[Kabar-indonesia] 3 Timor Updates: Alkatiri's Fate Hangs in the Balance [+Lobato Charged]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: East Timor's PM May Resign After Pres, Party Drop Support;
and E Timor Ex-Min Charged With Gun Crimes Escorted To Court

Agence France-Presse
June 22, 2006

Fate of Timor PM Hangs in the Balance
 
The fate of East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, blamed by opponents for 
the unrest that gripped the tiny nation last month, hung in the balance after 
the president asked him to resign.

Alkatiri was meeting with members of his ruling Fretilin party at the 
government palace, a senior official at the prime minister's office said.

The official also said senior party members were to meet and decide whether 
they would continue to support the premier's leadership, the official said.

"They will deliberate if support for the prime minister will continue," the 
official told AFP. "He is expected to announce his resignation if he does not 
have support."

Alkatiri was also to meet with his council of ministers on Friday, where he 
would likely announce his decision, the official said.

Alkatiri has been under pressure to step down since the impoverished country 
descended into violence a month ago, leading to the deaths of 21 people and 
the arrival of more than 2,200 foreign peacekeepers to restore calm.

His opponents and critics have charged that he failed to prevent the unrest 
and was also linked to the violence himself.

East Timor's popular president and Alkatiri's rival, Xanana Gusmao, on 
Tuesday demanded that the prime minister stand down, saying he had lost confidence 
in him.

Gusmao cited a television documentary that purported to show evidence that 
sacked interior minister Rogerio Lobato had supplied weapons to a militia unit 
tasked with assassinating Alkatiri's opponents on the premier's orders.

Alkatiri has repeatedly denied the accusation.

In his letter asking Alkatiri to step down, Gusmao said the documentary made 
"serious accusations" that had shocked him.

"There is nothing left for me to do except give you the choice: either you 
resign, or, after hearing the State Council, I will fire you, because you no 
longer deserve my confidence," Gusmao said.

Dili's prosecutor-general Longuinhos Monteiro said Thursday Lobato was being 
charged with "distributing state weapons to civilians, attempted revolution, 
conspiracy, and action with criminals".

He said he faced up to 15 years' imprisonment.

But Monteiro said that it was "too early" to know whether Alkatiri would also 
be charged.

"I don't see it now," he told reporters.

UN officials are working with the prosecutor-general on a probe into the 
violence, which came after Alkatiri in March sacked some 600 soldiers who had 
complained of discrimination, triggering infighting among the security forces that 
spiralled into gang warfare.

Security remained tight around the capital, where Australian, New Zealand, 
Malaysian and Portuguese peacekeepers have taken over police functions.

Tanks patrolled the outskirts of Dili, while troops checked vehicles for any 
weapons that could be used to stir up trouble.

Sukehiro Hasegawa, the UN's special representative to East Timor, said he 
welcomed the political settlement being worked on by the officials.

He said it showed that the Catholic nation of one million people was on the 
road back to stability.

"Timor Leste is a temporarily broken state, but not a failed state," he told 
reporters Wednesday.

He said international peacekeepers had brought back "minimal stability" to 
East Timor but stressed that the "situation remains very fragile (and) requires 
political settlement."

The UN has meanwhile raised some 8.2 million dollars in donations and pledges 
after it issued a flash appeal to the international community to help Timor 
early this month, Hasegawa said.

The appeal aims to raise nearly 20 million dollars needed to keep 
humanitarian programs running in the next three months.

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East Timor's PM May Resign After Pres, Party Drop Support

DILI, East Timor, June 22 (AP)--East Timor's embattled prime minister met 
with his ruling party colleagues Thursday to discuss whether he should follow the 
president's order to resign to resolve a bloody crisis in the nation's 
capital. 

Many East Timorese say Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's decision to fire 600 
disgruntled soldiers in March was to blame for subsequent clashes and gang 
warfare that have left at least 30 people dead and sent nearly 150,000 people 
fleeing from their homes. 

The prime minister met senior Fretilin party officials Thursday to consider 
the party's options in response to President Xanana Gusmao written ultimatum, a 
government spokesman confirmed on condition of anonymity because he isn't 
authorized to speak to the media. 

Gusmao wrote that Alkatiri should resign or be fired, because he had lost the 
president's trust. 

A decision Thursday appeared uncertain because Alkatiri's Cabinet colleagues 
were scheduled to consider the same issue at a meeting Friday. 

Alkatiri ally and senior minister Estanislan da Silva, one of the party 
officials who will attend both meetings, said Alkatiri was prepared to resign. 

"I think he is prepared to go," da Silva said before the meeting Thursday, 
but he added that: "It's not a matter for him, as Mari by himself, to decide 
because we nominated him." 

Da Silva predicted that the entire government would resign if the prime 
minister quit. He didn't know how long it would take an Alkatiri successor to form 
a new government. 

With Fretilin holding 55 of 88 seats in parliament, no other party could form 
a majority government. 

"If Mari Alkatiri resigned at the moment, the entire government would have to 
go because he was the one who formed the government," da Silva said. 

"We don't want to leave a vacuum; we will do the best we can," he said. 

While Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, a close Gusmao ally, has offered his 
services as an interim prime minister to resolve the current crisis, da Silva 
said that was impossible. 

"He has support of the people, but I don't think he has the support of 
Fretilin to become prime minister," he said. 

Alkatiri was expected to meet Gusmao later Thursday to discuss his options, 
da Silva said. 

The violence - which continued Wednesday evening in Dili with at least six 
buildings set ablaze - was the worst to hit the tiny Asian nation since it voted 
for independence from Indonesia seven years ago, sparking deadly rampages by 
revenge-seeking militias. 

Alkatiri's resignation could be the political step needed to ease the crisis. 

He had long rebuffed demands for his resignation, saying his party wanted him 
in power. 

His critics have accused him of forming a hit squad to kill his political 
opponents, but Prosecutor-General Longuinhos Monteir told the AP there was no 
evidence to support that, though investigations were ongoing. 

Still, his decision to order the arrest of former Interior Minister Rogerio 
Lobato for allegedly giving guns to Vincente "Railos" da Concecao - the 
self-proclaimed leader of the hit squad - added pressure on Alkatiri. 

Violence has eased in Dili in recent weeks with the arrival of a 2,700-strong 
Australian-led peacekeeping mission, but arsonists set five houses and an 
administrative office on fire Wednesday, said firefighter Fernando Dacosti. 

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E Timor Ex-Min Charged With Gun Crimes Escorted To Court

DILI, East Timor, June 22 (AP)--An ally of East Timor's prime minister was 
escorted by foreign troops to court on Thursday after being issued an arrest 
warrant for allegedly providing weapons to a hit squad tasked with silencing 
political opponents. 

Many East Timorese say Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's decision to fire 600 
disgruntled soldiers in March was to blame for subsequent clashes and gang 
warfare that have left at least 30 people dead and sent nearly 150,000 people 
fleeing from their homes. 

The violence has been the worst to hit the tiny Asian nation since it voted 
for independence from Indonesia seven years ago, sparking deadly rampages by 
revenge-seeking militias. 

President Xanana Gusmao, who told Alkatiri in a letter he had lost his trust 
and wanted him to resign, was to meet with the embattled prime minister after 
Thursday's internal Fretilin party meeting, an official in Alkatiri's office 
said. 

Former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato was, meanwhile, escorted by 
Australian troops to a court where he was formally charged with attempted revolution, 
conspiracy, providing state weapons to civilians and associating with 
criminals, the country's top prosecutor said. 

He had been under virtual house arrest since Tuesday after being accused of 
arming a hit squad commissioned by Alkatiri - a charge the prime minister has 
vehemently denied. 

"Lobato turned himself in this morning," said Prosecutor-General Longuinhos 
Monteir, adding that he faced 15 years' imprisonment if convicted. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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