[Kabar-indonesia] Alkatiri to Resign: Ramos-Horta [+More Protests; Downer Fears More Violence]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: Protesters stage new anti-Alkatiri rallies;
and Downer fears more East Timor violence

East Timor PM Alkatiri to resign: Official

By David Fox

DILI, June 26 (Reuters) - East Timor's embattled prime minister, Mari 
Alkatiri, was expected to resign on Monday, the country's foreign minister told a 
news briefing.

Jose Ramos-Horta interrupted a briefing to explain his own resignation a day 
earlier to say "it had been overtaken by events."

He advised the assembled media to go to Alkatiri's residence. Asked if the 
prime minister was going to resign he nodded his head, shrugged and said: "it 
looks like."

Nobel Peace laureate Ramos-Horta, foreign minister since East Timor gained 
independence from Indonesia in 2002, quit on Sunday. An aide said the 
resignation came after Alkatiri's Fretilin party decided to continue backing the prime 
minister.

Alkatiri has been widely blamed for violence which erupted after fighting 
within the armed forces spiralled into rioting, arson and looting in the streets 
of the capital, Dili.

An aide had said Ramos-Horta -- who is not a Fretilin member -- resigned in 
protest at the party's decision.

Alkatiri's resignation has been the rallying cry during protests by thousands 
of Timorese that have peaked in the past five days after damaging revelations 
in an Australian news documentary linked him to a plot to arm a civilian 
militia.

The revelations prompted the tiny nation's popular president, Xanana Gusmao, 
to threaten to quit. While he later pulled back, diplomats said bad blood 
between him and Alkatiri was now out in the open.

East Timor was a Portuguese colony for centuries before a revolution in 
Lisbon in 1975 gave the territory a brief taste of independence. Indonesian troops 
invaded a few days later and Jakarta annexed East Timor in 1976.

After a 1999 vote for independence marked by violence blamed largely on 
pro-Jakarta militia with ties to the Indonesian army, an international peacekeeping 
force moved into the territory, ushering in a transitional period of U.N. 
administration before East Timor became a fully-fledged nation in 2002.

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ABC
Monday, June 26, 2006

Protesters stage new anti-Alkatiri rallies

By Anne Barker in Dili

Mass demonstrations are continuing in East Timor's capital, Dili, in protest 
at the refusal of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to resign.

The ruling Fretlin Party has re-endorsed his leadership, despite a request 
from President Xanana Gusmao that Dr Alkatiri step aside.

Two ministers have resigned in protest at Fretlin's decision, including the 
high-profile foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta.

A large group of protesters have now wound their way through Dili's streets 
to the presidential palace where Mr Gusmao is to hold a press conference. 

Australian troops are on alert for potentially thousands of pro-Alkatiri 
supporters planning to come to Dili from the country's east. 

Journalists at Bacau, four hours east of Dili, say thousands of pro-Alkatiri 
supporters left there this morning on their way to the capital.

There is concern that Dili could once again descend into violence if the 
pro-Alkatiri and anti-Alkatiri groups clash. 

Australian troops in East Timor are on high alert for any outbreak of 
violence.

Their commander, Brigadier Michael Slater, says he will be trying to meet 
with the leaders of both groups.

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Australian Associated Press
Monday, June 26, 2006

Downer fears more East Timor violence

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer fears the political survival of East 
Timor's embattled prime minister could spark a new wave of violence.

Amid reports of supporters and opponents of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri 
gathering 
in the capital Dili, Mr Downer said his biggest concern was a deterioration 
of the relatively stable security environment in the fledgling nation.

"People are perfectly entitled to protest against or in favour of the 
president, or the prime minister for that matter, in a free society," Mr Downer told 
ABC radio.

"But what they're not entitled to do is go at each other hammer and tongs and 
start attacking each other.

"And that's what I'm worried about, that the supporters of, and the opponents 
of, Prime Minister Alkatiri have the potential to get into a confrontation 
with each other 
in the next few days.

"We're working ... to try to avoid that."

Many East Timorese say Dr Alkatiri's decision to dismiss 600 disgruntled 
soldiers 
in March was to blame for street battles and gang warfare that left at least 
30 
people dead and sent nearly 150,000 people fleeing from their homes.

He also faces allegations of forming a hit squad to silence his political 
opponents 
- a charge he denies.

President Xanana Gusmao last week threatened to resign unless Dr Alkatiri 
stepped down, but after emergency talks on Sunday the ruling Fretilin party 
said 
the prime minister had accepted the unanimous appeal of its committee to 
remain 
in power.

The decision has triggered the resignation of the Nobel prize-winning Foreign 
Minister Jose Ramos Horta who was central in getting international 
peacekeepers into the country, including 1,300 Australian troops.

Mr Downer expressed his disappointment at Mr Ramos Horta's resignation.

"He has been a very good interlocutor for us as the foreign minister, in all 
sorts 
of different ways, so the fact of his resignation is one that I can't hide my 
disappointment about," he said.

Despite the continuing political crisis, Mr Downer would not say whether 
Australia wanted Dr Alkatiri to quit: "Whoever their prime minister is, that's a 
matter for 
them".

He repeated Prime Minister John Howard's statement that Australian troops 
cannot remain in East Timor forever.

"We want to reduce those numbers as quickly as we can," he said.

"And therefore, we look to them to sort out their political problems as 
quickly 
as possible so that once the internal environment is more stable, while the 
security environment will improve, then we can downgrade the level of our 
assistance."

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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