Aust not to blame for coup: Ramos Horta

ABC/AFP - Wednesday, October 11, 2006. 5:04am (AEST)

East Timor's Prime Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, says reports Australia played a role in a coup against his predecessor, Mari Alkatiri, are nonsense.

Dr Alkatiri was forced from office in late May when rebel leader Alfredo Renaido led fellow military police into the mountains behind Dili.

The rebels refused to surrender until Dr Alkatiri resigned.

SBS television has aired a report claiming two English-speaking foreigners and two Timorese soldiers approached senior Timorese officers and encouraged them to mount a coup.

Dr Ramos Horta has told ABC TV's Lateline program the report is not credible.

"As I say, absolute nonsense," he said. "To immediately point the finger at Australia or any other neighbour of ours is just plain wrong. "I would have known and I know there was no involvement from Australia or the US or Indonesia in our troubles."

Dr Ramos Horta says he does not know why Australia would have wanted Dr Alkatiri out of the leadership.

"I was a member of Alkatiri's cabinet," he said. "He was the one who successfully secured two important agreements, making us financially independent, and he was praised for that so I don't see what reason Australia would have for wanting him out."

Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group has released a report saying East Timor will need to tackle security sector reform to get back on track after the unrest that culminated in Dr Alkatiri's resignation.

The tiny four-year-old nation descended into chaos in April and May after the Government's dismissal of more than a third of its armed forces.

The troops had deserted their barracks complaining of discrimination.

Protests degenerated into battles between rival factions of the military and police and rival street gangs.

The ICG puts the toll at more than 30 people.

More than 3,200 peacekeepers, mainly Australians, were deployed to restore security.

"Resolving the crisis will depend on comprehensive security sector reform and better oversight of the courts," a report from the Brussels-based think tank said.

"But with elections due in May 2007, it will also depend on reform within the dominant party, Fretilin, and on the willingness of key political actors to sit down together and agree on solutions."

Robert Templer, ICG's Asia program director, says the "crisis escalated in part because there were no checks on individuals with personal interests and private power bases".

"The way out is through institution-building precisely so that the actions of individuals will not carry so much weight," he said.

Historical causes

The report says the roots of the crisis lie partly in tensions within Fretilin before and during Indonesia's occupation of East Timor.

The East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

"Ideological and political disputes in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly between Fretilin central committee members and [now President] Xanana Gusmao, then commander of the guerrilla army Falintil, carried over into the post-conflict government," it said.

The report says another seed was planted when Falintil fighters were demobilised in 2000.

A new Defence Force absorbed some but left others unemployed and resentful as the international community focused on the creation of a new police force.

"That many of the police, vetted and retrained, had worked for the Indonesian administration, was more salt in the wounds of the ex-fighters," the report said.

The ICG says rivalry between the largely powerless Mr Gusmao, who is committed to democratic pluralism, and a ruling party with authoritarian tendencies is another factor.

Lobato criticised

Former interior minister Rogerio Lobato, who now faces weapons distribution charges, has been singled out by the ICG for his manipulation of the tensions.

"As interior minister, he controlled the police force, encouraged rivalry with the Defence Force, most of whom were personally loyal to Xanana Gusmao, and created specialised police units that effectively became a private security force," the ICG said.

"The police under him were in charge of law and order, border patrol, riot control and immigration.

"It was never clear what the role of the Defence Force was."

The report comes ahead of the release of a UN-appointed Independent Special Commission of Inquiry, which is expected later this month.

The inquiry will likely name those behind the worst incidents of violence this year.

The ICG report warns that the release of the UN report could trigger demands for instant justice which Dili courts are ill-equipped to provide.

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