UNMIT Daily Media Review

Wednesday, 20 September 2006

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

Alkatiri and Lobato Cases Must Be Advanced To Court: Egidio

Egidio de Jesus, leader of Grupo Fretilin Mudança (GFM) said the case involving the 13 weapons found in the residence of Mari Alkatiri must be taken forward to the court. He said the Prosecutor General must not cover up the problem and keep it from the realm of justice. De Jesus said if the weapons were claimed to belong to Alkatiri’s personal close protection guards, it should have been handed over to the Australian troops stationed at his residence at the time. He said the former Prime Minister should be processed in court and be detained in Becora prison just like Alfredo.

In a separate article, Vital dos Santos, the Secretary General for FNJP, said the cases of Mari Alkatiri and Rogerio Lobato have remained stagnant due to the political influence instilled upon those responsible for the court, by the former Prime Minister, which is dominated by CPLP countries including the President of the Court of Appeal, Claudio Ximenes. Dos Santos said the conspiracy was clear following some decision made by Claudio Ximenes. (STL)

Dialogue Must Be Led By Xanana and Dom Basilio

A member of Grupo Fretilin Mudança (GFM) Vicente ‘Maubocy’ Ximenes said his group is prepared to dialogue with Alkatiri and Lu’Olo’s group provided the moderator would be someone independent like President Xanana or the Bishop of Baucau Diocese, Dom Basilio do Nascimento. Ximenes said political differences have led to a division within Fretilin and therefore only an independent moderator can help to resolve the problem.

Diario Nacional reported that the Government has presented the program ‘Simu Malu’, to President Gusmão. According to Deputy Prime Minister, Rui de Araújo the program is to encourage people to return to their homes and strengthen unity among the communities. (TP, DN)

Who Is Responsible For April 28-29 Incident: Salsinha

Lieutenant Colonel Salsinha Gastão, has asked the Notable Commission to extend the time allotment to investigate about 42 members of F-FDTL expelled in 2003. According to Salsinha, some of the 42 members were expelled as a result of continued absence but other left as a result of discrimination within the institution. He said he would like the commission to also investigate former veterans, specially Ernesto Fernandes ‘Dudu’ and Samba Sembilan saying, discrimination did not only affect the petitioners because it started a long ago in Aileu. He also asked the Commission who is responsible for the incidents of April 28-29, Fatuahi and the PNTL officers killed in Caicoli.

In a separate article in STL, Salsinha Gastão said the crisis occurred because the leaders were not concerned the problem that emerged. Gastão said if the petitioners are at the root of the problem then they should sit together and resolve the problem. He said the petitioners are now divided into two groups, one stationed in Aileu District and the other in Gleno in the Ermera District. Gastao said the group wants a transparent investigation and justice process to resolve the problem.

In the meantime, MP Leandro Isac (Independent) said in order to overcome the crisis, F-FDTL Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak must show goodwill to resolve the internal problem by inviting the former generals who fled the Defence Forces Headquarters to discuss the cause for their desertion and the division among them. (STL)

Civil Society Rejects Kofi Anna’s Decision

The decision of the UN Secretary General to appoint the former President of Cape Verde to head the new mission, UNMIT is not welcomed by some groups of Timor-Leste civil society, reported STL Wednesday. FNJP, LABEH, ETPA and Liga Estudanes Timor-Leste disagree with the decision of Kofi Annan. The groups met on Monday and decided they would write to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan presenting the argument that they would like the present SRSG, Hasegawa, to continue in Timor-Leste due to his full understanding of the situation and stressing that the timing is not appropriate to bring in a new person. Another argument, says Vital dos Santos of FNJP, is that the decision is not a good one, as many of the government advisors come from CPLP countries and this has added to the crisis in Timor-Leste. He added some of the advisors might have political interests rather than being advisors. (STL, DN)

UNDP Provides Assistance To Judicial System

Minister of Justice, Domingos Sarmento has met with UNDP to ask donors countries to provide assistance for strengthening the judicial system in Timor-Leste. The Minister said according to coordination plans, UNDP will recruit more international judges and public prosecutors to attend to the communities in the Districts of Baucau, Oecussi and Suai noting that the current international judges, prosecutors and public defenders are doing good work. (DN)

Swearing-In Of New Ambassador

Timor-Leste Ambassador to Japan was sworn in on Tuesday by President Gusmão in a ceremony attended by the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adalgisa Magno, former Minister of Transport and Communications, Ovidio de Jesus Amaral and Minister of Public Works, Odete Vitor. Speaking to the media following the swearing-in, Domingos Sarmento Alves said one of his tasks is to invite investors to Timor-Leste but it would all depend on the security situation of the country. He said the leaders and the community must work to provide peace and security. (TP,DN)

Government Allocates Allowance For Villages

According to government plans, the heads of villages will receive financial assistance ranging from US$50-US$80 depending on the number of sub-villages. The government will also rehabilitate the basic needs like head offices to enable meetings to take place once a month and will provide motorbikes as a means of transport. (TP)

RTTL News Monitoring Report
20 – 9 – 2006

Dili Court Decision Criticized:
Juliana da Costa went to National Parliament to criticize for Dili Court’s decision to punish her son who was captured by UNPOL and International Force in Airport-Dili following fighting incidents last week. She said that her son is 11 years and too young to be put in the jail. She stated that according to the RDTL constitution art. 18 and paragraph 1, people less than 15 years old can not be put in the jail.

The situation in the National Hospital Dili:
Antonio Caleres, the Director of National Hospital Guido Valadares Dili, reported that the situation at National Hospital right now is good compared with the previous situation. Caleres said that the cases of violence in the last month numbered 29 but that number has dropped to14 this month. Regarding the security situation, Caleres stated that security has improved.

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