Vannessa Hearman
On June 22, East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao threatened to resign if Fretilin Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri does not resign first. Gusmao accused the Fretilin majority in the government of doing "bad things to the people". In his televised address, he issued an ultimatum to Fretilin to hold an extraordinary congress to elect a different leadership. Fretilin's May 19 congress reaffirmed its support for Alkatiri and parliamentary speaker Francisco Guterres ("Lu'olo").
Describing the current Fretilin leadership — elected by a show of hands at the congress — as "illegitimate", Gusmao called for a secret ballot to elect a new leadership. His comments have raised ire among many activists involved in East Timor's long independence struggle against Indonesia. Fretilin, which was considered key in the independence movement, won a large majority in the 2001 elections.
Gusmao's threat to resign, calculated to throw the nation into panic, has begun to mobilise people against Alkatiri for the sake of preventing Gusmao's resignation. On June 20, political forces opposed to Fretilin began a demonstration outside the government headquarters in Dili. The ABC quoted organisers as promising that the demonstration could reach 30,000 by the end of the week. Following Gusmao's threat to resign, the demonstration swelled to around 1500 people on June 23, but by early June 25 numbers had not neared the predicted 30,000.
Gusmao sent a letter to Alkatiri demanding his resignation on June 21, accompanied by a copy of the June 19 ABC TV's Four Corners program, which purported to show that Alkatiri was aware of — and possibly complicit in — the setting up and arming of a shadowy Fretilin security unit by then-defence minister Rogerio Lobato.
According to Four Corners, Fretilin members under the command of Vicente Railos were being illegally armed to attack and silence Fretilin's political opponents. Alkatiri has denied discussing such matters with Railos.
The program also alleged that Lobato directly supplied the arms to the secret Fretilin security units. Prosecutor-general Longuinhos Monteiro issued an arrest warrant for Lobato on June 20. However, it is believed that the warrant may have been withdrawn due to a lack of evidence.
Alkatiri initially stared down Xanana's public ultimatum of June 22, however two days later (on the eve of a postponed meeting of the Fretilin central committee) told the Lusa news agency: "To say that I've already resigned would go against my principles of leaving the decision to Fretilin ... but I'm always at the disposal of Fretilin to take a decision to avoid a possible bloodbath."
Prior to Gusmao's threat, Alkatiri had been in negotiations with the Fretilin National Political Commission for some days to discuss his options. Agricultural minister and long-term Fretilin member Estanislau de Silva warned that Alkatiri's resignation would lead to more instability.
According to sources in Dili, on June 22, the Fretilin commission wrote a letter to Gusmao expressing Fretilin's refusal to sack Alkatiri or allow him to resign. It explained that Fretilin preferred to wait for the outcome of any international inquiry. This is contradictory to the Australian newspaper's assertion on June 22 that Fretilin had already withdrawn its support for both Alkatiri and Lu'olo.
The United Nations has extended the mandate of its mission in East Timor until August 20. UN Special Envoy Ian Martin — previously the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), which oversaw the August 1999 independence ballot — is due to commence a three-week multidisciplinary assessment mission from June 26. This mission will investigate what the UN should do to tackle the present crisis. Ahead of his visit, however, Martin already indicated to Reuters that a UN mission should focus on maintaining law and order in the capital, Dili, ahead of the 2007 general elections. A mission focused on law and order in Dili alone would hardly tackle the roots of East Timor's problems.
The US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, rejected the need for another UN peacekeeping force. Canberra initially refused, on June 14, to come under overall UN peacekeeping command. However one week later, the Australia government advocated for UN command of peacekeepers and UN authority over policing, possibly expecting that Australia could still wield a large amount of influence even under UN administration of troops and police.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, June 28, 2006.
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