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DE RUEHDT #0308/01 1651505
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FM AMEMBASSY DILI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2682
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0527
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHXX/GENEVA IO MISSIONS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0598
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 0518
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0366
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0379
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 0457
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0251
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 2007

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DILI 000308 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, DS, CA 
NSC FOR HOLLY MORROW 
PACOM FOR POLAD AND JOC 
USUN FOR GORDON OLSON AND RICHARD MCCURRY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/13/2016 
TAGS: PGOV MOPS ASEC PHUM KPKO CASC PO MY TT AS
SUBJECT: EAST TIMOR SITREP FOR JUNE 14, 2006 
 
REF: A) DILI 35; B) DILI 306 
 
DILI 00000308  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Grover Joseph Rees, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy 
Dili, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: 
President addresses Parliament; 
Fretilin presents itself as the victim; 
Ramos-Horta briefs diplomatic corps on GOET requests for post 
UN-mission; 
Prime Minister wants Timorese control of police; 
Security environment; 
End Summary. 
 
President addresses Parliament 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶2. (U) In an address to Parliament today, President Xanana 
Gusmao accepted responsibility for the current crisis on behalf 
of the sovereign institutions of East Timor and reaffirmed his 
commitment to act in accordance with the Constitution. The 
President then informed Parliament of his planned travel to Bali 
next Saturday to thank Indonesian President Susilo Bambang 
Yudhoyono for recent humanitarian assistance.  Gusmao also 
announced a compromise with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri on the 
criminal defamation provision of the pending penal code. 
Gusmao, who had objected to the provision (see Ref A),  will 
accept criminalizing defamation provided that it be punished 
only with a fine, not with prison time.  To enact this 
compromise, Alkatiri will ask Parliament to extend the 
legislative authorization, which will allow GOET time to 
re-draft the code and publish it in the official bulletin.  The 
President also asked Parliament to give quick attention to the 
Government's USD 312 million budget proposal, which includes USD 
10 million to reconstruct homes destroyed in recent violence; 
USD 11 million for public grants for job creation and related 
activities; USD 8 million for food security; funds for a pension 
fund for former combatants; USD 5 million for electricity 
subsidies; and funds for rural credit, community development, 
and social activities.  Gusmao also thanked all national and 
international actors who have contributed to humanitarian relief 
and peacekeeping.  He reiterated appeals by various Government 
of East Timor (GOET) leaders for a renewed UN presence and an 
international investigation into the violent events of April 28 
and May 25 and related matters. 
 
 
Fretilin presents itself as the victim 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶3. (U) The Embassy obtained a Portuguese language copy of the 
Resolution against Violence, which a bare quorum of Parliament 
approved yesterday after opposition party members walked out of 
Parliament in protest of the resolution (see Ref B).  The 
resolution contains general statements against violence and 
disunity and calls for the international forces to get control 
the situation quickly.  Most provisions of the resolution, 
however, amount to a highly idiosyncratic analysis of recent 
events in which Fretilin and its leaders are exonerated from any 
responsibility for the violence and are instead cast as its 
principal victims.  The resolution: 
 
-- Specifically repudiates accusations that the Prime Minister 
and the ruling party (Fretilin) armed groups of civilians; 
 
-- Repudiates "acts of terror" committed against Fretilin 
members and offices (with no similar condemnation of violent 
acts committed against non-Fretilin individuals); 
 
-- Calls for international military forces to withdraw to a 
security perimeter around Dili and to allow the Portuguese 
paramilitary police (GNR ) and other international police forces 
 
DILI 00000308  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
to control law and order in the city; and 
 
-- Calls on international forces to "confine" various 
anti-government groups, including dissident groups of Timorese 
military (F-FDTL) and police (PNTL) who  as well as the 
petitioners (the 595 F-FDTL members dismissed in March). 
 
¶4. (U) Fretilin leaders also issued an official communique 
today.  Although it was issued under the name of President of 
Parliament Francisco Lu'Olo Guterres, who is also President of 
Fretilin, it referred to Lu'Olo and to Prime Minister Alkatiri 
frequently in the third person ("Comrade Lu'Olo" and "Comrade 
Mari Alkatiri")  and reiterated most of the points in 
yesterday's resolution.  In the message, Lu'Olo denounced claims 
that Fretilin has distributed firearms to "intimidate or kill 
anyone,"  noting that Fretilin fully expects to win the 2007 
elections and therefore has no need to distribute firearms.  The 
message also included multiple references to the large majority 
Fretilin currently enjoys in Parliament as well as references to 
"manoeuveres" and "manipulations" aimed at "deposing our 
Constitutional Government."  It also urges Fretilin members "to 
create and strengthen FRETILIN's structures to carry out 
vigilance within their neighborhoods." 
 
¶5. (C) Comment: Both the resolution in Parliament and the 
Fretilin statement contain phrases that might be designed to 
distance the party from the alleged actions of Prime Minister 
Alkatiri and former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato.  Both 
documents denounce violence, and today's statement notes the 
recent creation of a political committee to manage the affairs 
of the party in between party congressess.  This could be 
interpreted as a reminder to Alkatiri, who is Fretilin 
Secretary-General, that he does not singlehandedly run the 
 
SIPDIS 
party.  Other language in both documents, however, explicitly 
defend Alkatiri and/or appear to reject reported attempts from 
more moderate Fretilin insiders to loosen the hold of the Prime 
Minister and President of Parliament over the party and its 
policies. End Comment. 
 
Ramos-Horta briefs diplomatic corps on GOET requests for post 
UN-mission 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6. (U) In a briefing today for the Dili diplomatic corps, 
Foreign Minister Ramos-Horta outlined elements of what he 
described as the GOET position on a new United Nations mission. 
He began by saying there should be  "robust United Nations 
police force" with several elements including operational 
police, a rapid reaction force, and a unit to retrain the 
Timorese police.  He said the international police force should 
be headed by a UN police commissioner who should have overall 
command of policing in East Timor.  Ramos Horta added that the 
current international military forces "should transition to UN 
peacekeeping force," perhaps in six months or a year.  The 
Minister added that even after this transition is complete, 
command of the peacekeeping force "should be held by the largest 
contributing force" --- a clear reference to Australia --- 
unlike in previous UN missions that have rotated the command and 
sometimes given it to small countries that did not contribute 
substantially to the force.  Finally, Ramos-Horta said there 
should be civilian elements including a human rights and justice 
component, which might conduct the investigation GOET has 
requested into the violence committed in East Timor since April 
¶28.  Although in other recent statements Ramos-Horta has 
requested that the United Nations "organize and administer" East 
Timor's upcoming national elections, in today's briefing he made 
no such reference. 
 
Prime Minister wants Timorese control of police 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
---------- 
 
¶7. (C) In a chance encounter with Prime Minister Alkatiri, 
Emboffs learned that the Alkatiri wants police trainers and a 
 
DILI 00000308  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
formed police unit as part of a new UN mission, but believes 
executive authority for policing in the country must be under 
the authority of GOET, not the UN.  This is contrary to frequent 
public and private statements made recently by Foreign/Defense 
Minister Ramos-Horta, who has clearly requested --- ostensibly 
on behalf of GOET --- that the UN assume authority for policing. 
 See paragraph 6.  Ramos-Horta's position is shared by President 
Gusmao, so his assertions that it is the GOET position are 
technically accurate in light of the President's recent 
assumption of authority over security and defense. 
--------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Contacts reported at least one arson and several 
gunshots last night.  None of these disturbances were targeted 
toward Americans or other foreigners.  Embassy sources reported 
that the JTF and GNR forces have begun conducting systematic 
searches for weapons in private homes in some of Dili's more 
troublesome neighborhoods. During the last two or three days 
numerous truckloads of people have left internally displaced 
persons (IDP) camps in Dili to return to their family homes in 
the three eastern ("lorosa'e") districts, apparently at the 
behest of local leaders in these districts who believe that 
lorosa'e people in Dili are not being adequately protected. 
Although this exodus will decrease congestion in overcrowded IDP 
camps, some observers have expressed fears that it could 
increase the level of east-west polarization and mutual 
misunderstanding. 
REES