to avoid future crises, but the military's success in bringing in Mr Salsinha and his men could well make that job harder rather than easier.

Mr Salsinha may be back in town, his rump of a rebel army may be neutralized, and the security situation may be judged to be calmer.
But there are many other challenges that this unstable country has yet to address.

Political factor still decisive for Timor’s Asean bid – The Star, 28 May

OVER the weekend, Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta pledged that his country would not “embarrass” Asean as a “basket case” like Myanmar.

He was addressing the international media in Singapore over Timor Leste’s bid to join Asean by 2012. But his statement conflicts with some key Asean realities.

Timor Leste is among the poorest countries in the neighborhood. But doubts about a budding member’s socio-political environment worries Asean more than its economic status.

Since the president has compared his country with Myanmar, what differences and similarities are there?

Like Myanmar, Timor Leste is rich in natural resources yet to be tapped fully. But unlike a Myanmar with diminishing timber resources and precious stones riding on tourism, Timor Leste is endowed with oil and gas that can attract lucrative foreign contracts.

Also unlike Myanmar, the fledgling government of Timor Leste enjoys much international goodwill. Developing its economy would see enthusiastic international support, quite unlike Myanmar.

So Timor Leste’s economics is not at issue in hopes of joining Asean. But like Myanmar, its problem is unresolved political turmoil from deep-seated social fissures.

Ramos-Horta may say Timor Leste is democratic, unlike Myanmar, but his country is not seeking to join the European Union. In the experience of Asean countries, the larger priorities are political stability, national security and social peace.

Myanmar’s problem is that these priorities do not converge, and officials still seem determined not to resolve the roots of the predicament. Myanmar embarrasses, frustrates and stymies Asean not with economic backwardness but political underdevelopment.

Timor Leste’s stability, security and peace have been devastated not just with the police and military fighting each other, but also feuding groups of soldiers approaching civil war. Rioting that erupted in 2006 continued into 2007, with attacks on both the prime minister and president as Ramos-Horta only just survived an assassination attempt this year.

In the 1990s, Cambodia’s bid to join Asean was delayed because of such internecine strife. Timor Leste would do well to learn from such past examples.

Myanmar was admitted into Asean with what now looks like naive hopes of Yangon undertaking promised reforms. After the carrot of Asean membership failed to work, some speculated in vain on the stick of suspending its membership.

Timor leaders are mistaken if they think Asean membership hangs on economic development. Emphasis should be on settling the country’s in festering social and political problems, not looking to future economic attainments.

The-then East Timor “left” Indonesia in 1999 and formally gained independence in 2002, but even now Timor Leste’s tribal rifts and factional ruptures remain unresolved. Ramos-Horta said 2012 had been set as a target to help expedite reform efforts, but that will not work if priorities are misaligned towards economics.

Differences in economic development among Asean countries have slowed integration and limited policy streamlining, but all hopes of growth, investment and trade can be scupper with continued political turmoil and serious uncertainties. That is a basic reality which all Asean member nations have learned the hard way.

Timor Leste is located within the Asean region largely because Indonesian rule “located” itself within the former Portuguese Timor. Anthropologically and culturally, Timor’s Austronesian and Melanesian roots place it more distantly.

Timor leaders once had antipathy for Asean, but that was overcome after Indonesia’s Suharto regime expired.
As a small novice nation next to two giants, Indonesia and Australia, sovereign Timor Leste today may feel more secure in an Asean based on equal membership rights and group consensus.

But Asean has always been about sustaining stability through core security built on a fraternal peace, after which economic prospects can proceed unhindered. Timor leaders need to internalize this formula for Asean success.



UNMIT MEDIA MONITORING
www.unmit.org

Alegria e orgulho dos finalistas timorenses no Cortejo da Queima das Fitas

EL
ATConline, 4 de Maio de 2008

Queima das Fitas

Coimbra - A Queima das Fitas em Coimbra é considerada como o ponto alto da festa dos estudantes que ocorre em Portugal, sendo a tradição mais antiga que remonta à década 50 do século XIX, e continua ser, até hoje, uma das actividades académicas mais animada e que tem vindo a marcar os momentos da vida dos estudantes da Universidade de Coimbra. A tradição mantém-se e este ano a Queima das Fitas contou com uma maior participação dos estudantes timorenses que estudam nesta Universidade e destaca-se nesta magna festa os finalistas Emanuel Assis, Robin Araújo, Melisa Diliana Caldas, Nivea Alves, Suzy Lobato, Vital Araújo, Egidio Carion, Gaspar Sobral, Ivo Soares e António Monteiro. A alegria e o orgulho são as palavras de momento que acabaram, simbolicamente, de queimar as suas fitas, como reza a tradição, assinalando assim o fim das suas rotinas (aulas) e ficando à espera da prova final para puder ter o direito a atribuição de equivalência da Universidade de Coimbra. O tão esperado e ansiado “canudo”.

ATC Online, conseguiu no meio da multidão apanhar alguns dos finalistas e oportunamente proporcionar-lhes umas perguntas relacionadas com a festa da Queima das Fitas; a sensação de ser finalista e o significado da Queima da Fitas para eles.

Emanuel Assis, finalista do curso de Engenharia de Minas, mesmo que esteja já no fim do curso não hesita em falar dos problemas que vão surgindo. “Neste preciso momento estou num dilema. Primeiro, fico contente por ter chegado até aqui, porque, estou quase no fim do curso". Revelando as emoções sentidas, Emanuel não escondeu o seu amor pela cidade de Coimbra. “O outro meu dilema é o peso de sentimento que vou ter depois de deixar esta magnífica cidade de Coimbra. Digo que já tenho saudades dela.”

Perguntando sobre a festa da Queima, Emanuel considera-a como um ritual e é uma das maiores festas do mundo. “Fui batizado no Rio Mondego, dando início ao ritual. Vem depois outro momento em que tive oportunidade de vestir, pela primeira vez na noite da serenata em Maio de 2001, o traje académico. Cumprindo assim mais uma tradição. No Cortejo dos Quartanistas era outra parte em que também participei, e agora sou finalista e cartolado”.

Nivea Alves, formando no curso de Sociologia sente-se orgulhosa com o percurso académico realizado. Sendo uma das finalistas mostrou-se bastante contente com o resultado feito depois de uma longa e incasável luta... “Hau kontente tebes tamba bele konkretija luta iha tinan hira nia laran...”.

A futura sociológa (na sua expressão) parece estar já com vontade de regressar para a terra natal, Timor-Leste, mas ao mesmo tempo recorda os momentos passados em Coimbra. “A Queima das Fitas acima de tudo é uma festa que está muito ligada com a tradição académica, única e vai ficar com certeza como recordação”. Terminando a conversa, a Nivea deixou umas palavras de coragem aos seus conterrâneos para que esforcem e não desistam pelo caminho, apesar das dificuldades. Os outros conseguem porque é que nós não (ema seluk bele, tamba sa maka ita labele)”?

Robin de Araújo, finalista do curso de Engenharia Mecânica, por sua vez, falou da resistência que ele viveu durante cinco anos no universo de Coimbra. Aparentemente satisfeito e orgulhoso. Trata-se de uma mistura de emoções, sendo finalista e tão desejado a conseguir concretizar o seu sonho (Cita-cita). “Sinto-me orgulho de ser finalista depois de 5 anos mergulhado na vida académica. E este sucesso só terá significado quando for a Timor, pois o futuro está lá e o mais importante a contribuição que darei ao meu país, Timor-Leste”.

Conversando relativamente sobre a tradição da Queima das Fitas, Robin diz que “esta é uma festa de estudantes e ela significa para mim muita coisa. Mas o mais sentido nesta festa é o sentimento de alegria por ter acabado meu curso”.

Noutra ocasião, ATConline foi fazer a mesma pergunta e desta vez a finalista do Curso de Direito, Melisa Diliana Caldas. Relativamente à primeira questão, Melisa respondeu “Ser finalista, poder neste dia trajar-me a rigor com a cartola e a bengala e acompanhada pelo meu sobrinho, é um momento muito especial não só para mim, mas para toda a minha família, amigos e colegas. Isto porque já foram 6 anos de lutas e sacrifícios constantes que me deitaram por terra, mas que com o apoio de todos aqueles que me rodeiam poderei sair desta linda cidade com a cabeça erguida e triunfante. Ainda faltam alguns obstáculos. No entanto, ganho hoje mais coragem para os enfrentar. E com o coração pulsando de alegria viverei os próximos tempos sempre na esperança de poder finalmente atingir os objectivos pretendidos para esta caminhada.”

Tal como os restantes finalistas, as emoções duplicam e o sentimento nostálgico ganha o seu espaço. Colocando a segunda questão sobre a Queima da Fitas, Melisa, por sua vez, tem uma leitura própria relacionada com o fim de uma etapa tão esperada e ansiada por todos e nesta perspectiva ela define a Queima como o momento do culminar do convívio entre os estudantes. “A Queima de Fitas não é só a semana de eventos que se realiza, os dias de férias que tiramos da faculdade, as bebedeiras e noitadas no Parque, mas é sobretudo a consagração das várias etapas académicas. A Queima não é só para os cartolados, mas é também para os fitados, para os grelados e para os caloiros, que pela primeira vez usam o seu traje. A Queima não deixa ninguém indiferente porque ela é um ponto de convívio entre os estudantes, possibilitando a construção de novas amizades e forçando as relações entre colegas. A Queima de Fitas é assim um rodopio de momentos e emoções que nos ficam na memória para toda a nossa vida. Um Viva à Queima de Fitas!!!”

Nesta curta conversa, observamos que os finalistas todos têm a ânsia de terminar já o seus respectivos estudos e revelando o interesse de tornar úteis os conhecimentos académicos adquiridos no regresso a Timor-Leste. PARABÉNS E BOA SORTE!

ATCOL/OD/SJ/NG/ABITO/AF ***

ATConline

Lançamento da Colectânea da Secretaria de Estado do Conselho de Ministros

REPÚBLICA DEMOCRÁTICA DE TIMOR-LESTE

SECRETARIA DE ESTADO DO CONSELHO DE MINISTROS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lançamento da Colectânea da Secretaria de Estado do Conselho de Ministros relativa à
Actividade e Procedimento Legislativo do IV Governo Constitucional
DIA 28 de MAIO de 2008
_____________________________________________________________________
Informação à Imprensa
_________________________________________________________________________________


Díli, 27 de Maio de 2008

O Primeiro-Ministro Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão estará presente amanhã, dia 28 de Maio, pelas 17h00, nas instalações da Secretaria de Estado do Conselho de Ministros, Palácio do Governo, em Díli, onde irá decorrer o lançamento da Colectânea relativa à Actividade e Procedimento Legislativo do IV Governo Constitucional, da responsabilidade da Secretaria de Estado do Conselho de Ministros.

A Colectânea reúne três textos jurídicos relevantes não só no contexto do actual Governo, como também na redacção de normas em Timor-Leste, uma vez que respeitam à estrutura e funcionamento do IV Governo Constitucional e ao conjunto de regras a observar na redacção dos textos das suas normas jurídicas.

Apresentam-se, assim, num único volume, o Decreto-Lei n.º 7/2007, referente à Lei Orgânica do IV Governo Constitucional, a Resolução do Governo N.° 11/2007, que aprova o Regimento do Conselho de Ministros do IV Governo Constitucional, o Despacho n.°1/2007, de 31 de Agosto, do Secretário de Estado do Conselho de Ministros, que estabelece as Regras de Logística e ainda um breve glossário, de modo a facilitar o acesso a esses textos por parte do leitor.

Esta publicação decorre da aposta do IV Governo Constitucional na qualidade e no rigor técnico-jurídico e linguístico de todos os diplomas legais, e em fazer compreender o respectivo teor a toda a população de Timor-Leste.

Para tal, o Governo conta com a Secretaria de Estado do Conselho de Ministros (SECM), que elaborou os referidos textos normativos e promoveu a publicação da Colectânea nas línguas oficiais da República Democrática de Timor-Leste, o Tétum e o Português, e ainda na língua inglesa. Desta forma, a SECM disponibiliza, também, aos estudantes de Direito e aos juristas um instrumento auxiliar de trabalho.

Este é o primeiro passo de uma série de iniciativas no âmbito do plano de acesso à informação da actividade do Governo à sociedade civil.

#FIM#

FRETILIN em Portugal

FÓRUM ACADÉMICO DA FRETILIN EM COIMBRA

F.A.F.C é um fórum académico da Fretilin em Coimbra. Criado em 04 de julho de 2007 pelos académicos da Fretilin com os objectivos construtivos e dinâmicos em muitos aspectos das diferenças áreas.

A milícia Team Alfa e a violência de 1999 no indulto de Ramos-Horta

*** Pedro Rosa Mendes, da Agência Lusa ***

Díli, 27 Mai (Lusa) - Na lista de 94 nomes indultados pelo Presidente da República timorense estão os primeiros e únicos condenados em Timor-Leste por crimes contra a humanidade, incluindo os quatro protagonistas do “julgamento de Lospalos”.

Entre os nove ex-elementos de milícias integracionistas indultados por José Ramos-Horta no dia da independência, 20 de Maio, sobressai o de Joni Marques, acusado de alguns dos crimes mais cruéis cometidos antes e depois do referendo de 30 de Agosto de 1999.

Joni Marques, Gonçalo dos Santos, João da Costa “Lemorai” e Paulo da Costa, membros ou “associados” da milícia pró-indonésia Team Alfa (ou Tim Alfa), de Lospalos (leste), constituem, juntos, uma das cinco listas nominais do decreto presidencial número 53/2008.

Os quatro foram acusados de crimes contra a humanidade em Dezembro de 2000 pelo procurador internacional da Autoridade de Transição e foram os primeiros a ser julgados, a partir de Janeiro de 2001, pelo Tribunal Especial para Crimes Graves em Díli.

O “julgamento de Lospalos”, como ficou conhecido, foi um marco na história judicial do novo país, onde pela primeira vez se julgou e condenou responsáveis directos da campanha de violência que assolou o território em 1999.

Joni Marques, João da Costa e Paulo da Costa receberam penas cumulativas de prisão de 33 anos e quatro meses e Gonçalo dos Santos foi condenado a 23 anos.

Na lista de crimes de que foi acusado Joni Marques e os seus colegas de milícia conta-se a tortura e morte de Evaristo Lopes, um membro clandestino das Falintil, a 21 de Abril de 1999, em Lospalos; ataques, deportação e movimentação forçada de população de várias aldeias de Lautém entre 08 e 30 de Setembro.

O rol de crimes inclui ainda o rapto e assassínio do jovem Aleixo Oliveira a 11 de Setembro, o assassínio de Alfredo Araújo e Calixto Rodrigues, a 21 de Setembro, e o conhecido massacre de freiras, padres, um jornalista indonésio e outros passageiros, num total de oito ocupantes da mesma viatura, em Lautém, dia 25 do mesmo mês.

“Estes crimes foram parte da onda de violência generalizada, orquestrada e enquadrada pelas forças armadas indonésias (ABRI, renomeadas TNI em 1999) e pela polícia”, considerou o Tribunal Especial que julgou Joni Marques e companheiros.

“As milícias pró-autonomia eram organizadas e dirigidas por uma organização paramilitar de enquadramento, as Forças de Combate da Integração (PPI), que tinha o apoio das TNI e da administração”, pode também ler-se no primeiro auto de acusação.

No distrito de Lautém (com capital em Lospalos), as forças indonésias trabalharam em estreita cooperação com grupos armados como a Team Alfa, a BRTT (Barisan Rakyat Timor Timur) e a Pengamanan Swakarsa, grupos de “autodefesa” civil.

Joni Marques, detido em 31 de Outubro de 1999, foi comandante da milícia Team Alfa entre 1994 e 1996 e membro do Comando das Forças Especiais indonésio (KOPASSUS).

João da Costa “Lemorai” era membro da milícia. Paulo da Costa estava “associado” ao mesmo grupo, tal como Gonçalo dos Santos, segundo a acusação.

A Team Alfa, referida algumas vezes como Jati Merah Puti (que em bahasa significa “Autêntico Branco e Vermelho”, as cores da bandeira indonésia), foi criada em 1986 pelo capitão Luhut Panjaitan, do KOPASSUS, como força de recrutamento local contra a guerrilha das Falintil.

Segundo a acusação, “membros da Team Alfa eram armados, equipados e treinados pelo KOPASSUS, actuando em operações mistas” de grande violência contra a população timorense.

Joni Marques foi um dos participantes de uma reunião na base de Laruara, a 03 de Setembro, onde se analisou a violência ao longo do ano de 1999 e se definiu a campanha seguinte, de retaliação contra a vitória da independência.

Relatos do “julgamento de Lospalos” referem “a grande crueldade” e “desumanidade” dos crimes da Team Alfa, com detalhes chocantes do massacre das freiras e padres na estrada de Lautém para Baucau.

Nessa ocasião, a eliminação das vítimas foi feita a tiro, em alguns casos à catanada e à facada, e terminou com o linchamento de um jovem que o grupo de Joni Marques tinha atado a uma árvore antes da emboscada à viatura dos religiosos.

Joni Marques e os outros dois condenados a 33 anos de prisão receberam um primeiro indulto em 2004, do então chefe de Estado, Xanana Gusmão, actual primeiro-ministro. A pena ficou reduzida a 25 anos.

Com a redução da pena para metade (doze anos e seis meses) por José Ramos-Horta, todos os quatro nomes constantes do Anexo III do decreto presidencial estão em condições de pedir a liberdade condicional. A cumprir pena há quase nove anos, Joni Marques e o seu grupo já ultrapassaram a barreira legal de meio da pena cumprida, que é de seis anos e três meses.

Beneficiam também de indulto presidencial, com redução de dois anos na pena, outros ex-membros de milícias integracionistas: Mateus Punef, Sixto Barros, César Mendonça e Januário da Costa. Um outro ex-milícia, Mateus Lao “Ena Poto”, é abrangido pelo indulto presidencial com a mesma redução, mas na lista do Anexo II do decreto.

Lusa/fim

Indulto presidencial suscita reacções de repúdio

Díli, 27 Mai (Lusa) - O indulto concedido na semana passada pelo Presidente timorense, José Ramos-Horta, que inclui o ex-ministro do Interior e nove condenados por crimes contra a humanidade, foi recebido com repúdio por diferentes fontes ouvidas pela agência Lusa em Díli.

Joni Marques, Gonçalo dos Santos, João da Costa “Lemorai” e Paulo da Costa, membros ou “associados” da milícia pró-indonésia Team Alfa em 1999, de Lospalos (leste), estão entre 94 indultados pelo Presidente José Ramos-Horta a 20 de Maio, dia da independência.

O indulto abrange também o ex-ministro do Interior Rogério Lobato, condenado em 2007 a sete anos e meio de prisão pela distribuição de armas a civis durante a crise política e militar de 2006.

Tanto Rogério Lobato, fundador das Falintil em 1975, como cinco dos nove ex-milícias integracionistas de 1999 incluídos no indulto, beneficiam de redução de metade da pena, ficando em condições de pedir a liberdade condicional.

“Estou sem palavras. O Presidente é uma obstrução completa à justiça em Timor-Leste”, acusou Fernanda Borges, líder do Partido Unidade Nacional (PUN), em declarações à Lusa.

Fernanda Borges é presidente da Comissão A do Parlamento Nacional, que tem competência sobre assuntos constitucionais e direitos, liberdades e garantias, e nessa qualidade pretende apresentar um pedido de esclarecimento ao Governo sobre as informações e sugestões enviadas ao Presidente da República para o indulto.

“É asqueroso indultar criminosos como Joni Marques e o seu grupo. Legalmente, o Presidente pode fazê-lo, mas é uma medida indefensável para os ideais da defesa da justiça”, afirmou à Lusa um especialista internacional em direitos humanos, com experiência de vários anos em Timor-Leste.

“A única lógica que vejo é a de que, uma vez que já não há ninguém preso na Indonésia pelos crimes de 1999 ou da Ocupação, o Presidente timorense decidiu nivelar pelo mesmo critério, por baixo, e dar aos timorenses a mesma impunidade de que gozaram os indonésios”, adiantou o mesmo especialista, que pediu o anonimato.

“É um nivelamento por baixo”, acrescentou.

“O indulto é ainda mais indefensável porque o relatório ‘Chega!’ (da Comissão de Acolhimento Verdade e Reconciliação-CAVR) nunca foi discutido pelo Parlamento”, explicou o mesmo especialista à Lusa.

Também Pat Walsh, do secretariado da pós-CAVR (a comissão funcionou entre 2002 e 2005), manifestou informalmente a sua condenação pelo indulto presidencial, em declarações proferidas na semana passada durante um encontro inter-religioso em Díli.

“Crimes como os de 1999 não foram apenas cometidos contra indivíduos mas contra valores e sistemas de justiça, ou de moral”, analisou Pat Walsh nessa ocasião.

“O perdão de José Ramos-Horta aos seus agressores (em Fevereiro de 2008) é muito bonito, mas como chefe de Estado ele tem que defender os interesses dos cidadãos, incluindo das vítimas”, explicou também Pat Walsh, um veterano da causa timorense de há mais de três décadas.

Um outro activista de direitos humanos envolvido no processo da antiga CAVR, e que pediu o anonimato, declarou à Lusa que “se houvesse uma sondagem de opinião honesta, a maioria dos timorenses não concordaria que o sistema (judicial) fosse comprometido desta maneira”.

Para um magistrado envolvido em vários dos processos que agora receberam indulto presidencial, “o decreto é uma amnistia encapotada”.

“É uma lei de calculadora na mão, porque os critérios foram arranjados para encontrar as reduções de pena necessárias para casos individuais, e não o contrário”, acrescentou o mesmo magistrado.

“No centro dos ‘critérios’ está, claramente, o caso de Rogério Lobato. Os outros nomes compõem o ramalhete”, acusou a mesma fonte judicial, que falou sob anonimato.

O magistrado salientou que o resultado directo do indulto presidencial será “a saída precoce em liberdade de dezenas de violadores e homicidas”, uma vez que são esses os crimes mais frequentes em Timor-Leste.

“Os condenados por crimes contra o património são uma minoria na lista dos 94 indultados”, declarou o magistrado.

“Há condenados por crimes contra a vida e outros direitos fundamentais que vão voltar à rua depois de apenas alguns meses na prisão, porque as sentenças iniciais já eram baixas em relação à gravidade dos crimes”, alertou o mesmo magistrado.

Essa desproporção entre crime e pena tem a ver com a valoração relativa do Código Penal Indonésio, que é mais duro com crimes contra o Estado, por exemplo, do que com crimes contra o indivíduo.

O magistrado sublinha também que o indulto de 20 de Maio foi o terceiro indulto presidencial em menos de um ano.

“Num país de grande violência como é Timor-Leste, um indulto assim tem consequências pesadas para a sociedade, em impunidade e em insegurança”, concluiu o magistrado.

O Programa de Monitorização do Sector Judicial (JSMP), que acompanha em detalhe todo o sistema jurídico timorense, chamou a atenção para as “muitas ambiguidades legais e linguísticas” do decreto presidencial.

“O que é claro, no entanto, é que a redução generalizada de sentenças ameaça desvalorizar o papel dos tribunais e minimizar a gravidade dos crimes cometidos”, notou o JSMP num comunicado.

“Até a verdade não é suficiente, mas nem sequer a isso chegámos, e à justiça ainda menos”, resumiu o activista da CAVR sobre o último indulto presidencial.

PRM.
Lusa/fim

Corruption charges threaten East Timor's development

Asia Sentinel - Monday, May 26, 2008

By Jesse Wright
26 May 2008

The US promises hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money if the fledgling country cleans up its act


The United States government is promising East Timor hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money — if it can organize a plan to clean up its corruption within a year, a tall order for a country that was nearly crushed at independence by Indonesia and whose institutions are in early stages of development. Only five of its 15 ministries have internal audit processes in place and World Bank statistics indicate corruption is on the rise.

In late 2005 the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an innovative new development agency funded by the US Congress with the mandate to tie aid to policy reform milestones, approved a full contract — called a compact — with the fledgling country. Usually the compacts are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and are used to develop specific projects, such as new highway or hospitals, but a flawed proposal in 2006 and then national elections in 2007 have delayed the process and Timor is still without a compact.

With the national elections completed, the MCC has said it is ready to consider a new proposal from Timor, but over the past two years another problem has emerged: corruption. Timor is currently failing the MCC's control of corruption criterion.

The MCC uses 17 criteria in three sectors to rate countries: fair and impartial governance, investing in people, and economic freedom. The control-of corruption criterion is based on data collected locally by the World Bank and it is the only pass/fail one. In other words, it is the one thing Timor cannot afford to fail if it hopes to win a full compact. The local head of the World Bank, however, told Asia Sentinel he is confident Timor will right itself by the time the proposal is accepted.

“You have a very dedicated government committed to fighting corruption here,” Antonio Franco, World Bank country director, said. “I would assume that possibly by the end of this year they'll be okay.”

Last month East Timor's prime minister, Xanana Gusmao, introduced his plan to create a civil service commission and an anti-corruption commission, declaring 2008 the “Year of administrative reform.”

Franco said measures like these should have an immediate effect.

“In most cases that's all you need is to establish the framework,” he said. Six years from independence from Indonesia’s failed rule and subsequent devastation of the tiny country, Timor has found it difficult to create the framework, however.

Franco said this created a problem because there were few benchmarks to measure corruption.

“It's not very specific data and it's not based on very in depth country analysis,” Franco said.

John Hewko, vice president of the MCC, said he was convinced the government would fix its corruption rating soon and so Timor would still be eligible for a compact.

Hewko, along with a small delegation from Washington, D.C., visited East Timor last week to meet with the government about the new project proposal. Timor's initial 2005 proposal was rejected because it was too broad and it was not discussed with leaders of civil society.

The first step to any compact, Hewko said, is public consultation.

“We view this as a program between the people of the United States and the people of East Timor,” he said. The consultation process is followed by a feasibility study and Timor will base its proposal on that study.

The entire process can take up to 18 months, and during that time the MCC will push for better control of corruption. Hewko said that often the amount of money at stake is so great that countries improve their ratings for fear of losing the money. The projects can be terminated if goals are not met.

“There's something called the MCC effect,” he said. “Already we've seen this. Countries try to do well to be eligible [for a compact].”

Although the amount of money Timor could get will be based on its future project proposal, the money should be significant.

“These are large grants and they focus people's attention. This isn't $10 million, but more like $100 million” said Darius Nassiry, the MCC's country director for the department of compact development.

To a country like East Timor where most people live on a few dollars a day, the project alone could provide countless jobs and a needed boost to the economy.

About half the country is unemployed and the gross domestic product is based heavily on the country's nascent petroleum revenue. In Timor, not only are there few skilled workers, but even those with skills say they have trouble finding work. Thousands still live in displacement camps scattered around Dili, the nation's capital, too poor to rebuild their homes, and without income. Tens of thousands lost everything following violent civil unrest in 2006, and while the government has made some progress moving people back home, underlying causes—lack of jobs, skills, etc—are harder to fix.

Hewko said the MCC aims to fix just these sorts of problems through their compacts. He said Timor's project should have a heavy emphasis on infrastructure and rural development, and be “rooted in activities that promote economic growth.”

The MCC was established in 2004 as an initiative by the Bush administration as a “new” approach to aid development. Some critics have said the Bush administration should have simply reworked the United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. government's existing development agency, but Hewko and others said USAID is actually quite different.

“USAID has a much broader mandate than the MCC,” said Hewko. “Our projects are highly specialized and we only work with countries that are doing well.”

Media Release: FRETILIN Supports President on Petroleum Fund and Budget Execution

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTE
FRETILIN

Media Release
May 26, 2008

FRETILIN welcomes President's call for respect for Petroleum Fund, commits to cooperation
Dili: The leader of the FRETILIN parliamentary group, Aniceto Guterres, has welcomed calls from President Jose Ramos-Horta for the de-facto AMP government to operate within the existing petroleum fund laws and not to unnecessarily and unilaterally withdraw additional revenue from the Fund.

"FRETILIN supports the president and what he said regarding the management of petroleum receipts and budget preparation and execution," said Guterres. FRETILIN is the largest party in the National Parliament.

In his speech to the nation on the sixth anniversary of Timor-Leste's restoration of independence on 20 May 2002, President Ramos-Horta praised the work by the Alkatiri government in establishing a strong petroleum revenue stream for the people of Timor-Leste.

This was President Horta's second major address since returning from Australia after having survived an attempt on his life on February 11, 2008

Dr Ramos-Horta said: "…we should acknowledge the success of the negotiations regarding petroleum, which culminated in the Timor Sea Treaty and the creation of the Petroleum Fund, an institution recognized internationally as among the best in the world.

"At this time, we have a Petroleum Fund with nearly USD$3 billion that can be utilized by the current government, without needing to amend the law in force, as long as the government can demonstrate its capacity to bring about good budget management and execution, and it can put forward convincing plans and programs to the mandated institutions," President Ramos-Horta
added.

Mr Guterres commented: "These are very clear and strong indications of the President's desire to see a responsible, inclusive and consultative approach to ongoing management of the National Petroleum Fund establishment by the FRETILIN government. It reflects what we have been saying since the fund began in 2005 and when we opposed Mr Xanana Gusmao's calls for amendments and more money to be used from the petroleum fund. These statements by the President clearly support our prudent and realistic approach to revenue management and budgeting."

In November 2007 Timor-Leste's much praised Petroleum Fund was ranked No. 3 in the world out of 32 similar state-owned funds in 28 countries, by the renowned Washington think tank, the Peterson Institute for International Economics. It has been widely acclaimed by international donors, the multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and IMF and other international experts, for its transparency, accountability and security.

The current Petroleum Fund Law is also domestically valued and respected, having attained national consensus in its establishment. It won unanimous approved in the previous parliament, with every political party (except CNRT) which is now represented in today's parliament voting in favor of it, though current CNRT members of parliament who were in the last parliament (as members of other parties) also voted for it.

"No changes should be made to this petroleum fund institution and petroleum revenue management framework without undertaking an equally wide public consultation process over the same period of time. Any legislative amendments without this will lack legitimacy. However, we also believe that the de-facto government would find it hard to get the numbers to make any of the proposed changes," added Gueterres.

One changes would allow the government to take more revenue annually to have a larger budget. The current budget is already twice the last FRETILIN government budget and four to five times the average budget FRETILIN had available for 2004-2006.

"FRETILIN stands by its election promise to strongly defend Timor-Leste's Petroleum Fund from irresponsible and wasteful spending raids by the de-facto AMP government. They have delivered nothing for the poor of our country despite having had two huge budgets between August 2007 and today. But what we now see are only a lot of new cars, a lot of corruption, a lot of handouts that do not benefit all of the very needy in our society, and a very few from the business and political elite getting very rich. We see the diversion of resources away from those who truly need them, but little for the people," said Guterres.

"As President Ramos-Horta said, they have to demonstrate better budget execution and acceptable plans and programs to the parliament and society. We agree with that. It is too dangerous to the Petroleum Fund to do otherwise until these assurances are in place. We will hold the de-facto government accountable in the parliament on this," added Guterres.

In his first address to the National Parliament on his return from Australia after the February 11 attempt on his life, President Ramos-Horta asked the AMP de-facto government to utilize the extensive governance knowledge and experience of former FRETILIN ministers, such as Dr Mari Alaktiri, Estanislau da Silva, Jose Teixeira and Ana Pessoa to address the critical question of how to ensure the petroleum fund revenues are used to help the poorest of the poor in Timor-Leste, in light of the current world food price crisis.

"FRETILIN has stood ready to work together with all the political forces in our country to find a consensus-based approach to try to resolve the nation's problems and overcome the challenges before us all as Timorese," said Guterres.

"In his May 20 address to the FRETILIN faithful, which also included the presence of a number of foreign ambassadors, our Secretary General, Dr Mari Alkatiri, publicly stated that he is prepared to meet at any time with Mr Xanana Gusmao to discuss how we can all move the country forward. He awaits Mr Gusmao's response," concluded Guterres.


Contact: Jose Teixeira +670 728 7080;
Nilva Guimaraes +670 734 0389

Lançamento da base de dados de aquisição online de Timor-Leste Anúncio Público.

Para comemorar a Restauração do Dia da Independência a Peace Dividend Trust anuncia o lançamento da base de dados de aquisição online de Timor-Leste

Em 20 de Maio de 2008 a base de dados tem aproximadamente 948 perfis de negócios online, e cresce todas as semanas.

Usando esta base de dados no website www.buildingmarkets.org pode:* encontrar rapidamente bens e serviços localmente através de [1] Timor-Leste.* Organizar serviços de buffet para um evento num distrito, estando em Dili.* Comprar utensílios de agricultura fabricados nas áreas rurais.* Obter uma escala maior de produtos, serviços, cotas e/ou conhecimento acerca do sector doméstico privado.* Aceder ao sector privado nos locais mais distantes de Timor-Leste.*

Encontrar agentes imobiliários, comerciantes de cascalho, fornecedores de VSAT, alojamento nos distritos, e mesmo serviços de veterinário.

Em cooperação comMinistério do Turismo, Comércio e Indústria da República Democrática de Timor-Leste

Financiado porAusAID
E apoiado porMerpati

A base de dados está sob revisão constante. Para postar o seu perfil na base de dados ou para reportar erros por favor contacte Peace Dividend Trust via mailto:timordatabase@peacedividendtrust.org>timordatabase@peacedividendtrust.org and +670 332 2825.

Para aprender acerca de compras localmente veja buylocaltimorleste.blogspot.com[1] Correntemente Lautem, Viqueque, Baucau, Dili, e Manatuto foram avaliados. Os restantes distritos estarão completados em Agosto 2008. A base de dados então submeter-se-à a regular validação.

LH: Public should be consulted on Petroleum Authority Law

On 23 May 2008, La'o Hamutuk wrote the following open letter to Alfredo Pires, RDTL Secretary of State for Natural Resources, urging public consultation on the draft decree-law to establish a National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

For background information and PDF files in English and Tetum, see www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/PetRegime/NPAlaw/08RestructIndex.htm .---------------


23 May 2008
Mr. Alfredo Pires, Secretary of State for Natural Resources Fomento Building, Mandarin, Dili, Timor-Leste

Dear Mr. Secretary:

As you know, La’o Hamutuk has closely followed oil and gas issues in Timor-Leste since before the restoration of independence six years ago. We share your goal of maximizing the benefits of petroleum development for Timor-Leste’s people, and ensuring that this development is transparent and well-understood by all. We believe that we have played an important role in helping to bridge between the knowledge, priorities and viewpoints of governments, civil society, petroleum companies, foreign experts, international institutions, the Timorese people and the media.

La’o Hamutuk appreciates the willingness of your Secretariat and its predecessors to meet with us regularly to explain the Government’s plans, perspectives and activities in the oil and gas sector. However, we are concerned about the lack of information and consultation regarding pending legislation about regulating petroleum development.

La’o Hamutuk has asked several times about pending legislation to establish a National Petroleum Authority (NPA). Your special adviser has told us that you do not plan to hold a public consultation on this law, which is fundamental to the future management of Timor-Leste’s most important and dangerous resource. We believe that this approach is contrary to the interests of the people of Timor-Leste, to the law and Constitution of this country, and to often-repeated promises by AMP leaders to respect transparency, good governance, accountability, democracy and the rule of law. We urge you to reconsider.

As you may know, La’o Hamutuk has participated in every Timor-Leste public consultation regarding the petroleum sector. During the previous government, we wrote detailed analyses of the proposed Petroleum Fund law (three times), the Petroleum Act and model PSC, the legislative package on restructuring petroleum industry activities (twice), the ENI seismic environmental plan and the local content guidelines. La’o Hamutuk has made three submissions to each of the Timor-Leste and Australian Parliaments regarding proposed treaties. We encouraged submissions from many others, including international experts and local and international NGOs.

We also made a submission to the only petroleum-related public consultation conducted by the AMP government so far, on the Reliance seismic environmental plan. All of our submissions, as well as many others, are on our website from www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/OilIndex.html.

We believe that our suggestions have helped improve management of Timor-Leste’s petroleum industry. In some cases, such as the draft National Regulatory Authority for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ARNP) and national oil company (PETROTIL) laws circulated in April 2007, our input led to avoiding mistakes which would have damaged Timor-Leste’s future. Because we brought dangerous provisions of those drafts to public attention, the time for consultation was extended and they were not enacted prior to the Fretilin Government being voted out of office.

We appreciate that the AMP Government is redrafting these laws, and that the TSDA and DNPG regulatory mechanisms will be combined in a National Petroleum Authority. We welcomed your announcement at La’o Hamutuk’s public meeting last September that you plan to pass a Petroleum Optimization Law and a Petroleum Depletion law, and that AMP is committed to improve on practices of transparency initiated by the Fretilin Government.

We were also gratified to see, in the State Budget for 2008 approved by Parliament last December, that one of the main programs of SERN for this year is (emphasis added) to “Draft consult and enact legislations for the establishment of the National Petroleum Authority and the Institute for Petroleum and Geology.” Under the SERN Action Plan for this year, we appreciated item III:

III. Establishment of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the Institute for Petroleum and Geology (IPG) Drafting, consultation and enactment of the legislation for the establishment of the NPA and the IPG The draft laws, regulations and strategic plans are done thoroughly The draft laws, regulations and strategic plans are to be finished on time and ready to be presented at the Council of Minister in February. 80% of the Draft is to be ready by February 2008, and public consultation and enactment will be done thereafter. It is expected that by the end of March the legislation is enacted.

We are not concerned that the schedule has slipped. However, it now appears that SERN has decided to enact these laws without public consultation, ignoring its promise to Parliament and to the people of Timor-Leste. Prioritizing expediency over democracy contradicts the “Year of Administrative Reform” declared by the Prime Minister.

We understand that the Government through SERN intends to establish the NPA as a decree-law by the Council of Ministers, rather than allowing elected Parliamentary representatives to approve this important legislation. We believe that this is both a legal and a practical mistake, in violation of the letter and spirit of Articles 92 and 95 of the RDTL Constitution, as well as undercutting public confidence in a vital sector. La’o Hamutuk explained this in detail in our July 2007 submission on the package to restructure petroleum regulation, available at

www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/PetRegime/Restruc/07RestructLHSub2Jul07.pdf (pages 4-6). If this legislation is pushed through as a decree-law, 13 Members of Parliament could force a Parliamentary Review under Article 98 of the Constitution, endangering the stability of this Government and the public’s confidence in it.

We are also concerned about the long-term stability of the regulatory regime for petroleum development in Timor-Leste. If the NPA is created by decree-law, a future government could modify it in the same way, in secret and without Parliamentary discussion. This possibility undermines the trust of buyers of Timor-Leste’s oil and gas, as well as petroleum companies who operate projects here, that agreements they sign will be honored for the decades that projects will operate. Timor-Leste’s regulatory regime must be built on solid, stable foundations as it is essential for the well-being of our state and future generations.

We understand that one of your priorities at SERN, as well as in the recent reorganization of TSDA, is to give Timorese people more responsibility and authority, and we agree with that.

However, these principles are appropriate for citizens as well as government personnel, and enacting legislation in secret contradicts them.

Furthermore, we have heard that some Timorese staff and international advisors in SERN feel that they have not been informed or consulted about the draft NPA law, and that the legislation was shared with Australian officials before being discussed among knowledgeable people in SERN. We encourage you to use the extensive experience, perspectives and expertise within your own Secretariat. It may be inconvenient to spend a few hours or days on internal consultation, but this legislation will be in effect for many years and each article improved now will avert larger problems in the future.

In his address to the Development Partners last month, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão declared that the IV Constitutional Government is “supported by a set of principles and values:

civic and human rights; tolerance and respect; transparency and good governance; social participation; and compliance with justice and law,….” We believe that these principles and values call for broad internal and public consultation on this legislation.

Thank you very much for your attention, and we look forward to reviewing the draft legislation and participating in a public consultation on the National Petroleum Authority Law, prior to its submission to the Council of Ministers and Parliament.

Sincerely,

Viriato Seac, Tibor van Staveren, Charles ScheinerLa’o Hamutuk Natural Resources Team

Cc: Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, Secretary of State for Council of Ministers Agio Pereira, Francisco Monteiro, Civil Society liaison Joaquim Fonseca, Parliamentary leaders , media, public.

***********************************************************La'o Hamutuk (The Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis)P.O. Box 340, Dili, Timor-Leste (East Timor)Telephone: +670-3325013 or +670-734-0965 mobileemail: charlie@laohamutuk.org

website: http://www.laohamutuk.org

UNMIT Daily Media Review - 22 May 2008

(International news reports and extracts from national media. UNMIT does not vouch for the accuracy of these reports)



Xanana: agrees to three month reduction of Rogerio's sentence – Timor Post

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato said that Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão agrees with President José Ramos-Horta to reduce the sentence of former Minster of Interior, Rogerio Tiago Lobato by three months.

“I had discussions with the Prime Minister on this matter. He agrees to give a three month reduction of sentence to Rogerio Lobato and other 82 prisoners,” said Minister of Justice on Wednesday (21/5) in the Becora prison, Dili.

Minister Lobato said that the Government had recommended that the president also commute the time in jail of prisoners who have served half of their sentences by 6-12 months. Prisoners who were sentenced for domestic and sexual violence would receive a two month reduction.


Alkatiri dreams of early election. PD: Fretilin creates bad precedent – Timor Post

Fretilin Secretary-General Mari Alkatiri stated that in the near future Fretilin will assume the power to govern in order to improve peoples' lives as AMP is not capable of solving the country's problems and so must face early elections.

“We [Fretilin] will be back to govern. It wouldn't be too long,” stated Mr. Alkatiri in speech on the ceremony of 34th anniversary of ASDT/Fretilin held in the Central Committee of Fretilin (CCF) on Tuesday (20/5) in Comoro, Dili.

Alkatiri said that Fretilin will show that it is different from the Alliance Majority in Parliament (AMP).

Alkatiri also said that when Fretilin is back in power, he will reappoint the directors and administrators who have been removed by AMP.

“Fretilin will reappoint those people as what AMP did to them is against the law and the constitution.

Fretilin is only asking for early elections for the legislature, not the presidency. If it happens, then we will win all of them,” he said.

Even though Mr. Alkatiri strongly criticized PM Gusmão, he continues recognize that he and the Prime Minister have to work together to solve the country's problems.

He said that he wants to sit with PM Gusmão as political leaders, not as a commander with his soldier.

“If he [PM Gusmão] does not think of himself as a commander, I am ready to sit with him to improve people’s life,” added Mr. Alkatiri.

At the same function, Fretilin President and former President of the National Parliament Francisco Guterres Lu-Olo said that early elections are really needed to improve the bad performance of the AMP Government.

“We are not satisfied when we won the election, only to become the opposition,” said Mr. Lu-Olo.

Democratic Party (PD) MP Adriano Nascimento said that early elections might happen but certain criteria must be in place. For example, most of the MPs in Parliament must oppose the Government’s programs, the State must be malfunctioning, the situation was unstable -- at this point the president could dissolve the government and call for early elections.

MP Nascimento said that if Fretilin wants to destroy AMP midway in the implementation of its programs, this would be a bad precedent for the future.

He also said that AMP should have 2-3 years to implement its programs. If at that time they were not successful, then one could say it was incompetent.


President of Republic asked the Government to respect the rights of the prisoners - Televisaun Timor-Leste

During the visit to Becora prison yesterday President Jose Ramos Horta said he does not have the authority to interfere in the judicial process but he will make recommendations to the Government to help solve their problems.

“Today I came here to show you my love and respect. I have no authority to take part in the judicial process but I will keep asking the Government through Ministry of Justice to pay attention to you”, the President said.

He also asked the Government to respect the rights of the prisoners. At the same time, Minster of Justice Lucia Brandão Lobato said the Government is now improving the process of justice in order to defend rights of prisoners.


The Court will extend the time for Rogerio Lobato to return until June – Televisaun Timor-Leste

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato yesterday said the Court will give prisoner Rogerio until June to return to Timor Leste. If he does not return by then, the Government will implement the Court's decision against him.

“The Government is ready to help him whatever he needs, such as an airline ticket and accommodation in Bali. He has to obey the decision from the Court. Suppose he does not come back in June -- the Court will take action.

Based on plan, the Court will ask the Interpol to get him back if he does not obey the decision,” explained Lucia.

According to the doctor who has been treating Rogerio during this time, he needs one month more to operate on Rogerio’s leg.


Public Ministry: 24 suspects identified as being involved in the attack of 11 February – Televisaun Timor-Leste

The Public Ministry has positively identified 24 suspects who were involved in the attack on 11 February. General Prosecutor Longuinhos Monteiro said the investigation process into the attack on 11 February is going smoothly.

“The investigation is running well and we have positively identified 24 suspects in connection with the incidents of 11 February,” said Mr. Monteiro.

Of the 24 accused people, eighteen of them are currently in preventive detention and the others are under house arrest. Most probably, there is still one suspect more, a civilian at large.

In relation to this case, last week I sent the Prime Minister a letter requesting him to make sworn statement.

“I asked to him to specify the exact date when he would submit his statement. This is the second request that we have made for his deposition”, said General Prosecutor.


Government Assists IDPs from Jardim Camp to return home - Ministry of Social Solidarity (Press Release), 21 May

Starting from today, as part of the government’s Hamutuk Hari’i Futuru national recovery strategy, 358 families will receive a recovery grant to assist them to return to their homes from the Jardim IDP camp.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao thanked the IDPs at Jardim for their willingness to return home and for showing their commitment to live peacefully in their former neighborhoods.

He asked the Chefe Sucos, Chefe Aldeias, youth and receiving communities to receive the returning IDPs and put an end to violence. The Prime Minister told the IDPs at Jardim “you are helping to improve the image of Timor-Leste by showing the world that Timorese people can work together to resolve their own problems. The government will work with you to try to resolve all of the country’s problems.”

The Minister for Social Solidarity, Maria Domingas Alves asked the IDPs at Jardim to try and forget what the difficulties they have endured for the past two years, and to try and forgive those who had caused these difficulties.

“Use the opportunity of leaving the camp to try to build a new life, a peaceful life. This is the time for the new generation to build a new, peaceful future for Timor-Leste.”

The Minister assured the IDPs that “we are aware that some of you will face difficulties on return, because your house is occupied, or because you were renting or did not have a house. We will work together to resolve these problems through dialogue.

The government is also creating new policies to help you.” The Minister also thanked the Chefe Sucos and Chefe Aldeias in the receiving communities for their assistance in facilitating the peaceful and safe return of the IDPs from Jardim.

The Camp Manager of Jardim IDP Camp, Leopoldo Pinto, thanked the government for the attention they have given to resolving the problems of Timor-Leste’s displaced people.

“However, we ask the government to improve security in many areas of return, as many returning IDPs are still not welcome in their communities. Also, many IDPs former houses are occupied, and so we ask the government to please pay attention to this issue.”

The Minister for Social Solidarity, Maria Domingas Alves, thanked the SLS agencies which provided the Jardim camp with humanitarian assistance – IOM and Plan. She also thanked Plan for their water and sanitation support to the camp over the past two years.

The return of the IDPs from Jardim brings the total number of IDP families who have received a recovery package to 1370.

The next camp to be assisted to return will be Sional. Verification of the IDPs former place of residence has been completed and MSS is continuing to work on verification of the other camps.



Timor-Leste: Market garden relieves food scarcity – Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), 21 May

IDPs living in the Quarantina transitional shelter site are becoming self-sufficient thanks to the establishment of a market garden supported by NRC.

Timor-Leste is a young nation struggling to feed its people. With an underdeveloped agricultural sector, together with other difficult realities such as drought, locust infestations and lack of livelihood opportunities, many Timorese go through their daily lives with less food than they need. IDPs are particularly vulnerable to this food insecurity.

Food insecurity
As of end of March 2008, an estimated 30 % of IDPs of a total of 100.000 are living in approx. 58 camps, mainly in the cities of Dili (51 camps) and Baucau (7 camps).

Many of the IDP families who live in the camps are food insecure. They have no employment and rely only on the government’s gradually diminishing food rations.

In order to improve the situation, NRC, in cooperation with the local NGO Fitun FO Dalan, has supported the establishment of a market garden in one of the camps.

Growing staple foods
Together, NRC and Fitun FO Dalan mobilized 26 IDP families in the Quarantina traditional shelter site to establish a market garden on the rounds of the site. The market garden was established in January and covers an area of approximately 75x30 meters and is divided into 77 plots. Each family has been assigned two 1.2 m x 8 m plots which they plant and harvest as they choose. The most common crops grown are kankun (a green leafy vegetable), cabbage and green beans - all staples in the daily Timorese diet.

NRC Country Director Alfredo Zamudio says all the families have worked really hard on cultivating their plot of land. In April they could finally harvest their first crop.

‘So far, the results have been very good, says Zamudio. ‘The first crop that was harvested in April gave enough produce to provide both food for the families and food to sell in the local markets,’ he says.

Generating income
The IDPs in Quarantina are also very satisfied with the market garden.

‘I am so happy because the garden has raised my income, says Jorge Freitas.

One plot of kankun can produce two harvests per month, and one plot’s worth of kankun sold at the local markets earns approximately six dollars. For Freitas and the other IDPs this is a substantial addition to the household income, considering the average income in Timor-Leste is US $370 a year.

Some of the families in Quarantina have chosen to keep all their crops for food, while others have chosen to sell all their crops. Others again have done a little bit of both. In total, the families earned approximately 140 US$ from the first market garden harvest.

NRC has been active in Timor-Leste since 2006. NRC currently manages five transitional shelter sites in Dili, through its Camp Management program. In total, the sites house more than 2500 IDPs. NRC also runs shelter and education programs in Timor-Leste.


East Timor President Cuts Former Minister's Jail Sentence – The Wall Street Journal, 21 May

DILI (AFP)--East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday he had slashed the seven-year jail sentence handed out to a former minister for distributing weapons during violent unrest in 2006.

Ramos-Horta said the sentence against former home affairs minister Rogerio Lobato was cut 75% in a show of mercy as part of the country's sixth anniversary of independence this week.

"It is three-fourths," he told AFP when asked the size of the reduction. He added that he didn't know how much more time Lobato would spend in jail because the courts had yet to review the sentence.

"My consideration for him and other cases are humanitarian, their health or family situation. Mr. Rogerio Lobato's health has been precarious for some time."

Lobato was jailed on five charges of arming hit squads during the 2006 unrest in the country, when fighting between factions of the security forces left 37 dead and made 150,000 flee their homes.

But Ramos-Horta said he didn't think Lobato was an instigator of the violence.
"I sincerely believe that Rogerio Lobato is a decent man who was caught in the crisis of 2006 and he definitely wasn't one of the authors of the crisis," he said.

Lobato received a court permit to travel abroad for treatment last year. He has liver, heart and kidney problems but the exact nature of the care he is receiving in Malaysia is unknown.

He is a senior member of the opposition Fretilin party and founded a guerrilla army that fought Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor, which lasted until 1999. East Timor formally became an independent state in 2002.


Asian rights offenders fight for UN seats – Tamil Net, 21 May

In what is viewed as the most significant contest, six Asian nations, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bahrain and East Timor, are vying for four seats in the UN Human Rights Council where the secret ballot to select the members is being held today. Only Japan and South Korea are designated as "free" by the NGO Freedom House, based on the past voting record and the history of adherence to human rights principles, so the outcome of the Asian race is the one with the most potential to change the council's overall composition, reports said.

Fifteen of the HRC's 47 seats will be decided by U.N. General Assembly secret ballot which is the third annual election for the Geneva-based council, which was established two years ago to replace the widely discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights, according to CNS web report.

"A campaign by non-governmental organizations aimed at preventing Sri Lanka from being elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council has drawn some support, but the country's bid for a seat is just one of several concerns surrounding this week's election.

"Sri Lanka has drawn particular attention, with a coalition of international NGOs and three Nobel peace prize laureates among those highlighting abuses in the civil war-torn South Asian nation, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture. Sri Lanka's critics are urging U.N. members to withhold support," the report said.

In a recent letter to the participant Governments in the U.N. elections, an NGO consortium said: "To reject Sri Lanka's candidacy at this time would show that U.N. members are serious about the membership standards they established for the council, and bring new attention to the gross violations in Sri Lanka and hope and support to the victims of abuse."


Ramos Horta cuts Lobato's jail term – EPA, 21 May

East Timor's president has sliced the prison sentence of a former government minister who armed civilian hit squads during the violence that destabilized the nation in 2006.

Former home affairs minister Rogerio Lobato was one of dozens of criminals to receive sentence cuts to mark the sixth anniversary of East Timor's independence this week.

"I sincerely believe that Rogerio Lobato is a decent man who was caught in the crisis of 2006 and he definitely was not one of the authors of the crisis," he told AFP.

AFP reported the sentence would be reduced by three quarters.

A spokesman for the president said details of the cuts were yet to be finalized in specific cases.



UNMIT MEDIA MONITORING
www.unmit.org

**

UNMIT Daily Media Review - 23 May 2008

(International news reports and extracts from national media. UNMIT does not vouch for the accuracy of these reports)


Only 80 petitioners still want to return to the military – Timor Post

Of the 339 petitioners who indicated a preference for rejoining the military, only 80 of them still want to return since Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão asked them last week to re-consider their choice of military or civilian life.

“There are 80 petitioners who have not changed their decision to return to the military,” said one of the petitioners who still wants to be rejoin the military due to his love for the F-FDTL.

He also said those other petitioners who changed their minds and now want to enter civilian life are illiterate and have some health problems. Some of them believe that if they return to the military, then they will not receive Government compensation.

Recently the numbers of the petitioners who want to become civilians increased from 356 to 605 out of a total of 685.

The Vice President of the National Parliament Vicente Guterres said that it was good for the petitioners to be civilians as they have abandoned their barracks.
Mr. Guterres said that when there is problem within an institution, the problem should be solved internally, not outside of the institution.

“As they have brought the problem out of the institution, if I were them, I would not go back,” said Mr. Guterres.

Democratic Party MP Adriano do Nascimento said that he did not agree with the Prime Minister who had earlier said that it was good for the petitioners, who are illiterate, to return to civilian life. This statement dishonoured the petitioners, he said.

“The petitioners left their barracks because of political matters and actions taken by political leaders [not because they are illiterate],” said Mr. Nascimento.


Be model for the world: PR Horta asks permission for the UN and NGOs to visit Becora prison – Timor Post

On his visit to Becora Prison on Wednesday (21/5) PR Ramos-Horta asked prison guards to allow the Red Cross, UNMIT Human Rights and national NGOs to visit Becora Prison in order to ensure transparency.

“I am requesting this prison to allow visits from the National Red Cross, UNMIT Human Rights and NGOs who work for human rights, not for NGOs who are working for politics. If we do this, then our prison will be a model for the world, a prison that hides nothing and reveals everything,” said PR Horta.

PR Horta also said that he visited Becora Prison as a Nobel Peace Laureate, not as President, Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

President’s pardon: 10 prisoners freed, Rogerio’s sentence reduced – Timor Post
Out of 84 prisoners who received pardons from PR Ramos-Horta on Independence Day, 20 May, ten of them have received a full pardon. Rogerio Tiago Lobato, the former Minister of Interior, received only a reduced sentence.

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato said that the Government's preference is for the president to only reduce Rogerio's sentence by three months as the court had sentenced him to seven years in prison.


Timor-Leste hopes to receive support from MCC – Televisaun Timor-Leste

Minister of Finance Emília Pires said that Timor-Leste hopes to receive funds from the Program of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to help decrease poverty in the country.

“On behalf of the Government, I am happy that MCC is considering Timor-Leste as a potential recipient of financial support. The Government promises to work with MCC to improve socio-economic development and build peace in this country,” said Minister Pires on Thursday (22/5) in Dili.

The Vice President of MCC John Hewko said that Timor-Leste needs to have program of good governance, as such a program could reduce poverty in the country and improve its economy.

Mr. Hewko said that recently MCC had established a monitoring team to follow the country's governance programme.


Minister: Government recommends reduction of three months of Rogerio Lobato’s sentence – Suara Timor Lorosa’e
Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato has recommended to the President Jose Ramos-Horta that he reduce only three months of the prison term given to the former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato because of his involvement in arming civilians which caused many people to be killed in 2006. She made the statement to journalists on Wednesday (21/05) while accompanying president Ramos-Horta’s on his official visit to Becora Prison

“The government has recommended only three months reduction of sentence but it depends on the president’s decision,” said Lucia Lobato.

According to the president, the pardon is based on the former Interior Minister's past struggle to free the country. He said that Rogerio has also lost many of his family who sacrificed their lives during the war. Dili's international airport is named after Nicolau Lobato, the former Minister's younger brother who was killed during the struggle for independence.


Ramos Horta cuts jail terms for militia – The Age, 23 May
East Timor's president has slashed the jail sentences of several pro-Indonesia militia who murdered people during the violence that followed the 1999 vote for independence.

The sentence cuts are among 94 partial or full pardons handed out by Jose Ramos Horta to mark the tiny nation's sixth anniversary of independence this week.

Among those on the list is Joni Marques, the leader of the Team Alfa militia, who will have his remaining jail term cut in half.

Marques was jailed for 33 years in 2001 by the Special Panel of Dili District Court, in the country's first trial for crimes against humanity.

His crimes included several murders, including of a group of nine people comprised of several Roman Catholic priests and nuns and an Indonesian journalist, near the eastern town of Los Palos, in 1999.

He was also convicted of the forcible transfer or deportation of the civilian population and persecution and torture.

It is the second time Marques' sentence has been cut.

In 2004, then president Xanana Gusmao shaved almost nine years off his sentence and those of militia members Paulo and Joao da Costa, who were also jailed over the crimes.

The two da Costa brothers have also had their sentences cut in half in this round of pardons, along with former Sakunar militia member Mateus Lao, aka Ena Pato.

Lao was jailed for eight years in 2004 for murder as a crime against humanity, after killing a man who was trying to flee to West Timor with his family during the 1999 violence.

The presidential decree also confirms the sentence cut of former government minister Rogerio Lobato who gave weapons to civilians during the violence that destabilised the nation in 2006.

Lobato's sentence of more than seven years will be sliced in half.

Lobato has only served about five months of his sentence as he was allowed to fly to Malaysia last August for medical treatment and is yet to return.

The presidential decree - formally gazetted this week - says the granting of clemency is dependent on "good prison behaviour".

President Ramos Horta - who has only recently returned to East Timor after he was shot outside his Dili home - flagged the pardons last month, saying East Timor needed to foster a culture of forgiveness in order to move forward.

The decree states that East Timor's anniversary of independence commemorated the Timorese belief in humankind.

"Believing in the human person ... (in order) to cultivate mercy and tolerance, we extend our hand to help the next person to arise after he has fallen in his dignity," the document says.

But president of the minority pro-justice party PUN, Fernanda Borges, said many East Timorese were unhappy about the cuts.

"I don't think militia should be given a pardon at this stage," she said.

Borges said the process was flawed, with no clear criteria on who is eligible for clemency and no transparency.

"There are no systems in place to judge whether the person has behaved, whether the person has contributed to giving further information to help the judicial process and what the victims' response to this is," she said.

"There are also a lot of trials pending - both for the 1999 cases as well as for the 2006 crisis - what implications will this have on those future trials in East Timor?

"All this needs to be weighed very carefully so that we don't create a perception ... that there is impunity in this country.

"That you can do whatever you want, you can kill people, have human rights violations ... and get away with it and be pardoned by the president."

The United Nations said justice was vital to the future of East Timor, which faced issues of impunity and deterrence.

"The view of the UN is that justice is essential for stability and peace," a spokeswoman for the head of the mission, Atul Khare, said.

However, the granting of pardons was within the powers of the president, she said.

In the case of former minister Lobato, the spokeswoman noted his cooperation with the judicial process so far.

"(Mr Khare) hopes that Mr Lobato will continue such cooperation, including by refraining from any action that might affect the fragility of society," she said.

"This would include, for example, refraining from running for public office."

The sentence cuts come as the controversial East Timor-Indonesia "truth" commission prepares to hand down its final report into the 1999 violence.

The Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) was established by the two countries in a bid to establish a "conclusive truth" about the 1999 violence to help repair relations.


East Timor marks six years independence – AFP, 22 May

East Timorese leaders have gathered under tight security for an emotional ceremony to celebrate six years of independence and mourn the country's long and bloody struggle for liberation.

The hacienda-style government palace on Dili's waterfront was bedecked with international flags - including those of former occupiers Indonesia and Portugal - as the country's red-and-black flag was raised under a baking sun.

President Jose Ramos-Horta, who reviewed an honour guard from a jeep, called for peace and unity in Asia's troubled newest state as foreign force snipers watched from the palace roof.

"On this day of independence we have to maintain peace in our nation, fight poverty and protect national unity. This is an obligation of all the people," he said in a speech.

The celebrations come just three months after Ramos-Horta was shot and wounded in a February 11 rebel attack, which also targeted Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão.

The rebels responsible for the attack surrendered last month but fears of a return to instability are overshadowing Independence Day.

"What happened on February 11 showed that state institutions in our nation are still fragile. But this ceremony also shows that over the past six years we have achieved a lot," the president said.
Children sang a hymn and the leaders of the mainly Catholic country honoured more than 1,500 veterans of the independence struggle against Indonesia as part of the festivities.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was invaded by Suharto's Indonesia in 1975. Around 200,000 East Timorese died as a result of conflict and preventable illnesses over the next two-and-a-half decades.

The country voted for independence in a 1999 UN-backed referendum but was laid waste by pro-Indonesian militia in the wake of the vote.

It finally gained formal independence in 2002, but was flung into instability again by the mass desertion of 600 soldiers in 2006, which triggered street violence between rival factions that killed at least 37.

That rebellion came to an end after the death of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado in the attack on Ramos-Horta's house in February and the surrender of his followers last month.

But analysts say the seeds of further instability remain in the impoverished country of one million, and political tensions were on show even as the country's leaders made independence speeches.

Prime Minister Gusmão conspicuously refused to shake the hand of opposition leader and ex-prime minister Mari Alkatiri, of the Fretilin party.
A new government headed by Gusmão took office in August 2007 amid protest from Alkatiri's party, which won the highest number of votes in June polls but not a governing majority.

Gusmão's party commanded 37 seats in the 65-seat parliament, but Fretilin insisted it should have been invited to rule, sparking sporadic violence in the young nation.

Ado Amaral, a 45-year-old farmer who came down from the hills outside Dili to witness the festivities, said he was glad the event passed without trouble.

"I'm very happy because everything is going well. There's no provocation between people, no disturbances," he said.
"It's better than other years. I find it hard to think about 2006 but now I see that everything is going well."

UN police Deputy Commissioner Tony McLeod said this year's Independence Day was "a bit of a test to give us a feel for the overall security situation".
"It's gone pretty well up 'til now," he said.


U.N. says donors should back Afghan aid plan – Reuters, 22 May

KABUL (Reuters) - The international community should back a $50-billion (25 billion pound) Afghan development strategy at a donors’ conference in Paris next month, but Kabul must also fight rampant corruption, the U.N.’s special envoy said on Thursday.

Afghanistan depends on aid for 90 percent of its spending. But international donors have fallen behind in paying what they have already pledged and much of the money goes straight back to donor countries in salaries and profits. Official corruption eats into the remainder.

More than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban, Kabul and its Western backers are faced with a revived insurgency and a public frustrated by the lack of security and disappointed with the slow pace of development.

"It’s obvious the international community does not spend its resources as well as it should and it’s obvious that corruption is a much too widespread phenomenon in Afghanistan," the U.N. Special Envoy Kai Eide told a news conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"I would like to see a partnership coming out of Paris where the international community says ’yes, we will spend our resources better’ and the government says ’yes, we will fight corruption more vigorously’," he said.

International donors have pledged some $24 billion at three donor conferences since 2002, but the level of aid to Afghanistan is still many times lower per head than to other countries struggling to emerge from conflict such as Kosovo or East Timor.

This was partly due to the international community underestimating the scale of the problems faced by Afghanistan after nearly three decades of war and also due to the failure to foresee the re-emergence of the Taliban insurgency.

AFGHAN PLAN

The Afghan government has now also drawn up a 5,000-page national development strategy, setting out its goals which it is to present to the June 12 Paris conference hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Afghanistan is seeking $50.1 billion from Paris, more than half of which it wants spent on security and infrastructure, the lack of which hampers almost every level of economic development.

"There are certain priorities as set by the Afghan government in its development strategy," said Eide. "We in the international community have to align our resources behind that strategy."

Many donors are wary of giving funds directly to the Afghan government fearing much of it will disappear into the pockets of corrupt officials. Afghanistan is ranked 172 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perception index.

Consequently, some two-thirds of aid is not channeled through the Afghan government, meaning Kabul has almost no control how the money is spent and the state remains weak and ineffectual.

"We have to spend much more resources and attention on building the state institutions that must be the basis for progress with regard to security and
development," Eide said.

Afghanistan also suffers from a lack of coordination among more than 60 major donor countries and international organisations, dozens of aid agencies and foreign forces who are also engaged in reconstruction and development work.

Eide’s appointment by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in March was meant to bring better coordination to the international community’s efforts in Afghanistan.

The Paris conference, he said, will be a chance for the international community to commit in writing to renewing and improving their efforts in Afghanistan.
(Editing by Bill Tarrant)


Operation Smile Joins USNS Mercy as Part of Four-Month Southeast Asia Deployment – Pacific Partnership 2008 – TransWorldNews, 22 May

Operation Smile, a worldwide children’s medical charity that provides free surgery to children in developing countries born with facial deformities, will join the United States Navy’s hospital ship, USNS Mercy, during its summer 2008 humanitarian civic assistance deployment. The USNS Mercy mission, Pacific Partnership 2008, will provide humanitarian services to four countries in Southeast Asia.

Pacific Partnership 2008 brings together host nation medical personnel, partner nation military medical and construction personnel, and non-governmental organizations to provide medical, dental, construction and other services ashore and afloat.

Operation Smile will be working side-by-side on the USNS Mercy in four countries: Philippines, Vietnam, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. Approximately 350 children suffering with cleft lips and cleft palates will receive free reconstructive surgery as a result of these medical missions.

Operation Smile Chief Medical Officer Dr. Randy Sherman said, “Operation Smile is honored to participate in the 2008 USNS Mercy Pacific Partnership deployment. After introducing ourselves to the Navy in 2006 during the Mercy mission to Bangladesh, we joined its sister ship, the USNS Comfort last year, for a multi-site partnership in Latin America.

Operation Smile medical volunteers from the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, the United States and other partner countries are excited to join with the Mercy and its crew in bringing new smiles to children throughout the Pacific basin this summer.”

USNS Mercy departed from San Diego, Calif., on May 1. The first mission involving Operation Smile will take place in Cotabato, Philippines, in late May. Free medical evaluations will be conducted by Operation Smile medical volunteers, provided by Operation Smile Philippines, at Cotabato Regional Hospital to identify surgical patients who will then be transported aboard the ship for surgery. Post-operative checks for the patients a week after surgery will also take place at the hospital.

The Philippines was Operation Smile’s first partner country and since 1982, medical volunteers have provided more than 18,800 Filipino children and young adults with free physical examinations, and more than 13,700 have received life-changing surgery during medical missions.

USNS Mercy will move on to Nha Trang, Vietnam, for the next medical mission involving Operation Smile in mid-June. Free medical evaluations will be conducted by Operation Smile volunteers in General Hospital of Khanh Hoa Province to identify surgical patients. Operation Smile’s medical team, made up primarily of volunteers provided by Operation Smile Vietnam and Operation Smile Cambodia, will work with Navy personnel to conduct five days of surgery aboard the ship. Post-operative care will also take place at General Hospital of Khanh Hoa Province. Since 1989, Operation Smile has treated more than 19,000 children in Vietnam through international medical missions, in-country local missions and dental missions.

In mid-July, approximately 45 Operation Smile medical volunteers, many provided by Operation Smile Australia, will work with USNS Mercy’s medical team in Dili, Timor-Leste. The Operation Smile team will provide free medical evaluations at a local hospital and patients will be brought onto the ship for surgery. This marks the first Operation Smile medical mission in Timor-Leste.

Operation Smile volunteers will join the USNS Mercy crew in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in early August. Physical examinations will be provided at Port Moresby General Hospital and then the Operation Smile volunteer medical team, provided by Operation Smile Philippines, will work together for five days with the Navy to provide surgery aboard USNS Mercy. This will be Operation Smile’s inaugural mission in Papua New Guinea.

Operation Smile is honored to be invited to join USNS Mercy’s staff and crew on this deployment. In the summer of 2006, nearly 40 Operation Smile volunteers deployed with the USNS Mercy to Chittagong, Bangladesh and provided free physical examinations at Chittagong Medical College Hospital for more than 140 children. The 54 patients selected for surgery were transported by helicopter from Chittagong to USNS Mercy.

Then in the summer of 2007, Operation Smile joined the USNS Comfort during its humanitarian assistance deployment. Operation Smile volunteers and the ship’s medical team worked together during missions in Nicaragua, Peru and Colombia, providing more than 100 children with free reconstructive surgery.

About Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org)
Founded in 1982, Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children’s medical charity whose network of global volunteers are dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults.

Since its founding, Operation Smile volunteers have treated more than 115,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its 26 partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency.



East Timor marks sixth birthday with pomp and mourning - AsiaNewsNet, 22 May Updated

East Timorese leaders gathered under tight security on Tuesday for an emotional ceremony to celebrate six years of independence and mourn the country's long and bloody struggle for liberation.The hacienda-style government palace on Dili's waterfront was bedecked with international flags -- including those of former occupiers Indonesia and Portugal -- as the country's red-and-black flag was raised under a baking sun.

President Jose Ramos-Horta, who reviewed a guard of honor from the back of a jeep, called for peace and unity in Asia's troubled newest state as foreign stabilization force snipers watched from the palace roof.

On this day of independence we have to maintain peace in our nation, fight poverty and protect national unity. This is an obligation of all the people," he said in a speech.

The celebrations come just three months after Ramos-Horta was shot and wounded in a February 11 rebel attack which also targeted Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão.

The rebels responsible for the attack surrendered last month but fears of a return to instability are overshadowing the Independence Day cheer.

Security remains tight around the country's leaders, and international troops from a stabilization force which entered the country in the wake of factional fighting two years ago were closely watching Tuesday's ceremony.

"What happened on February 11 showed that state institutions in our nation are still fragile. But this ceremony also shows that over the past six years we have achieved a lot," the president said.

Children sang a hymn and the leaders of the mainly Catholic country honored more than 1,500 veterans of the independence struggle against Indonesia as part of the festivities.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was invaded by Suharto's Indonesia in 1975. Around 200,000 East Timorese died as a result of conflict and preventable illnesses over the next two-and-a-half decades.

The country voted for independence in a 1999 UN-backed referendum but was laid waste by pro-Indonesian militia in the wake of the vote.

It finally gained formal independence in 2002, but was flung into instability again by the mass desertion of 600 soldiers in 2006, which triggered street violence between rival factions that killed at least 37.

That rebellion came to an end after the death of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado in the attack on Ramos-Horta's house in February and the surrender of his followers last month.

But analysts say the seeds of further instability remain in the impoverished country of one million, and political tensions were on show even as the country's leaders assembled on the dias for the independence speeches.

Prime Minister Gusmão conspicuously refused to shake the hand of opposition leader and ex-prime minister Mari Alkatiri, of the Fretilin party.

A new government headed by Gusmão took office in August last year amid protest from Alkatiri's party, which won the highest number of votes in June polls but not the majority required to govern.

Gusmao's party cobbled together a coalition commanding 37 seats in the 65-seat parliament, but Fretilin insisted it should have been invited to rule, sparking sporadic violence in the young nation.

Ado Amaral, a 45-year-old farmer who came down from the hills outside Dili to witness the festivities, said he was glad the event passed without trouble.

"I'm very happy because everything is going well. There's no provocation between people, no disturbances," he told AFP.

"It's better than other years. I find it hard to think about 2006 but now I see that everything is going well."

**

UNMIT Daily Media Review - 27 May 2008

(International news reports and extracts from national media. UNMIT does not vouch for the accuracy of these reports)


February 11 case: investigators find 6 more suspects – Timor Post

Six rebels who used to deny that they were not involved in the case of February 11 should now accept the results of the new investigation into the incident that will be presented to the court.

The new investigation shows that they were involved in the attacks against President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão. The National Investigation Department (NID) identified the six rebels as being directly involved in the incident.

However, the six rebels deny that they were involved in the attacks of February 11, saying that they were only involved in the Fatuahi case on May 23, 2006.

The General Commander of NID, Nuno R. Gomes said that he presented the information yesterday afternoon (26/5) to the Public Ministry as part of the court hearing on the case.

“We did the previous investigation with the Public Ministry based on their statements that they only involved in the Fatuahi case. But the later investigation identified them as being involved in the attempt of February 11,” said Mr. Gomes on Monday (26/5).


Fretilin-PUN: No audit report, Govt tries to hide corruption – Timor Post and Diario Nacional

Members of the National Parliament demand that the Government of the Alliance Majority in Parliament (AMP) immediately release an audit report.

The MPs said that the report is very important for them to construct a budget for the implementation of the Government's program.

The Chief bench of the National Unity Party (PUN) Fernanda Borges said that up until now, the National Parliament has not received any audit report of the budget which has been executed.

“We demand that the Government send us the report immediately. We want to know whether the budget has been executed properly or not, and if there is any sign of corruption that has been identified or not,” said Ms. Borges.

Former Prime Minister and Fretilin’s MP Estanislau da Silva said that if the Government does not provide the audit report to the National Parliament, it signals that the current Government is not transparent and is trying to hide existing cases of corruption.

“This is clearly shows that the Government is not transparent. They say that Fretilin is corrupt, but they are the worst,” said Mr. Estanislau.

CNRT MP Aderito Hugo said that every financial report is delivered late to the National Parliament because it has to be annexed with the audit results. The audit report, which was created by international consultants hired by the Government, will also cover the previous government financial report.


Pardon to Rogerio: Minister of Justice still waiting for Horta’s decision – Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Even though Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato has made recommendations to PR Ramos-Horta regarding to the reduction of prisoners' sentences, including former Minister of Interior Rogerio Lobato, no final decision from the president has been received.

“I still not see or receive any report because this is the president’s decision. If this is published in the Jornal da Republica, then it will be considered as a law,” said Minister Lobato on Monday (26/5) in Vila Verde, Dili.

Minister Lobato recommended to PR Horta a reduction of three months from Rogerio’s sentence of 7 and a half years.


IDPs of Jardim Colmera Camp unhappy with payment process – Suara Timor Lorosa’e and Diario Nacional

The IDPs of Jardim Colmera Camp are unhappy with the payment process of the Government's recovery grants because the funds have still not yet been transferred to IDPs through the Authority Payment Bank (BPA).

The Coordinator of Jardim Colmera Camp, Leopoldino Pinto said that all the IDPs in the camp want to return home but until now the Government has not transferred the money to the Bank.

“We are asking the Government not to make promises that are confusing,” said Mr. Pinto on Monday (26/5).

Manuel Ximenes, an IDP from Baucau, said the Government has to give the money to the IDPs as they are entitled to it.

“We came here to get our rights. Do not lie to us, we have suffered a lot,” said Mr. Ximenes.

CNRT MP Maria de Camara ‘Bisoi’ asked the Government to immediately improve the living conditions of the IDPs, as she does not want people suffering during the time of independence.

She also suggested the Government create actions that promote peace in society and harmonious relationships in the community on the return of IDPs to their homes.


Pardon to prisoners: Parliament is awaiting the Government’s recommendations – Diario Nacional

The Chief bench of the National Unity Party (PUN) Fernanda Borges is demanding that the Government immediately send the recommendation which it gave to President José Ramos-Horta concerning his pardon of the prisoners.

Ms. Borges said that the constitution gives the president the authority to pardon prisoners, but he also has to consider the Government’s recommendations.

“What has been said in the recommendation and what justification have they [Government] given regarding the pardons?

It is not enough to say that a pardon is being given to a prisoner because of his/her good attitude and behavior,” said Ms. Borges on Monday (26/5)

Ms. Borges is also questioning whether the president's constitutional authority of the president is being used in a thoroughly legal manner.

“President has authority, but he must use it responsibly, not using without any consultation,” she added.


Cristo Rei rehabilitation: UNMIT supports US$20,000 – Diario Nacional

The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) has given US$20,000 to the State Secretary of Environment to rehabilitate Cristo Rei.

The State Secretary of Environment Abílio Lima congratulates the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste Atul Khare and his staff who show their commitment to support the Timor-Leste Government.

Mr. Lima said that the UN Mission in Timor-Leste wants to give their solidarity to Timorese people to protect the country's beautiful environment.

UNMIT Spokesperson Allison Cooper said that the rehabilitation funds are coming from donations from UN staff donation serving in the country.

Ms. Cooper also said that the cleaning up and rehabilitation are the volunteer activities of the UNMIT staff to support the nation.


Timor's Ramos-Horta Says Farm Subsidies Will Help Food Security – Bloomberg, 26 May

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said his country must use subsidies to bolster agriculture and protect its food security in the face of soaring import costs.

East Timor, Asia's youngest and least-developed nation, can be ‘mostly’ self-sufficient within five years, Ramos-Horta, 58, said in an interview in Singapore today. About two-thirds of the rice consumed in the country is bought from Vietnam and Thailand.

Cheaper food from overseas can't be relied on because rising fuel prices are ratcheting up transport costs and major rice- producing countries, such as China and India, will need more to feed their own people, leaving less for export, Ramos-Horta said.

“Food security must be priority No. 1 for us,'' he said.

“For our own food security, our survival, our independence, we should spend more money -- including subsidizing our farmers -- to produce more.''

The Nobel laureate, who served as prime minister from 2006 until his inauguration as president last year, was shot and almost killed in a Feb. 11 rebel attack.

“At the time I was prime minister I said I am going to subsidize our agriculture sector,'' he said.

“We have to. That would make us independent, and eventually it will be cheaper.''

Ramos-Horta said that using subsidies to protect farmers and encourage domestic agricultural production could irritate multilateral finance agencies, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which advocate free trade as a mechanism for lowering food costs.

“If we do the opposite of what they say, I think that will be about right,'' he said.

Import Surge

The cost of importing rice has more than doubled this year as countries including Vietnam and China curbed overseas sales to protect domestic supplies. Governments worldwide may spend a record $1.035 trillion on imported foodstuffs in 2008 because of higher commodity prices and escalating transport costs, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said in a report last week.

In East Timor, which derives about $100 million a month from its petroleum reserves, farmers are offered incentives to expand crop production, and new roads and bridges are being built to bring food to consumers faster.

The government is considering building warehouses to store food in strategic areas around the country for emergencies to assist ‘vulnerable people’,'' said Ramos-Horta. About 40 percent of the nation's 1 million people live on $1 or less a day.

Matter of Decency

Ensuring the availability of affordable food is ``a matter of decency and morality for the poor, but also a matter of stability and security,'' Ramos-Horta said. The poverty-inducing affects of food inflation ``will set back development efforts in developing countries at least 10 years,'' he said.

Food prices would have escalated more in East Timor had the government not stepped up imports of rice, corn and potatoes to bolster local supplies, the president said.

“With climate change, more industrialization and the development of countries like India and China, there will be less and less land available for agriculture,'' Ramos-Horta said.

“We have to quickly make ourselves completely independent in food.''

East Timor, formally known as Timor-Leste, was established in May 2002, ending 24 years of Indonesian control and three years of UN administration.


Australia cooperating over Ramos-Horta attack – The Age, 26 May

Australia is providing all possible assistance to East Timorese authorities investigating rebel attacks on the nation's leaders, a Senate committee has been told. East Timor's president Jose Ramos-Horta, badly wounded in the February attacks, has criticised Australian Federal Police (AFP) for not fully cooperating with his country's inquiry.

At issue is the Darwin bank account of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, killed by troops after his attack, a large number of calls he made to Australia and claims that some individuals fled to Australia following the attacks on Dr Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão on February 11.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty declined to tell the Senate's legal and constitutional affairs committee whether police had investigated the bank account, saying it was an operational matter.

Neither could he comment on suggestions that some individuals had fled to Australia following the assassination attempts.

"Suffice to say that we are giving the East Timorese authorities, the Prosecutor-General and the East Timorese police and the UN our fullest cooperation and assistance where we can," he said.

Reinado's Darwin account, held jointly with Australian woman Angelita Pires, reportedly contains more than $800,000.

Mr Keelty said he had not spoken to Dr Ramos-Horta about the issue.

The AFP had provided substantial assistance to the president in terms of his own close personal protection while he was hospitalised in Australia.

"As far as I am aware the relationship between the AFP and President Ramos-Horta is a very positive one," he said.

"We are providing resources to the United Nations mission in East Timor.

"Prior to the shooting, in December last year, I had very positive discussions with President Ramos-Horta about development of the police in (East Timor) and that is now going to occur through the budget announcements."


Angola: Fretilin Secretary General in Country – Angola Press, 26 May

The general secretary of East Timor's ruling FRETILIM party, Mári Alkatiri arrived Sunday evening in the country in light of the existing bilateral relations between that party and Angola's ruling MPLA party.

Mári Alkatiri did not speak to the press on his arrival, but promised to do so at the end of the four-day visit.

According to MPLA's secretary of the foreign affairs, Paulo Teixeira Jorge, who was at Luanda's "4 de Fevereiro" International Airport to welcome the East Timorean politician, said that FRETILIN expressed interest to visit Angola to carry out an objective analysis of the current situation in East Timor, after the dramatic events that occurred.

The director of the department of foreign affairs, Nelo Rua was with Paulo Jorge at the airport.


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