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DE RUEHDT #0320/01 1711511
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FM AMEMBASSY DILI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2709
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0545
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHXX/GENEVA IO MISSIONS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0618
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 0536
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0380
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0398
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 0475
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0269
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 2034

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 DILI 000320 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS 
NSC FOR HOLLY MORROW 
USUN FOR GORDON OLSON AND RICHARD MCCURRY 
USPACOM FOR JOC AND POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/20/2016 
TAGS: PGOV MOPS ASEC PHUM KPKO CASC PREF EAID AS TT
SUBJECT: EAST TIMOR SITREP FOR JUNE 20, 2006 
 
REF: DILI 296; B) DILI 303; CB) DILI 316 
 
DILI 00000320  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Grover Joseph Rees, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy 
Dili, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1. (C) Summary: 
--- President still plans to dismiss Prime Minister after 
Council of State meeting tomorrow; 
--- Arrest warrant issued for Lobato; 
--- Ramos-Horta in Baucau, plans to head further East tomorrow; 
--- Anti-Alkatiri demonstration begins, may grow in coming days; 
--- Weapons confiscated as ADF continuing inventory work; 
--- Murder in Suai may be connected to armed group's publicity; 
--- IDPs now estimated at 145,000, mostly outside Dili; 
--- Security environment in Dili and districts. 
End Summary. 
 
President still plans to dismiss Prime Minister after Council of 
State meeting tomorrow 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) President Xanana Gusmao told Ambassador Rees that he sent 
a letter to Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri this morning requesting 
his immediate resignation.  The letter was accompanied by a 
videotape containing what the President described as evidence 
against Alkatiri in the Railos case.  See Refs A & B.  The 
President asked Alkatiri to tell him by 5 p.m. whether or not he 
would resign, but as of 7:30 p.m. he had received no answer. 
The President has called a meeting of the Council of State, with 
which he is required to consult prior to dismissing the Prime 
Minister, for tomorrow morning.  The agenda will include the 
accusations against the Alkatiri and former Minister of Interior 
Rogerio Lobato for distributing arms to Fretilin party 
militants, in some cases allegedly with instructions to kill 
government opponents, and what steps the President should take 
in light of these allegations. 
 
¶3. (C) The President said he had met this morning with General 
Taur Matan Ruak, commander of the armed forces (FDTL), who 
enthusiastically supported the planned dismissal of Alkatiri. 
Later in the day Emboff saw Matan Ruak in Baucau and confirmed 
that the General appears to be fully behind the President's plan. 
 
¶4. (S/NF) The President said he also met today with Brigadier 
General Mick Slater, the Australian commander of the 
international Joint Task Force (JTF) in East Timor, to brief him 
on his plans.  The President said General Slater raised no 
objections.  According to a source at the Australian Embassy, 
the charge d'affaires had been instructed to request a meeting 
with President Gusmao, but subsequently received an instruction 
to cancel the meeting request.  The Australian source implied 
that Australia's Foreign Ministry may initially have intended to 
dissuade the President from his proposed course of action, but 
that ultimately --- perhaps after interagency discussions --- 
the Government of Australia has decided neither to encourage nor 
to discourage the President. 
 
¶5. (U) Prime Minister Alkatiri issued a press release today 
denying allegations that he had armed the Fretilin activists. 
The Prime Minister claimed he had communicated occasionally with 
Railos only to maintain an open line of communication and 
prevent misunderstanding.  "I myself have called for 
independent, international investigations of all these incidents 
and allegations," Alkatiri said. 
 
Arrest warrant issued for Lobato 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Late this afternoon, the East Timor Prosecutor General's 
office issued a warrant for the arrest of former Minister of 
Interior, Rogerio Lobato.  According to a UN press release 
"Lobato was accused of distributing arms to Vicente da 
Conceicao, known as 'Rai Los' with the intent to 'alter the 
public order and the democratic rule of law.'  The warrant was 
signed by UN-funded international prosecutors working for the 
Prosecutor General. 
 
 
DILI 00000320  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶7. (C) Australian Federal Police (AFP) sources report that they 
are currently working out their next steps in response to the 
warrant.  Operational details are expected to be worked out this 
evening.  At time of writing, they did not yet know whether the 
arrest operation would be carried out by the ADF, AFP, or both. 
In addition, an AFP source reported that they are concurrently 
trying to ascertain Lobato's whereabouts. 
 
¶8. (C) The warrant follows earlier reports that Lobato attempted 
to depart Dili today for Darwin but an order was issued by 
unspecified Timorese authorities forbidding his departure. 
Australian authorities had reportedly barred his entry to 
Australia on immigration grounds allowing them to deny admission 
to persons who might be involved in improper activities. 
 
Ramos-Horta in Baucau, plans to head further East tomorrow 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Ramos-Horta today departed for Baucau, accompanied by 
an entourage including General Matan Ruak.  According to Embassy 
sources, the main reason for the timing of this trip may be so 
that he can ensure that the eastern districts remain calm and 
that no destabilizing measures are taken if the Prime Minister 
resigns or is forced out by the President in the next 24 to 48 
hours.  In addition, he is likely to be following up on credible 
reports that a group of Fretilin supporters has been armed in 
Lospalos district with a mission similar to that of the Railos 
group in Liquica.  A reliable Embassy source reported that the 
District Administrator of Lospalos may have orchestrated the 
delivery of 14 long barreled weapons last week at the same time 
as he was organizing the transport of a number of people who 
were living in IDP camps in Dili back to their home districts in 
the East. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Ramos-Horta is also accompanied by several 
internationals including Poloff and Defense Representative from 
Amembassy Dili.  Embassy will report further details of 
Ramos-Horta's activities in the eastern districts as they become 
available. 
 
Anti-Alkatiri demonstration begins, may grow in coming days 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) A small anti-Alkatiri demonstration was held today in 
front of the Government Palace.  Estimates of attendance ranged 
as high as several hundred, but through most of the day were 
observed to be around 100, apparently all from within Dili.  The 
peaceful demonstration was accompanied by a dozen fully equipped 
Australian military police.  Australian Defense Force (ADF) 
ground forces also increased their presence in the vicinity and 
the situation remained calm.  Local sources report that the 
demonstration will continue through Thursday with more 
demonstrators expected to arrive during the coming two days from 
the districts.  The deputy district police commander in Bobonaro 
district reported that organizers in the district were 
mobilizing demonstrators to travel to Dili during the next day 
or two.  The police commander stated that he expects the numbers 
to be higher than the estimated 1,500 who traveled to Dili for 
the June 6 demonstrations. See Ref A. 
 
Weapons confiscated as ADF continuing inventory work 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) On Sunday (June 21), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) 
raided the residence of Abilio Mesquita , the police (PNTL) 
Deputy District Commander for Liquica who has also been 
implicated in gang violence in Dili.  They confiscated six Steyr 
machine guns, one pump-action shotgun, and several PNTL and FDTL 
uniforms.  AFP detained four persons for questioning in 
connection with this incident.  Mesquita was arrested later the 
same day.  Also this weekend, AFP relieved ex-Minister Lobato's 
two personal bodyguards of their FN2000 machine guns as Lobato 
left Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's Dili home to go to the bank. 
 
DILI 00000320  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
 There was conflicting information over the weekend regarding 
whether the disarmament to which Major Alfredo Reinado had 
agreed to had in fact gone forward.  ADF sources today confirmed 
that he did hand over a substantial number of weapons, but not 
all that he and his group are believed to have. 
 
¶13. (C) ADF sources report that the final report on their 
inventory of FDTL weapons will be ready shortly.  They note some 
important discrepancies.  In almost all categories, more weapons 
were logged than were originally reported on the inventory 
lists.  There were also 47 weapons confirmed missing from 
earlier inventory list, as well as anomalous serial numbers that 
could point to the existence of hundreds more unaccounted-for 
military weapons.  The planned inventory of PNTL weapons has 
been postponed but is expected to begin this week. 
 
Murder in Suai may be connected to armed group's publicity 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶14. (U) A brutal murder that took place in Suai last week is 
suspected by some to have been in revenge against the armed 
group in Liquica that recently went public with claims that they 
had been armed by ex-Minister Lobato, with the Prime Minister's 
authorization and support.  Mateus dos Santos Ferreira (a.k.a. 
Mau Rakat), a member of the Liquica group heading by "Railos", 
or perhaps of a separate group that was also reportedly armed by 
Lobato,  told Emboffs yesterday that the murder victim was his 
nephew.  He said he believed the murder was perpetrated by 
elements, possibly within the Suai PNTL Office, for the purpose 
of intimidating him from coming forward with Railos.  A police 
officer in Suai had told Embassy staff that the murder had no 
political motivations but rather resulted from a personal 
conflict between the victim and the suspect. 
 
IDPs now estimated at 145,000, mostly outside Dili 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶15. (U) A UN press release today reported that the total number 
of internally displaced people (IDPs) throughout East Timor has 
been recalculated to be around 145,000.  Contrary to earlier 
estimates, the majority of these are now reported to be in the 
districts outside Dili.  According to figures collected by local 
authorities,  78,000 IDPs are estimated to be outside of Dili, 
while 67,000 are estimated to be in the various IDP camps within 
Dili.  The press release noted that these new numbers do not 
necessarily reflect new developments.  Many people fled Dili 
weeks ago but information from remote areas is only now reaching 
the Inter-Agency Humanitarian Assistance Group.  IDPs continue 
gradually to leave Dili for the districts.  While we heard 
earlier that these displacements were largely toward the east, 
we have recently learned that Dili residents from the western 
part of East Timor are also beginning to move back to their home 
districts. 
 
¶16. (U) The UN Humanitarian Coordinator stated his concerns that 
there may soon be food shortages in the districts.  In addition, 
it is clear that the combination of IDP numbers and decreased 
economic activity is causing increased hardship throughout the 
country.  USAID's private sector development project has been 
monitoring economic activity in five of the districts since 
April.  The project reports significant price increases for 
fuel, transport, and basic foods.  Basic food prices have risen 
between 5 and 50 percent.  Fuel prices are up 20 to 100 percent. 
 Transport costs have reportedly doubled. 
 
Security environment in Dili and districts 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶17. (U) Dili is returning to normal activity very slowly.  This 
week, some school children can be seen returning to their 
classes.  The Australian Federal Police (AFP) reported no house 
burnings in Dili over the weekend, but local contacts reported a 
few arsons each night.  Local staff reported that six residences 
 
DILI 00000320  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
were burned Sunday night in fighting between rival gangs.  Also, 
a crowd gathered near Prime Minister Alkatiri's house Sunday 
evening threatening to burn the house.  The crowd dispersed 
quickly once the AFP arrived.  On Saturday evening several 
gunshots were reported near the stadium.  AFP arrested two 
people Saturday, one for theft and one for possession of three 
spears and a machete.  In other incidents AFP confiscated a 
smoke grenade, a baton, and an axe. 
 
¶18. (U) An Embassy staff member visiting his family in the 
western town of Suai, Cova Lima district, reported that the 
district is generally calm but that people are very anxious. 
PNTL members are carrying long guns and occasionally firing 
warning shots into the air, making locals in Suai more nervous. 
After traveling through several western districts, our U.S. 
Defense Representative (USDR) reported that PNTL is functioning 
normally outside of Dili.  Some Dili residents have moved, at 
least temporarily, to the districts.  They appear to mostly be 
staying with friends and family in the districts as opposed to 
living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.  Many local 
radio stations are not broadcasting due to lack of generator 
fuel.  Many local residents complained of insufficient 
information regarding events in Dili.  Local churches appeared 
to be a common place for residents to gather and share 
information.  USDR reported locals received him warmly and there 
was no evidence of threats to Americans or other foreigners. 
REES