[Kabar-indonesia] New East Timor govt to prioritize reconciliation: PM [+Lusa]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: Lusa: State of Emergency to be 
extended, new Govt to maintain policy line

Agence France-Presse
August 1, 2006

New East Timor government to prioritize reconciliation: PM
 
East Timor's new Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has said his government 
would prioritize reconciliation and try to restore public confidence in the 
authorities after months of uncertainty in the tiny nation.

"People have lost their trust in government institutions and the government," 
the Nobel peace laureate told Radio Timor Leste in a broadcast Tuesday.

"Restoring this trust and people's appreciation of democracy and the state 
hinges 
on actions, policies and steps taken by the government in the next few coming 
weeks," he said.

Ramos-Horta said that the government would cooperate with aid organisations, 
religious leaders and other important members of society in forging national 
reconciliation, though he gave few details.

"This constitutional government will set up a special fund to implement 
reconciliation work, to heal the wounds in the community," the prime minister said.

As part of the program, the government would continue to reorganize the 
country's armed forces and police, "taking advantage of the presence of 
international troops."

Fighting between rival factions of East Timor's security forces which 
degenerated into ethnic warfare on the streets in May left at least 21 people dead 
and forced some 150,000 to flee their homes.

About 3,200 foreign peacekeepers were deployed to Dili to restore calm.

The armed forces, he said, would undergo remodelling and reform "to face the 
most serious threats to be faced by the country in the future," while the 
police, "which fell and sunk in Dili, will have to undergo a reorganisation."

May's violence, triggered by the dismissal of 600 soldiers -- almost half of 
East Timor's armed forces -- was the worst to hit the nation since it voted 
for independence from Jakarta in 1999 in a United Nations-backed referendum. 

The unrest led to the resignation of Mari Alkatiri as premier and the 
appointment of Ramos-Horta, who will lead until elections due in May next year.

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State of Emergency to be extended, 
new Govt to maintain policy line

Dili, July 31 (Lusa) - East Timor's Council of State gave its blessing
Monday to a second 30-day extension of the "state of emergency" first
declared by President Xanana Gusmão on May 30 to deal with the country's
spiral of violence.

A council member, who asked to remain unidentified, told Lusa the extension
of the state of emergency, which is being applied primarily by international
peacekeeping troops and police, would last until the expected deployment of
new UN peacekeeping mission on Aug. 21.

The meeting of the Council of State convened by Gusmão, he said, took note
of the "improved security situation" in Dili and the country but recognized,
"with preoccupation", that "the situation remains unstable".

A member of the 126-strong Portuguese GNR police contingent in Dili told
Lusa Lisbon planned to commit an additional 116 officers to the new UN
mission expected to arrive in August.

He said the additional Portuguese force would include 58 Public Security
Policemen (PSP) and 48 Republican National Guardsmen (GNR).

In another development, newly installed Prime Minister José Ramos Horta told
parliament Monday that government would follow the "programmatic
orientation" as his predecessor, Mari Alkatiri who was forced to resign June
26 as a step to end the wave of violence and subsequent political crisis.

Alkatiri is being investigated on allegation he ordered the arming of
civilian militias, including purported political hit teams, during the
crisis that erupted in late April.

The politically independent Ramos Horta, who served Alkatiri as foreign and
defense minister, told parliament the previous government had achieved
"notable" results in many areas, but had failed in internal security and
communication with the Timorese people.

"We failed in the areas of internal security and in dialogue with the
people", he told the lawmakers, the majority of whom belong to Alkatiri's
dominant FRETILIN party.

"We are accused of insensitivity and arrogance", he said, adding that
"corruption had begun invading state institutions" under the outgoing
government, East Timor's first since gaining independence in 2002.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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