VZCZCXRO2007
OO RUEHCHI RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHDT #0334/01 1781512
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O P 271512Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY DILI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2735
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0565
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHXX/GENEVA IO MISSIONS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0638
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 0556
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0398
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0419
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 0495
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0289
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 2060

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DILI 000334 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS 
NSC FOR HOLLY MORROW 
USPACOM FOR JOC AND POLAD 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/27/2016 
TAGS: PGOV MOPS ASEC KCRM AEMR AS TT
SUBJECT: EAST TIMOR SITREP FOR 27 JULY 
 
REF: (A) DILI 316; (B) DILI 333 
 
DILI 00000334  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Grover Joseph Rees, Ambassador, EXEC, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1. (U) Summary: 
--- President Gusmao will lead interim government for 30 days; 
--- Alkatiri resisting summons to defend against criminal 
charges; 
--- Pro-Alkatiri demonstrators may enter Dili tomorrow; 
--- Senior Australian official may visit Dili on Thursday; 
--- Security update. 
End Summary. 
 
President Gusmao will lead interim government for 30 days 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) President Xanana Gusmao convened a Council of State (COS) 
meeting today.  The eleven-member advisory body concluded its 
meeting at 2:30 p.m. with a recommendation that the state of 
crisis Gusmao had declared on 28 May be extended another 30 
days.  Under the continued state of crisis, Gusmao will preside 
over a caretaker government and will ask specific people to take 
on ministerial functions without the title of minister.  All 
ministers in former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's cabinet were 
automatically dismissed in accordance with article 112 of the 
Constitution when the President accepted Alkatiri's resignation 
yesterday.  The Council of State did not discuss who would fill 
these roles, but after the Council of State meeting the 
President met with several pro-Gusmao and/or "moderate" 
ministers from the Alkatiri Government, including 
ex-Foreign/Defense Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, ex-Labor Minister 
Arsenio Bano, and ex-Interior Minister Alcino Barris. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Council of State called on the Fretilin party, 
which still holds a majority in Parliament, to hold an 
extraordinary party congress as soon as possible in order to 
elect party leaders by secret ballot as required by law.  Gusmao 
has made clear that since the mid-May Fretilin congress acted 
illegally by electing party officials by a public show of hands 
rather than by secret ballot, there is currently no legitimate 
Fretilin leadership with whom to negotiate on the formation of a 
government. See Ref A. Gusmao initially wanted the Fretilin 
congress to occur within one week, but he agreed to the one 
month timeframe after Fretilin President Francisco "Lu'olo" 
Guterres said it might take that long to organize the gathering. 
 
¶4. (SBU) One Council of State member told Poloff that several 
COS members had pressed Gusmao to dissolve Parliament.  Gusmao 
reportedly resisted the suggestion, preferring to focus on the 
Fretilin extraordinary congress. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Although the President is not expected to appoint an 
interim Prime Minister to head the transitional government, he 
may appoint a "principal administrator" who would perform the 
same functions.  Possible candidates for this position include 
Ramos-Horta, Bano, and ex-Minister of Health Rui de Araujo. 
 
¶6. (U) This evening the President's office issued a press 
release stating that the President would govern under the 
declaration of crisis until July 30 and would use the time to 
try to form a new government without dissolving Parliament.  The 
statement said that if it should prove impossible to do this, 
the President would consider dissolving Parliament. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  President Gusmao's course of action, although 
it will result in a longer timetable for formation of a new 
government than some of the other options open to him, seems 
designed to comply strictly with the applicable provisions of 
the Constitution.  The Constitution requires that a Prime 
Minister be designated by the party or coalition that holds a 
parliamentary majority and appointed by the President. Because 
Fretilin holds a parliamentary majority, the President chose to 
wait for the party to elect its leaders in accordance with law 
so that they can propose a new Prime Minister.  If this does not 
happen within 30 days, or if the new leadership does not propose 
a candidate whom the President deems acceptable, he could 
 
DILI 00000334  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
dissolve parliament under the constitutional provision giving 
him authority to do so in a "grave institutional crisis making 
it impossible to form a government."  See Ref B. The President 
may also be counting on the likelihood that his interim 
government will become far more popular in the next 30 days than 
the Alkatiri government ever was.  This might put pressure on 
Fretilin to propose as Prime Minister a leader from within the 
interim government, such as Ramos-Horta, Bano, Dr. Araujo, or 
Ambassador Jose Luis Guterres, rather than a party insider.  End 
Comment. 
 
Alkatiri resisting summons to defend against criminal charges 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Ambassador spoke today with Prosecutor General Longuinhos 
Monteiro, who confirmed reports that his office had issued a 
summons to ex-Prime Minister Alkatiri.  The summons requires 
Alkatiri to submit to an interview this Friday, June 30, in 
connection with charges that he authorized the illegal 
distribution of arms to Fretilin militants who say they were 
instructed to kill certain government opponents.  Ex-Minister of 
the Interior Rogerio Lobato has reportedly signed a sworn 
statement to prosecutors that he did distribute the arms and 
that Alkatiri endorsed and authorized the distribution, although 
Lobato denies that he told the armed group to kill anyone. 
Prosecutor General Monteiro says he has received dozens of phone 
calls and text messages from Alkatiri, some abusive and 
threatening, demanding that the summons be withdrawn.  Alkatiri 
reportedly asserts that the charges are lies, that he is afraid 
he will be harmed if he goes to the Prosecutor's office,  and 
that he enjoys immunity from prosecution as a newly-minted 
Fretilin Member of Parliament --- a status Alkatiri claims to 
have acquired automatically since he was an elected member of 
the pre-independence Constituent Assembly, which became the 
Parliament on May 20, 2002, the same day he became Prime 
Minister.  (Note:  East Timor's Constitution does provide 
immunity from prosecution to Members of Parliament, but only for 
words and acts done "in their official capacity".)  Monteiro has 
reported the threatening messages to President Gusmao and to the 
Australian-led Joint Task Force (JTF), which is providing 
Monteiro with personal protection. 
 
Pro-Alkatiri demonstrators may enter Dili tomorrow 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) The demonstration against former Prime Minister Mari 
Alkatiri that had grown to several thousand people yesterday 
began to dissipate today.  Emboffs estimate there are presently 
less than 1,000 of these demonstrators near the Government 
Palace, although others may remain elsewhere in Dili.  The 
demonstrators continue to be peaceful.  Meanwhile, at least 40 
trucks full of pro-Alkatiri demonstrators waited all afternoon 
approximately 20 minutes out of Dili.  The group began 
proceeding toward the city this afternoon, but stopped about ten 
kilometers outside the city when Alkatiri and President of 
Parliament Lu'Olo came to address the group.  The two senior 
Fretilin leaders requested that the convoy return to the village 
of Metinaro approximately 30 minutes outside Dili, spend the 
night there, and wait for instructions tomorrow.  Alkatiri and 
Lu'Olo reportedly delivered inflammatory speeches, with Alkatiri 
saying he had been "wrongfully deposed by corrupt and unjust 
people" and Lu'Olo suggesting that Fretilin had fought a 
guerrilla war from the mountains for 24 years and could do so 
again.  Meanwhile Major Tara, one of the key organizers of the 
ongoing anti-Alkatiri demonstrations, met with President Gusmao 
this afternoon and told reporters that the President had asked 
him to begin moving the mostly "Loromonu" (western) 
demonstrators out of Dili to avoid any clashes with the 
pro-Alkatiri group from the east.  The Embassy sent a warden 
message reminding American citizens to avoid crowds and avoid 
the Government Palace area. (Comment:  Alkatiri and Lu'Olo may 
have agreed to keep their demonstrators out of Dili for another 
day in exchange for Gusmao's commitment to try to persuade the 
anti-Alkatiri demonstrators to leave so that the two groups 
 
DILI 00000334  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
would not be in Dili at the same time.) 
 
Senior Australian official may visit Dili on Thursday 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
------------ 
¶9. (S/NF)  Australian EmbOff hinted today that one of 
Australia's top government officials will likely visit East 
Timor on Thursday of this week.  Embassy speculates that it is 
likely to be Prime Minister Howard who will visit, as he has not 
yet made a trip to Dili since the arrival of Australian troops. 
 
Security update 
----------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) The Australian Federal Police (AFP) reported 
confiscating three pistols from police (PNTL) officers during 
the night.  The police officers reportedly claimed that they had 
thought they had to give up only their long guns, not their 
pistols. 
REES