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RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 2201

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DILI 000405 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS 
PACOM FOR POLAD AND JOC 
NSC FOR HOLLY MORROW 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ASEC PREF EAID TT
SUBJECT: IDP RETURN PLANS AND SECURITY ISSUES 
 
REF: DILI 404 
 
DILI 00000405  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a conversation with Charge d'Affaires on 
August 7, Anna Pessoa, the Minister for State Administration, 
discussed the current state of planning for the return of as 
many as 150,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) to their 
homes in Dili.  Noting the deteriorated security environment of 
recent days (see reftel), she emphasized the necessity of 
adequate security provisions before IDPs would consider 
returning.  The most important single element of this in her 
opinion is the establishment of 24 hour fixed police posts in 
all neighborhoods, at least for the initial return period, which 
she said will require the rapid reintegration of the national 
police (PNTL) to reach the necessary numbers.  Noting that a 
plan for screening the Dili PNTL was nearing finalization, she 
argued that the plan must be "concretized" and then implemented 
expeditiously.  Another security concern she discussed is the 
wide reluctance on the part of the population to reveal the 
identities of perpetrators, especially leaders, of gang and mob 
violence.  She reported that she is working with the Prosecutor 
General to make arrangements to ensure witness confidentiality 
and safety.  On a separate issue, Pessoa reported that she will 
this week ask the Council of Ministers (cabinet) to renew the 
mandate of the commission to investigate the complaints of the 
nearly 600 soldiers dismissed from the armed forces in March. 
End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Charge d'Affaires Whitman met with Minister for State 
Administration Anna Pessoa on August 7.  Pessoa has been a close 
ally of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and remains a 
central player in the ruling Fretilin party.  Pessoa began by 
expressing her concern regarding the recent spike of gang 
violence in Dili.  In her opinion, the events of the last few 
days "have not been spontaneous, have not been unorganized." 
She was also critical of the international police response, 
noting that they were "moving too slowly" and that she 
understood the need for them to have an initial start up period, 
but that time is past and they "should now be able to guarantee 
internal security." 
 
¶3. (U) Minister Pessoa outlined the plan that she envisions for 
the return of IDPs to their communities.  She said that this 
plan is her ministry's proposal, but that she is coordinating 
with both the Ministry of Labor and Social Reinsertion and the 
Ministry of Public Works and it will be discussed by the 
inter-ministerial working group on IDP return.  She believes 
there is a general consensus on the broad outlines of the plan, 
but many specifics to be worked out.  The plan described by 
Pessoa included the following sequential steps: 1) Discussions 
with the communities to which IDPs are to return, at the village 
and sub-village level, to prepare them for the return of former 
residents and to address concerns; 2) discussions with IDPs in 
the camps to ready them for return; 3) establishment of 24-hour 
police posts in communities to which IDPs are to return; 4) 
community meetings between IDPs and the community to which they 
are to return; 5) IDPs given three months supply of basic 
supplies when they depart the camps permanently.  She noted that 
this basic plan does not yet address all the issues as there are 
multiple cases where people's houses have been burned or where 
others are illegally occupying their houses which will have to 
be addressed through legal processes. 
 
¶4. (U) Pessoa emphasized that the lynchpin of any IDP return 
plan will be security.  Reporting that she had been talking to 
IDPs and to the elected village chiefs in the communities all of 
whom had told her, "Our people will not be willing to go back 
unless there is 24-hour police presence in their community." 
She does not see this as a permanent need, but an arrangement to 
be in place for the first few weeks as communities reintegrate. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In order to meet the goal of 24-hour police presence in 
the communities, Pessoa stressed that reintegration of the PNTL 
into Dili policing must occur as soon as possible in order to 
have the numbers required for this.  Therefore, the screening of 
the PNTL must start immediately.  She commented on the plan for 
 
DILI 00000405  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
police screening and reintegration presented last week to the 
Prime Minister, expressing considerable skepticism about its 
practicability.  The overall plan was good she said, but it 
lacked details regarding the timetable and specific steps 
involved.  Moreover, she implied that it lacked the inclusion of 
input from the communities regarding individual police who they 
may regard as unacceptable.  She also discussed the over 200 new 
PNTL officers who graduated from the academy in June.  While 
agreeing that they too should undergo some kind of screening she 
believes that it can be less rigorous than for the PNTL who were 
active during the lead up to the crisis.  These new graduates, 
she said, should be screened and brought on board within no more 
than two weeks. 
 
¶6. (U) Pessoa also discussed the problem of impunity for many of 
the perpetrators of gang violence because community members and 
IDP camp residents are too afraid to identify them.  Justice for 
perpetrators will be a key element of the security needed for 
IDP return, but will be impossible if people remain too 
terrified to reveal needed information.  She reported that she 
has been discussing the issue with the Prosecutor General with 
the goal of improving arrangements to ensure witness 
confidentiality and safety.  She noted that most of the crimes 
 
SIPDIS 
being committed are public crimes and should be pursued on that 
basis, without requiring the involvement of the victim.  She is 
pushing for an arrangement whereby the elected village chiefs 
could serve as a channel for information to the Prosecutor's 
office. 
 
¶7.  (U) On a separate issue, Pessoa relayed that the commission 
to address the complaints of the 595 soldier (known as the 
"petitioners") dismissed from the armed forces (F-FDTL) in March 
after they went on strike to protest alleged discrimination has 
yet to restart its work.  Pessoa was to lead the commission, but 
its work was soon truncated by the refusal of the "petitioners" 
to cooperate and the deterioration of the security situation in 
May.  According to Pessoa, the three-month mandate of the 
original commission has run out and it will therefore require a 
new mandate from the Government.  She plans to raise the issue 
at this week's Council of Ministers meeting to request a new 
mandate.  She remarked that it will need the clear support of 
the Prime Minister accompanied by assurances that they can work 
without interference. 
WHITMAN