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RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 1990

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DILI 000303 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, CA, DS 
NSC FOR HOLLY MORROW 
PACOM FOR POLAD 
REL AUS/UK/NZ 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/9/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINS ASEC TT
SUBJECT: EMBOFFS MEET WITH ALLEGED FRETILIN "SECRET SECURITY" FORCE 
 
 
DILI 00000303  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Grover Joseph Rees, Ambassador, EXEC, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1.      (C) Summary.  U.S. Embassy and United Nations Mission in 
Timor-Leste (UNOTIL) PolOffs met today with the leaders of the 
"Fretilin Secret Security" force in their mountaintop compound 
outside of Liquica.  The group, comprised entirely of former 
Falintil resistance fighters, showed PolOffs the weapons given 
to the group at the order of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and 
Minister of the Interior Rogerio Lobato. Railos, the leader of 
the group, stated that the group was established soon after the 
April 28 demonstrations to act as a hit squad assigned to kill 
petitioners, certain opposition party members, disloyal Fretilin 
partisans, and anti-Alkatiri Church officials.  They first 
showed these weapons publicly several days ago in a 
widely-broadcast ABC Australia story.  Railos indicated that the 
group is ready to disarm, but will only hand over the arms to 
President Gusmao. The group claims there is at least one other 
armed pro-Fretilin group in the western districts.  An Embassy 
source reports that a number of Fretilin members have told him 
they knew about the arming of the Railos group several weeks 
ago. End summary. 
 
¶2.      (C) Political officers from the U.S. Embassy and UNOTIL 
traveled to a remote mountain village two hours west of Dili 
yesterday to meet with a group of former veterans who identify 
themselves as the "Fretilin Secret Security" force.  The group 
of 31 men is currently staying on the compound of former 
Indonesian-era Governor, Mario Carascalao, who is also a 
prominent opposition party leader. 
 
¶3.      (C) Railos, former Falilintil resistance fighter from the 
Liquica area and the leader of this new force, provided PolOffs 
with a chronology of the group's establishment and its contacts 
with senior GOET officials.  During the meeting, he was 
accompanied by a former local staff member of UNDP's Dili office 
and by Dr. Lucas da Costa, who is President of one of East 
Timor's largest private universities and one of the few Fretilin 
delegates to vote against Alkatiri in the recent Fretilin Party 
Congress. 
 
¶4.      (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) According to Railos, on May 5 at around 
8 p.m. he received a call from then Minister of the Interior 
Rogerio Lobato.  Lobato told Railos to gather former Falintil 
fighters at the district Fretilin Party office in Liquica. 
Railos said approximately 100 veterans attended the meeting and 
that because of the size of the group Lobato refrained from 
providing specific details about the armed groups he wanted to 
create, but that Lobato did ask the men to "cooperate with the 
Government to create stability."  Railos claims he was contacted 
the next day by Lobato and asked to come to Dili as soon as 
possible. Railos, accompanied by fellow veterans Harakat and 
Leandro Lobato (Note: All three of these men were later 
delegates at the Fretilin Party Congress), went to Lobato's 
house in Dili on the evening of May 7.  After spending 15 
minutes with Lobato, Railos reports that the group was taken 
down the street to the temporary residence of Prime Minister 
Alkatiri where they met in a secure room with the PM,  Minister 
Lobato, and Border Patrol Unit (BPU) Commander Antonio da Cruz. 
The Prime Minister did not outline his "mission" for the group 
during this meeting, but after speaking to them for a few 
moments about the importance of being a dedicated member of 
Fretilin and reminding them how the party needs them now more 
than ever to win the 2007 elections, Alkatiri reportedly told 
Lobato "I think we can trust them with the equipment now." 
 
¶5.      (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) Railos reports that on May 8 he and his 
men were given ten HK33 automatic rifles by BPU Commander da 
Cruz.  A few hours later, he said he was called by Lobato and 
given  the following mission: a) "deal" with the petitioners to 
ensure they do not return to Dili and threaten the Alkatiri 
Government; b) eliminate certain opposition leaders including 
Democratic Party (PD) Secretary-General Fernando Lasama de 
Araujo and the PD district co-ordinator for  Liquica; and c) 
shoot anti-Alkatiri members of Fretilin such as Lucas da Costa 
and eliminate "radical priests" like Father Domingos Soares 
("Padre Maubere"), who was central in the organization of the 
 
DILI 00000303  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
anti-Alkatiri Church-led demonstration of May 2005.  (Comment: 
Railos spoke far more extensively about his instructions to kill 
certain key members of the group of petitioners than about the 
other elements of his alleged mission.  Both U.S. Embassy and 
UNOTIL PolOffs believe it is possible that instructions for 
dealing with the other targets  may have been fabricated  for 
consumption by the foreign press.  On the other hand, these 
instructions could have been delivered to the group with a lower 
level of detail than the instructions regarding the petitioners, 
or could have been described to them as secondary assignments to 
be carried out after the operation against the petitioners.  End 
comment.) 
 
¶6.      (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) Railos and his group conducted no 
operations during the first two weeks after they were given the 
arms, although he did say he was in frequent contact with Lobato 
and also spoke on occasion with the Prime Minister.  Railos 
reports that on May 21 BPU Commander da Cruz provided them with 
an additional seven HK33s and one shotgun.  Sources indicate 
that these weapons likely came from BPU officers from the East 
who had abandoned their posts along the land border to return 
home. 
 
¶7.      (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) According to Railos, on May 23 when 
violence broke out between Major Reinado's group of dissident 
MPs and the Timorese military (F-FDTL), Minister Lobato, upon 
hearing rumors that the petitioners would come down from Gleno 
to attack Government forces, called Railos and asked that he and 
his men proceed to Tibar (a few miles to the west of Dili) to 
"deal with the petitioners".  Railos and his group put on the 
green striped uniforms given to them by Lobato and used the two 
GOET vehicles they had also been given to travel to Tibar.  Once 
in Tibar, Railos claims he realized that most of the petitioners 
were from the same area as his men and many of them were distant 
relatives or friends.  Thus, Railos claims he and his men simply 
warned the petitioners against going to Dili and convinced most 
of them to return to Ermera district.    Railos and his group, 
however, remained in Tibar and also claim to have dissuaded 
several youth gang members from going closer to Dili.  (Note: An 
EmbOff who passed through Tibar on the afternoon of May 23  has 
confirmed that he saw a group that fits the description of 
Railos and his men, with the same distinctive uniforms and 
weapons.)   In the fight that ensued at daybreak on May 24 
between the F-FDTL and dissident forces, Railos' group lost four 
men.  Railos said the bodies were recovered by the Red Cross on 
May 25 and were then taken back to Liquica and buried. 
 
¶8.      (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) Railos says he had several phone 
conversations with Lobato and at least one with Alkatiri after 
the events of May 24.  Railos and his group were extremely angry 
over the lack of sympathy from Alkatiri and Lobato over the loss 
of the four men.  According to Railos, the two GOET leaders were 
initially upset with his group for having failed to kill the 
leaders of the group of petitioners, but in subsequent telephone 
conversations tried to convince Railos that he and his group 
were still central to Fretilin's plans.  Railos said it was out 
of anger at this lack of sympathy that he contacted the 
journalist from ABC Australia to come and interview him and view 
his group's weapons.  Since the ABC story aired, Railos has had 
no contact with Alkatiri or Lobato.  (Comment: PolOffs believe 
there might have been another reason why this group quickly 
turned against Alkatiri and Lobato.  It is possible that they 
were promised money or some other form of compensation that was 
not delivered when the group failed to carry out Lobato's 
instructions in Tibar.) 
 
¶9.      (C) When questioned about what conditions his group was 
placing on disarming, Railos stated that he wanted to speak 
directly to President Gusmao and would only hand over his 
group's weapons if he could do so directly to the President.  He 
also requested that the town of Liquica where most of his men 
live be patrolled by an international force, as they fear 
retaliation from Alkatiri and Lobato.  (Comment:   News of this 
group's whereabouts is widespread in Dili, and the compound 
 
DILI 00000303  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
where they were staying did not appear well protected.) 
 
¶10.     (C) Railos concluded by stating that his group is not the 
only one of its kind.  He claims there is also another 
pro-Fretilin armed group in Ermera, known as Group 5-5, which 
was allegedly given between 12 and 16 weapons from the Timorese 
police (PNTL) armory by then-Minister Lobato's chief of staff. 
 
¶11.     (C) EmbOff met today with Dionisio Babo Soares, a member 
of the Superior Council on Defense and Security, and with Agio 
Pereira, President Gusmao's Chief of Staff, to discuss the 
Railos group.  Soares stated that various moderate members of 
Fretilin had informed him that they had known for several weeks 
about the arming of this group.  The President's Chief of Staff 
told EmbOff that Railos had contacted him early in the morning 
on May 24.  Railos reportedly called to report the death of four 
of his men to the President.  Pereira suggested that if this 
group was indeed armed by the Prime Minister, he would face 
"serious legal consequences."  Although Pereira did not mention 
to Emboffs the possibility that the President would dismiss 
Prime Minister Alkatiri on account of this matter, the President 
himself suggested this possibility to Ambassador in a recent 
conversation that will be reported in septel. 
REES