(East Timor Problems) Population displacement

Date: 29 May 2006

Timor-Leste: Population Displacement OCHA Situation Report No. 1

Ref: OCHA/GVA - 2006/0085

OCHA Situation Report No. 1
Timor-Leste - Population Displacement

"This report is based on information received from the United Nations Office in Timor-Leste (UNOTIL), and the OCHA Regional Office in Bangkok.

SITUATION

1. The security situation in Dili has deteriorated rapidly since 24 May when intensive fighting erupted between two factions of the East Timorese Army and then between the army and the police. The unrest began in March, when 595 of the army's original force of 1,400 went on strike claiming poor service conditions and ethnic discrimination by eastern-born commanders. At least five people were killed and dozens injured on April 27-28 when a protest rally in Dili in support of the rebels turned violent. Tens of thousands fled Dili fearing further unrest.

2. Australia has deployed approximately 1,800 troops in Dili (300 more then originally foreseen) and Malaysia approximately 200-250 troops. Malaysia will deploy an additional 250 troops and Portugal is likely to begin deployments this week.

3. While level of violence has slightly decreased since the deployment of Australian-led military force (25-26 May), youth gangs are reportedly pillaging and arsoning in several districts in Dili. It appears that these groups are Timorese from the west of the island (coming from the hills outside of Dili) that are seeking reprisal and targeting individuals originating from the east of the island. The situation remains calm in areas outside Dili, as reported by the UN border monitors.

4. UNOTIL estimates the number of IDPs in Timor-Leste at approximately 60,000 people. This number includes some 35,000 – 40,000 persons already displaced over the last several weeks and at least 25,000 displaced within or from Dili since 24 May (Population of Dili is 150,000). The number of displaced may be higher as displacement continues in Dili the movements of humanitarian agencies are constrained by the security situation.

5. While there are more than 100 identified IDP locations countrywide, according to reports from IOM, there is information available on at least three large IDP concentrations in Dili:
- 2 or 3 IDP camps managed by World Vision (Australia), with the two largest accommodating 13,000 and 10,000 IDPs;
- 4,000 IDPs accommodated in the UNOTIL compound and immediate vicinity.

6. Unconfirmed reports of attacks on IDPs at the locations where they are sheltering are being received from IOM, UNOTIL and the media.

7. UN Agencies and NGOs are to conduct an initial assessment of IDP camps in and around Dili today (29 May), security permitting. Such assessment has not been possible to-date due to the security situation and movement constraints.

8. Assistance to the IDPs is being coordinated by the Ministry of Labor, Social Welfare and Reintegration through the Humanitarian Action Group which will meet today (29 May) to agree on a list of priority sectors, and both financial and resource requirements that might be needed to address the situation.

9. Insecurity still impacts humanitarian operations, with only essential movement permitted in Dili and most of the humanitarian staff confined to their offices or residences. UNOTIL confirmed that a government food warehouse in Dili was looted on 28 May but Australian forces intervened promptly. According to World Vision, some NGO Offices have been targeted in the recent violence for supplies or other, unknown, reasons

10. Relocation of non-essential staff and family members of all UN staff continues. 58 UNOTIL staff (out of 149) and 76 Agency personnel (out of 162) have been evacuated to Darwin by 28 May 2006, together with 71 family members (both UNOTIL and UN Agency staff). Additional staff is expected to be evacuated over the next days. UNOTIL has established temporary offices in Darwin.

ASSISTANCE REQUIRED

11. From initial indications the food and water needs of the IDPs are relatively well covered, with food available at the WFP and Government warehouses. Sanitation and shelter are two key requirements. Heavy rains, expected in the Dili area, raise fears of possible malaria and dengue fever outbreaks.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

12. OCHA has been in contact with the Office of the SRSG UNOTIL and offered assistance in public information, civil military liaison and humanitarian assessment and coordination support. OCHA is currently awaiting the outcome of the Inter-agency assessment and Humanitarian Action Group meeting at which requirements will be discussed.

13. OCHA is in close contact with the Office of the SRSG UNOTIL in Dili, and the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok and will revert with further information as it becomes available. This situation report, together with further information on ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int/. "

Tel.: +41-22-917 12 34

Fax: +41-22-917 0023

E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officer:
Ms. Megan Gilgan (in GVA) direct Tel. +41-22-917 1558

Mr. Wojtek Wilk (in NY) direct Tel. +1-917-367-9748

Press contact:
(in GVA) Ms. Elizabeth. Byrs direct Tel. +41-22-917 2653

(in N.Y.) Ms. Stephanie Bunker direct Tel. + 1-917 367 5126

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) "Our" family are safe

We again called "our" family this morning in Dili to see how they are and to our relief, they continue to fair as well as to be expected given the circumstances. "Our" neighbourhood has not been attacked by the marauding gangs of frustrated young men currently terrorizing Dili.

Upon leaving our home last Wednesday, we had instructed "our" family to eat any food in our house and this morning Senyor Raphael said they had been doing just that. However, he said that they did not know what some of the food was so left that for when they really got desperate. This comment provided some light relief for what has become a very serious and stressful few days.

Senyor Raphael hopes that the Australian military and police will soon restore law and order to the streets of Dili because our malae food will only last so long. It was purchased with the intention of feeding two not five (and possibly more) people for no more than a week or so.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Red Cross TL Appeal

"Red Cross has launched an appeal to support the people affected by the current unrest in Timor-Leste.

Up to fifty thousand people are estimated to have left their homes because of the violence and are living in makeshift camps around the country.

Funds raised by the Australian Red Cross Timor-Leste Appeal will help provide food and other relief items such as tarpaulins, tents, house hold items, and mosquito nets, as well as logistical and communications support.

'By launching this appeal we can help with the immediate needs of those who have fled their homes,' said Robert Tickner, CEO of Australian Red Cross.

'However this appeal will also help us to contribute to the longer-term development of Australia's closest neighbour. Our commitment to supporting the people of Timor-Leste and the Timor-Leste Red Cross must extend beyond this current situation as Timor-Leste remains the poorest country in the region,' he said.

'Support for projects which improve the health and wellbeing of the people are central to nation-building.'

According to Mr Tickner, the fledgling Timor-Leste Red Cross has been working closely with the Timor-Leste Government over the past week, helping distribute food and other relief supplies as well as monitoring the state of the more than 30 camps that have sprung up across the country.

In Australia, Red Cross staff and volunteers in Darwin have been registering people evacuated from Timor-Leste, collecting their details and entering them into the National Registration and Inquiry System (NRIS). Family and friends seeking information on people being evacuated can contact the Red Cross on 08 8924 3900.

To donate to the 'Timor-Leste Appeal':

• Visit www.redcross.org.au to make a secure online donation
• call 1800 811 700 toll free
• send a cheque to GPO Box 2957 Melbourne VIC 8060 marked 'Timor-Leste Appeal'

The funds raised through this appeal will be used for the following activities:

• to support the relief, rehabilitation and on-going long term development activities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement in Timor-Leste, through the emergency appeal
• to fund any deployment of specialist aid workers to Timor-Leste to assist in the International Red Cross response
• to support any Australian Red Cross programs of assistance in Timor-Leste
• to support the ongoing development of the Timor Leste Red Cross (CVTL)

NOTE: Australian Red Cross will not deduct more than 10% of any donation for an international appeal to cover appeal costs. Should the funds raised exceed the amount required to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of the people in the affected areas, Australian Red Cross will use any excess funds to help people affected by emergencies within the same region of the world."

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) TL needs international police forces

"28 May, 2006/ Dili—Special Representative of the Secretary-General Sukehiro Hasegawa made a vehement appeal for more international police forces in Timor-Leste. “ The sporadic flair ups of fighting, looting and burning of property that continues requires a robust international police presence to bring the situation fully under control,” he said today.

Hasegawa added that the Australian Troops have already contributed significantly to the restoration of some control in the city. “Their presence is seen, felt and appreciated by the Timorese and the international community,” he said. But, he added that there is a need to maintain law and order apart from combating riots and acts of violence.

The SRSG referred to the letter sent by the Timorese President, Prime Minister and Speaker of the Parliament to Secretary-General Kofi Annan requesting rapid deployment of an international police presence as well as troops “to establish measures of security and confidence among the populations so as to restore tranquility throughout the national territory and promote a climate of dialogue among the various sectors of society….”

The main threat to the safety of the citizens of Timor-Leste now comes from hooligans and others taking advantage of the situation committing acts of revenge, vandalism and looting.
“For a complete containment of the present volatile situation and to avoid an escalating humanitarian crisis, security enhancements are needed immediately in the form of international polices forces,” the SRSG stressed.”"

Source: UNOTIL Public Information Office

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) UN moves to security phase 3

"27 May, 2006/ Dili--The United Nations has today announced that all UN families and non-essential staff will begin to be relocated to a temporary safe haven in Darwin as the security level was raised to Phase three.

Under phase three, “all eligible dependents of internationally recruited staff members and non-essential internationally recruited staff members are to be relocated to a safe haven outside the country.”

“As head of the mission, I am responsible for the safety of all personnel and therefore after careful deliberations, I think a temporary relocation for non-essential staff is the most judicious choice at this time,” the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Sukehiro Hasegawa said.

SRSG Hasegawa added that the UN will still maintain more than 100 international staff in Timor-Leste while others will continue to work from Darwin. Stressing that this measure is a temporary one, the SRSG expressed his hope that arrival of Australian and other international security forces will allow a return to a secure environment for the people of Timor-Leste, many of whom are now living in a heightened sense of panic and fear.”

He expressed his appreciation to the Australian Government for providing Australian security personnel to protect the UN compound where several hundred UN personnel are working and staying overnight.

The United Nations remains committed to supporting and assisting the people of Timor-Leste through this difficult time with the hope for a return to stability and security in the immediate future."

Source: UNOTIL Public Information Office

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Evacuated to Australia

We arrived in Townsville in the early hours of this morning. My head is too full of stuff to write about my last day in Timor, which was nerve racking. I'll get to it in due course. In the meantime, I'll keep uploading any information I receive about the situation in Dili.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Unarmed police killed in ambush

"26 May 2006 Dili--As a serious battle raged between elements of F-FDTL and members of the PNTL yesterday at the police headquarters in the centre of Dili, UN Senior Police and Military advisors were dispatched to help broker what they hoped would be a mutually agreed to cease-fire.

After negotiations with the F-FDTL Commander as well as their operational commander on the spot, it was agreed that FFDTL would allow PNTL safe passage from the area only if they laid down their weapons and left the compound on foot which they accepted.

Unarmed and relying on the protection afforded by the reputation of the blue flag of the United Nations, UN police and military training advisors bravely led their Timorese counterparts into what they believed was a peaceful resolution of a very volatile situation.

As the UN personnel led the group under the banner of a UN flag, F-FDTL military personnel opened fire. In the chaos, nine national police officers were killed, 27 were wounded, 18 critically. Two UN Police Officers were among the injured.

Saif Malik, the chief police-training advisor tried to diffuse the situation. “I said to the troops, ‘Brother, don’t shoot! Why are you shooting at these men? They are your brothers.’ But they went on shooting anyway.” Malik said.

Special Representative of the Secretary-General Sukehiro Hasegawa denounced the attack on unarmed individuals and United Nations personnel. “This incident represents a grave violation of human rights. The UN demands that immediate steps be taken to hold those responsible accountable for these atrocities.”

At the same time, he commended the actions of the UN police and military advisors.

“I stress that they were doing their jobs in a very difficult situation. With the promise of peace, these UN personnel risked their lives in their effort to counter this situation. Instead, they walked into what turned out to be an ambush that resulted in the tragic loss of many lives.”"

Source: UNOTIL Public Information Office

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) The sound of gun and mortar fire

As I sit here, typing this post, I can hear the sound of gun and mortar fire. It’s been going on for four hours already. Senyor Raphael told us that it is coming from the military compound next to Tasi Tolu Peace Park, less than two kilometres from our home, and where most Sundays, we take a leisurely pasiar (stroll). It is the first time in my life that I have heard exchanges of actual gunfire, up until now, such sounds have been confined to news reports from far away places.

While I called the AVI Country Manager to tell her what I was hearing, Daniel started packing a bag while asking me if we should take such and such valuables. I grew more agitated by his questions and comments (feeling they were quite demanding). The AVI Country Manager soon advised us to stay put.

At 10pm last night, we received the following text message from the Australian Embassy in Dili. The wording was the strongest yet:

Austemb advises security situation extremely dangerous and australians in east timor should consider leaving.

This message alarmed me and I immediately called the AVI Country Manager. She said that in light of the Australian SBS journalist David O’Shea’s emergency evacuation earlier that morning (see below), and the fact that he was the first Australian to be caught up in the violence, they were compelled to send such a message.

At 10am this morning we received the following from the Embassy:

Austemb advises: do not travel past Comoro (airport) roundabout in the direction of Tasi Tolu due to major ongoing gunfire.

Hah! I thought, how about those of us who actually live out here!? (beyond the Comoro roundabout).

This text message was immediately followed by one from the AVI Country Manager:

Advise you do not travel in dili, stay where you are. Fighting in & near Tasi Tolu continues, a few random acts of violence in Dili eg Stoning of cars and sml grps of youths sighted with bows & arrows, machetes. Extreme caution.

We are listening to Radio Australia to monitor the news but they are yet to mention these recent developments. Instead, the focus is on yesterday’s violent confrontation between the twenty or so rebel Military Police who went AWOL with their weapons not long after the riots of 28 April and currently serving F-FDTL soldiers in the mountains that surround the capital.

Apparently, following an interview with David O’Shea, Major Alfredo (the leader of the rebels) ordered his men to open fire on unarmed F-FDTL soldiers. Thankfully, there were armed soldiers in the vicinity but according to reports one soldier and one other person were killed, with a number of others wounded. It appears that none of the rebels were captured and perhaps it is they who are now exchanging fire with their former colleagues in my neighbourhood.

Timor’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta was interviewed on Radio Australia’s Connect Asia program this morning. He said that he, the President and the Prime Minister would meet today to discuss whether Timor needed Australia’s offer of assistance. However, he said that if they did, it would be in the form of police not military assistance.

Meanwhile, both Australia’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs are talking up the security situation in Timor while stating that the warships on standby off the coast of northern Australia will only be deployed if the Timorese government asks. Moreover, the ships will be used as part of an assisted evacuation of the 620 Australians registered with the Embassy in Dili (although there are approximately 800 Australians in Timor).

The AVI Country Manager called me back to advise that the F-FDTL (army) are conducting an operation from the roundabout at the airport through Rai Kotu and Tasi Tolu to Dili’s border with Liquica. She reiterated that we are to stay put. She also gave us the United Nations Security Operations telephone number. We are to call them if we feel our personal security is under threat and they will send out an armoured car to collect us.

Unlike the events of 28 April, where we were not able to get home, we are now confined to our house. At least we have our escape route sorted (the hole in the perimeter fence to the airport) or a UN escorted vehicle!

In the meantime, we sit tight, monitor the radio and if our minds will allow, perhaps try and read a little. Daniel is starting to worry about leaving all our read and unread books behind.

Late this morning I received yet another call from the AVI Country Manager. This time it was to say that as soon as the shooting stops and the F-FDTL opens up the road, we are to move to a hotel close to the centre of Dili. That may happen later today or tomorrow morning. Moreover, that AVI are considering evacuating all 50 odd volunteers currently in Timor for a period of two weeks.

The 11am news on Radio Australia finally mentioned the outbreak of violence this morning. However, they gave little information and we are certainly more informed than they are. The World Today program followed and Timor headed the bulletin. The Country Manager for the NGO Concern Worldwide was interviewed and what she had to say alarmed me further. She said that apparently groups of armed men are gathering to the west of Dili and that police officers from Lautem (Los Palos) district in the east are heading to Dili in order to protect their “own” people. She suggested that the whole east/west issue is coming to the fore.

At lunchtime, AVI sent the following text message:

Important message from avi. Please be ready for possible avi organised withdrawal to Bali for two weeks and then review. Stand by for decision and further details. Exercise high level of caution.

The AVI Country Manager called us to say that we were being moved to a hotel in the centre of Dili in preparation for the evacuation. We had less than an hour to pack all our things, quite a stressful activity as we are not entirely sure if we will be returning or not. More importantly, we were upset to leave “our” family as we felt we were abandoning them and by us leaving, we would be sending a message that the situation was serious enough for us to leave Timor. Also, we are leaving the asu (dog) behind who has been moved out of our immediate neighbourhood by a more dominant male dog. “Our” family showed us where she had moved to and I took her some food and water.

However, I cannot rely on “our” family taking over the baton as they may leave Dili for Bobonaro and if not, have other pressing concerns to worry about. I fear that if and when we return, our little asu will be dead.

As Timor is now rated a category 5 security risk, we are being evacuated to Australia tomorrow on a 5pm chartered flight to Townsville in Far North Queensland. The flight from Australia is full of troops who will disembark in Dili while we embark. We are told that it will be for a week and that we will be returned to Timor ASAP.

We are now staying at the Turismo Hotel, made famous by John Martinkus’ reports from the roof of this very hotel during the chaos of 1999, and which he wrote about in Dirty Little War. Yet again, it is swarming with Aussie journalists, many of whom will undoubtedly file sensationalised reports.

Tonight we tried to get un update on the situation in Timor and tuned in to both Radio Australia and ABC Asia Pacific Television (the only advantage to staying in a hotel). To my absolute disgust, both were playing the State of Origin rugby game live from Australia! I tuned in at 7pm and they couldn’t even take a five minute news break! How bloody typically Australian I thought: a game of sport is more important than news and the situation in Timor.

We found the local news on RTTL but we tuned in too late to see the leading news item which we assume was about the outbreak of violence this morning. Following the news, Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Ramos-Horta gave a speech about the outcome of the government’s discussion today on whether to invite Australian forces into Timor. The answer is yes, Australia along with New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal will send troops to Timor. Approximately 600 Australian troops will arrive tomorrow. Thank goddess!

I have an unanswered question: where has the President been throughout this whole sad sorry saga? He has been conspicuously absent ever since the Fretilin Party Congress. Is he in ill health? Does anybody out there know? There has been talk of Jose Ramos-Horta nominating for the presidency if Xanana Gusmao doesn’t, however to me it seems he has already assumed the president’s duties!

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Internationalism

The problem as I see it with the government of Timor is that they have focused on external or macro issues to the detriment of internal and micro issues. In my estimation, they have done well and continue to do so at the macro level. However, the glaring exception is their lack of willingness to seek justice from Indonesia for the brutal 24-year occupation of Timor. This important exception feeds into the internal and micro issues that the government has neglected.

Neglected, I believe, because most of the government are out of touch with ordinary Timorese concerns. Why? Because most of them didn’t live in Timor during the 24 year occupation and despite the fact that many worked tirelessly to obtain Timor’s independence, it meant that their focus became international. This, combined with their high levels of education, has set them apart from the ordinary Timorese, most of whom are illiterate, poor and have little idea about the world outside their village, yet alone this small half-island’s boundaries. Their concerns are immediate: where to get enough food and water today to feed their family and access to health and education. Many also want justice from Indonesia, good roads and to see the fruits of their government’s work and words as actual impacts in their everyday lives. If the ordinary people had these things, I don’t think the ethnic divide we now are seeing would have gathered much momentum.

The second problem confronting the government is the way the F-FDTL and the PNTL were formed and the continuing lack of rules and procedures concerning them, particularly the former. The higher-ranking officers of the F-FDTL are almost universally from the east and the PNTL if full of people from the west. In a fledgling society such as Timor, its military and police should not be so ethnically divided. This leaves the two security forces open to exploitation and genuine charges of discrimination within their ranks. Political manipulation and exploitation is a particular worry.

When this happens, those angry unemployed young men who belong to martial arts groups are also likely to get in on the act. Thus, tensions rise, different groups take action, and the situation deteriorates rapidly.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

Restoration of Independence Day

For the first time in three weeks, we heard the sounds of ‘donut, donut, donut’ sung by two young boys as they endeavoured to sell them to the few residents that remain in Rai Kotu. I went outside to greet them but declined to buy these unappetizing treats at 5c a piece. Daniel remains partial to them, but even he did not feel like them today.

For the first time since commencing work in Timor, I went to work on a weekend. It had come to my attention in the past week or so that none of the seventeen computers at my place of work had had their virus definitions updated for the last nine months and as a result, all but two were riddled with nasty viruses.

I take my own laptop to work, as there is not a spare computer, thus I was not aware of the problem. When I asked both the office manager and executive secretary whose responsibility it was to make sure that the virus definitions were up-to-date, they both replied hau la hatene (I don’t know). Exasperated, I went and purchased, with my own money, a pirated version of Norton Anti-Virus 2006 and began loading the program one computer at a time. Quickly however, I encountered major problems as the viruses tried to prevent me from doing so. I then called in Daniel who managed to bypass some of the viruses but others were too difficult. We then called in an Australian IT consultant who began to work his way through the computers, some of which proved very complicated. In the end, we had to take a number of the computers to a shop, particularly those that required new parts due to unrelated damage caused by the lack of functioning Universal Power Sources (UPSs) and Dili’s frequent electricity brown and black outs.

It is another one of the frustrations of working in Timor. Most Timorese working in offices with computers have very little understanding of how the things work, let alone how to maintain them.

Secondly, donors do not like to fund items like IT consultants or UPSs that prevent damage to the computers during brown and black outs. The NGO I work for suffers from these problems and as a result, now has to try to find money to pay IT consultants to fix the problems and money to purchase UPSs.

Unfortunately, it is also part of Timorese culture that if someone experiences a problem, they just work around it rather than proactively seeking its solution. This definitely worked to their advantage when resisting the Indonesian occupation, but in peacetime office environments, it ultimately causes more trouble than it saves. Furthermore, the Timorese have little experience or knowledge of prevention (particularly when it comes to computers!) and firmly rely on curing problems, often when it is too late.

Restoration of Independence Day was a low-key day with the only excitement a cavalcade of Fretilin supporters roaring down the Comoro Road towards the Palacio do Governo where a small concert was to take place. At the time we were partaking in a late lunch at a local Indian establishment (affectionately named the pink palace), and heard the roar and horns of cars hooning down the main road. Along with the restaurant’s staff, we went outside to investigate. I found the cavalcade rather intimidating as the participants looked (to me) no different from angry troublemakers, rather than celebrating supporters of the largest political party in the country. I could not imagine such a scene in Australia with either the Libs or the Labs doing a similar thing, it’s completely incongruous. More like the supporters of a footy team coming home after the AFL Grand Final.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Undemocratic voting methods

During the second day of the Fretilin Party Congress, it was announced that the method of voting to decide the next Secretary General would be a show of hands rather than a secret ballot. The only person standing in competition with Mari Alkatiri (Jose Luis Guterres, Timor’s current Ambassador to the United Nations and USA) withdrew his nomination in protest. Despite the fact that Guterres probably did not have the numbers to win, the fact that an ostensibly democratic party would change their voting method to an undemocratic one has shocked not only Daniel and me but also my Timorese colleagues. It is clear that the current political elites wish to retain their positions and will resort to undemocratic measures to do so. It is also worrying considering the current security situation and general distrust of the government. I fear this will only worsen the situation.

The Director of my NGO received an invitation to the Congress. I was stunned to see the invitation was written in Portuguese and English only, languages spoken by less than 5% of the population. Whatever happened to the predominant and almost universally spoken national language Tetum? For me, this was another clear example of the ruling party’s arrogance and lack of connection with the people of Timor.

Alkatiri was re-elected Secretary General of Fretilin, meaning he will retain his position as Prime Minister if Fretilin wins the next election. Fretilin seems divided while the people of Timor certainly are.

If anything untoward goes down in the streets of Dili in the coming days, weeks and months leading to the general elections in May 2007, the ruling party is partly to blame for not listening to the public’s discontent and manipulating party rules to ensure the outcome they (the Fretilin status quo) wanted.

Tomorrow is not only Timor’s Restoration of Independence Day (RID) but also Fretilin’s 32nd anniversary. I had no idea why the 20th of May was chosen as RID but now I know.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) An asu on our veranda

This morning Daniel called me to the front window of our home to point out our new friend the asu (dog) sitting on our veranda. I immediately took her some Meaty Bites and water. The veranda was swarming with ants, which had (somehow) infested her little body despite her best efforts to keep them at bay. Unfortunately, she also stank to high heaven, making it hard to imagine me getting close enough to her any time soon to give her a bath! Still, I was touched that she found her way to our house for her breakfast as normally she sits outside “our” family’s home. Her owners still have not returned from Ainaro so we continue to be her foster carers.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

Why do Australians want Mari Alkatiri out of the Prime Ministership of East Timor?

By Dr. Helen Hill
Victoria University, Australia

"Ever since the August 2001 elections for the Constituent Assembly in East Timor when the longest standing party of resistance, FRETILIN, won a convincing 54% of the vote against 14 other parties, the Australian embassy in Dili and most Australian journalists have never lost an opportunity to express a lack of confidence in the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, FRETILIN's General Secretary.

Bulletin journalists Paul Toohey and Eric Ellis regularly recommend his overthrow whenever they write about Timor. The Australian regularly front-pages any anti-Alkatiri rumours they can pick up. But last Friday, Jim Middleton on the ABC's evening news topped this by wondering 'what would happen if Alkatiri decides to resist' calls for his resignation! His evidence that there was widespread hostility to wards Alkatiri in FRETILIN came from a highly dubious source, sacked Central Committee Vicente Ximenes. But over the weekend it escalated, Mark Vaile, Minister for Trade, on Laurie Oakes Channel 9 interview even made it look as if the warships were going to Dili for the FRETILIN Congress next week! To the Timorese, this begins to look like intimidation. Accusations against Alkatiri frequently accuse him of having 'sat out' the occupation in Mozambique whereas he was present with Jose Ramos Horta every year at the debate on East Timor at the United Nations. It was Alkatiri who did most of the thinking that led the multi-party National Council for Timorese Resistance to adopts its 'Magna Carta' in 1998 linking Timor's future policies with the best standards in international practice coming from the UN's conferences on human rights, environment, population, women and social development during the 1990s.

Detractors frequently allege that Mari Alkatiri's presence in Mozambique for 24 years means he is some sort of unreconstructed Marxist. In reality he is a strong economic nationalist and has spoken out against privatisation of electricity and managed to get a 'single-desk' pharmaceutical store despite opposition from the World Bank, but this is hardly radical policy. He hopes a state-owned petroleum company assisted by China, Malaysia and Brazil will enable Timor to benefit from some of its own in-shore oil and gas in addition to the revenue it will raise from the area jointly shared with Australia. Lessons from their time in Mozambique have helped several of the Ministers now running East Timor to avoid problems such as an international debt, currently plaguing most African countries. There is widespread support in Timor for Alkatiri's decision not to take loans from the World Bank under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Program despite the fact that it gave Timor a few years of extremely low salaries in the public service. In reality the World Bank has been much more forthcoming with grant money although it still sets aside money for loans in case the government of Timor-Leste should change its policy.

Former Representative of Timor-Leste at the UN, Jose-Luis Guterres has announced his intention to stand against Alkatiri at next week's Party Congress. While that is his right as a FRETILIN member, he is by no means assured of victory. His detractors accuse him of having 'sat out' the first difficult years of independence in New York and of being out of touch with the community. The young intellectuals at the national university and the leadership of many Timorese Non Governmental Organizations, who praise Alkatiri's economic knowledge and his ability to defend Timor's interests against the likes of the World Bank and the Australian government (over the Timor Sea issue) believe that Guterres would be so much weaker and less visionary and that he lacks administrative experience. Alkatiri's championing of the Petroleum Fund as a way of avoiding the 'resource curse', his ability to choose Ministers and sack them if they don't perform, and his strong support for the rights of women have given him a more broad appeal among FRETILIN supporters. Issues which have dogged him include a defamation law which has caused the ire of much of Timor's media and the issue of the sacking of the dissident soldiers, where he has supported army commander Tuar Matan Ruark. Another frequent accusation is that Alkatiri is 'arrogant' and while this might be the case he has increased massively the public consultations held over the last year. Under East Timor's Semi-Presidential Constitution it is the President who is popularly elected and must maintain a close relationship with the people, the Prime Minister is regarded as needing skills and abilities to get government departments running properly, appointing good ministers and proposing new development initiatives. In these matters Alkatiri has received wide praise, even from some of those who don't agree with all his policies such as the World Bank. Timor is much more in control of its own decision-making than many other small countries in the Pacific where Australian consultants have now been brought in to make those decisions.

There is, however still a huge skills shortage. Indonesia did not train graduates to think for themselves and address development problems; they were trained to take orders and rarely given responsibility for management. All political parties face the problem that there are scarcely enough skilled people to take on the role of ministers.

The FRETILIN Congress opens on Wednesday and the election will take place on Friday. Candidates will be nominated from the floor and all delegates can vote. It is highly likely that Dr Mari Alkatiri will be re-elected, and that FRETILIN will again be elected, but with a smaller majority, at the elections in 2007. What will the response of the Australian media and government be?"

Source: Timor Post (UNOTIL Daily Media Review, Public Information Office)

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Being asked for food

This morning upon commencing the journey from my house to the main road to catch a mikrolete, a middle-aged woman who lives in my neighbourhood was sitting on the ground with some younger women and a number of small children. I greeted her and she did likewise before saying, “ami hamlaha, la iha hahan” (we are hungry, there is no food). I was waiting for what I believed was the next part of her sentence (can you give us some food) but it never came. I just responded deskulpa (sorry) which probably confused her because Timorese do not use sorry in the way that we malae do.

I walked off pissed off for the umpteenth time that the Timorese treat me like I’m an endless source of giving (I’m not!) I was so taken by surprise by her comment that I didn’t have the chance to respond to her in a way I would have liked. If I had I would have said then you need to talk to the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity as they are giving out food to families who fled on the 28 April. I also thought to myself if I didn’t live in her neighbourhood, she would have to find another way to get food, not simply rely on asking the malae for it (if that had been her intention all along)! The issue of overwhelming need and dependency weighs greatly on my mind yet again.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Some of “our” family returns

This afternoon a bís boot (big minibus) pulled up outside our house and deposited four members of our family: Argentina, Virginia, Joel and Atoby. We heard them talking excitedly with their dad and a number of the male members of our immediate neighbourhood who had returned the week before. We were also glad to see them again. Senyora Domingas and the two youngest members of the family, Zalia and Abina are due to return the following Sunday, after the Fretilin Party Congress (17-19 May) and Restoration of Independence Day (20 May) just in case anything untoward happens in Dili.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Trauma and the brain

Tonight on Radio Australia, the program All in the Mind did a story on how trauma affects the brain and that through the very act of talking about the trauma, the brain heals itself. I thought how synchronous (Jungian idea) that this program should be aired the day following the group counselling held for my colleagues. The program gave more weight to my view that trauma simply cannot be forgotten, stuffed down, and suffocated inside oneself. For the person to heal their trauma, they must talk about it and open it up to others. This also helps others have greater compassion and understanding.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Trauma counselling

I awoke this morning to hear that Australia had sent two naval ships to the country’s north in anticipation of Timor calling on its neighbour for assistance should it be necessary. The Timorese Minister for Foreign Affairs had no idea that my country had done this!

As I was filling my water bottle in the kitchen at work, a colleague who I had not seen for two weeks greeted me warmly. She had fled to Liquica and was returning to the district that evening, too frightened to spend a night in Dili. I told her that there were no problems in Rai Kotu and she replied parabens (congratulations) which I thought a little odd. It wasn’t long before she said that I was just a “tourist” so it wasn’t the same as it was for her. I was immediately offended but understood why she would say such a thing. I just nodded and said I understood, detecting a great deal of grief and trauma in her, which was confirmed later that morning.

I believe my colleague used the word “tourist” as that was the best word she could find in her limited English vocabulary and that the Tetum word is near identical (turista). However, I am not a “tourist”. Most tourists have little interest in digging deep into their host country’s economic, social or political roots and becoming acquainted with the everyday experiences of its people. Tourists (the majority anyway) want to relate to locals in a service context eg, ‘What can you do for me?’

I on the other hand have lived here for nearly a year and during that time, have suffered stress and trauma because I have dug too deep into Timorese society. In comparison to the few other malae I have ever talked to beyond the superficial niceties, my digging deep is unusual, most of them do not do so and quite frankly, many, despite living here for months and years do behave like tourists. Behaviour I find highly offensive as it is neo-colonial and inhumane.

My colleague also used the word “tourist” (really to me, an insult) as a short hand way to also say that I am not Timorese, I never will be, and as a privileged malae I can always leave when trouble arises. All this is very true. But it also brings up for me again the issue of being an outsider and my feelings of being treated as nothing more than an ATM machine and this I find intolerable. When told I am merely a “tourist” or when Timorese simply see the dollar sign on my forehead, I feel dehumanised. Although I will never know their trauma, I feel very deeply about them, their history, and the attendant guilt of being an Australian when my government did nothing to stop the Indonesians from invading in 1975, none of which is recognised when I am told I am just a “tourist”.

That morning we held a group counselling debrief for all staff. We invited them to talk about what happened to them personally on Friday 28 April. My only other malae colleague facilitated the session, in response to (as I was later to find out) some of my colleagues who had been ribbing each other for fleeing to the hills and districts in fear. My colleague was upset that people should treat each other in this manner and thought it would do them all good to discuss their feelings, for others to see how distraught most of them are, and that it isn’t funny to make light of a fellow human being’s (and I would add all other animals) distress.

As I have commented before, the Timorese tend to laugh at things that we Westerners find highly inappropriate and offensive; they laugh when others hurt themselves and moreover show very little compassion towards others’ trauma (eg mental illness.) All of this is a coping strategy for people who have themselves experienced extreme trauma and who are not able to access (nor if able to, see the benefit of) appropriate counselling. It should also be said that animistic beliefs also contribute to some of this behaviour such as a belief that evil spirits inhabit those with mental illness and therefore such people, having brought about their own fate, should simply be avoided.

For two hours I sat and listened to a number of colleagues tell their stories through their heart wrenching sobs. I was often moved to tears for, although I couldn’t understand everything that they said, my heart was certainly engaged. It was also very clear to me that a number, if not all of my colleagues have deeply felt trauma from the past that was triggered by the events of 28 April.

Although I was scared at times, I certainly did not feel as deep a distress. To a casual observer, unaware of Timor’s history, my colleagues’ reactions (run and flee) to the events of that one day were out of proportion to the seriousness of what actually occurred. To a compassionate, well-informed observer, they were completely understandable. What Timor needs, is mass group trauma counselling and justice for victims of the Indonesian occupation (ie an International Criminal Tribunal), otherwise, the people of this country will continue to suffer unnecessarily. And that, in itself, would be another tragedy.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) The murder of a police officer

Yesterday afternoon in the town of Gleno, Ermera, a western district of the country, a member of the PNTL’s (police) UIR (rapid response unit) was murdered. The officer was trying to defend a colleague who was being set upon by a group of youths simply because he was lorosa’e, instead they killed another lorosa’e officer. The police were called to the area to defend a local government official and they all wound up being surrounded by a crowd of 2,000 very angry men. Some of these men were seeking retribution for the events of 28 April during which they believe that lorosa’e members of the UIR were responsible for the deaths of loromonu supporters of the '594' petitioners.

The man’s funeral was held today in Dili. The other officer remains in a serious condition.

Where is all this leading I ask?

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) The role of the international media

I have been absolutely appalled by the degree of misinformation and scare mongering that journalists from Australia, Indonesia and Portugal have engaged in throughout this entire sad episode. I have come to expect this from the Indonesian media as their reporting of Timor is resoundedly inflammatory and inaccurate no matter what the issue. Portugal is represented in Timor by both journalists from their national broadcaster RTP and Lusa. Their reporting has been so so; certainly I would expect better from journos stationed on the ground. The Australian media however has been disgraceful. Not one Australian journalist is based in Timor and instead, temporary visitors arrive when a crisis happens and within hours of stepping off the plane, they write as if they know what’s really going on!

Sadly, I have been most disgusted by old Auntie (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), normally one of my favourite media outlets. Because they are a quality media outlet, my expectations of them are much higher and therefore my condemnation greater. First they sent foreign correspondent Eric Campbell who reported fairly accurately. He was soon replaced by foreign affairs editor Peter Cave who was downright inflammatory and egged on his interviewees as if he personally wanted to see a civil war. Thankfully he has been replaced by (I believe) Maryann Keady who is doing a commendable job.

The ABC Radio Australia current affairs program Connect Asia hosted by Sen Lam, which is aired in Dili from Monday to Friday, 8am to 9am, has done a much better job at reporting what is going on in Timor but is only heard outside of Australia. On the other hand, the supposedly quality broadsheet newspaper The Australian and all other Rupert Murdoch media outlets within Australia have done nothing but report unsubstantiated rumours from afar. I am not aware of one of their journalists actually having visited Timor. Ever heard of the BBC school of journalism that says you must check any information you receive with more than one reliable source? Who do they think they are: armchair war correspondents!

Timorese Australians and Portuguese alike have listened to this deceitful news reporting, quickly got on to their families in Timor and as a result, incited more panic. (If the international media is stating rumours as facts then they must be true!) The international media must take some responsibility for the mass evacuation of Dili and the triggering of the deeply felt traumas of vulnerable people.

I feel like Derryn Hinch saying this but shame, shame, shame!

(See also Minister angry at irresponsible, alarmist and downright deceitful reports.)

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) What is really going on?

It is quite difficult to access all the facts of the situation as rumours abound and are not only passed on verbally but are also written up as “truth” by international media outlets (see The role of the international media). However, I will endeavor to tell you what I know from what I have read, seen and heard (shoddy journalism notwithstanding).

The violence started outside the Government Building at about 1:30pm on Friday 28 April and culminated in the loss of lives and the destruction of property including windows, cars, shops and houses. Much of this took place in the village I live next to which is called Tasi Tolu (I will include some photos of the destruction in this village when I get the chance to upload them). There have been no violent incidents since that day.

Five people are confirmed dead. However, the leader of the ‘594’ petitioners claims that this figure is much higher. In response, the government has established an independent commission to investigate these claims and the United Nations Office in Timor Leste (UNOTIL) Human Rights Unit is likewise conducting its own investigating. To date, they have found nothing to indicate that the death toll is more than five persons. It is believed that the leader of the petitioners has made this claim in order to discredit the F-FDTL (army) from which they all were expelled.

Approximately 20,000 people are believed to have either fled Dili or sought refuge in churches. However, given the population of the capital is around 180,000 I would have thought this number would be higher. Certainly my village of Rai Kotu and Tasi Tolu next door have lost the overwhelming majority of its residents.

About one hundred of the petitioners including their leader are hiding up in the hills around Dili and are too scared to come down in fear that they will be physically harmed. The government has guaranteed their safety but the petitioners do not trust the government.

The government has established a new commission (separate to the aforementioned one above) to investigate the claims of the petitioners which will report its findings to the public by 5 August. The commission is comprised of a number of people from government, state, church and civil society. However, the original commission established in February never finished its mandate, engendering little confidence that the second commission will do so. However, the leader of the petitioners has said that the ‘594’ will accept the new commission’s findings and recommendations.

There is no doubt that the leaders of Timor have really messed up. For starters, they were divided on the issue of whether the ‘594’ should have been fired in the first place and this lack of unity further exacerbated growing tensions.

Secondly, the original commission they established never completed its mandate. Why?

Thirdly, bringing in the army equipped with large weapons to quell the violence frightened a population all too used to a corrupt and brutal army during the Indonesian occupation. The Timorese have not yet had their own army for long enough to appreciate that it isn’t the same as the Indonesian variety, particularly when the whole issue began with claims of ethnic discrimination within the military itself.

Fourthly, the government did not have in place an effective mechanism with which to combat the myriad of unsubstantiated rumours which caused Dili residents to flee in their thousands. Although, in fairness, I am not sure how anyone could have managed to do this effectively.

It is said by the government that the violence on 28 April was politically motivated in order to bring down the government, or at the very least, the Prime Minister. Various political figures claim that it was initiated by new political parties or groups with their own destabilizing agendas; or elements within the ruling party Fretilin with an agenda to depose the Prime Minister at this month’s national party congress. Some government ministers claim that outside (i.e. overseas) interests are to blame but no one will name names.

The Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is a deeply unpopular leader. Most Timorese do not like or respect him because he was not present in Timor during the military occupation by Indonesia. He lived in Mozambique where he worked as a university lecturer. Secondly, there are allegations of corruption and nepotism including that his brother obtains many of the road building contracts in Timor. (A friend currently works for Alkatiri’s brother building roads in Dili.)

Fretilin are due to start their annual national congress in the coming week. Many believe that Alkatiri will not be reappointed as the party’s Secretary General (SG) and therefore, will not serve a second term as PM after next year’s election. Given the depth of animosity for the man, and the obvious lack of cohesion he brings to the role, it would not surprise me in the slightest if he fails to be reappointed SG. Timor is a fledgling democracy and it needs leaders who unite not divide the nation, regardless of the person’s other attributes.

The elections are still a year away so I expect many more interesting times ahead. I do hope however that they are not as stressful as the past week has been particularly for the Timorese but I won’t hold my breath. After all, democracy in Timor is a mere four years in the making.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) The overreaction of the Americans

The US State Department has advised all non essential staff to leave Timor, although it is voluntary not mandatory. However, the 41 Peace Corps volunteers have no choice in the matter. We ran into three of them on Saturday and they were very upset at having to leave.

This morning we received the following email from a Peace Corps volunteer who I have quoted in a previous post (see Women, poverty and education). I have copied her email here as I believe it illuminates well the ramifications of such an extreme and unwarranted response. How grateful I am that AVI has taken a more considered and measured response to the events of the past week.

Sat May 6, 2006 11:59pm(PDT)

Subject: me right now

i'm all messed up. we're being evacuated from timor. i was supposed to fly out yesterday, but there was an issue with the plane we chartered so i'm flying out tomorrow. to bangkok. i don't know how long we'll be there for, probably about a week. then we're done. we're closing service.

i haven't processed this whole thing, so i don't know what to write. more will come later. but these have been the worst couple of days in my whole life. i had 1.5 hours to pack up my life and tell everyone goodbye. frantic. crying. i'm crushed. i feel like i've been run over by a truck. and by doing this i have basically just told all of my friends that my life is more valuable than theirs. i've shown them how much more people care about me than they do about them. i've left them in a country that's too unsafe for me, but ok for them, I guess. i feel like i'm abandoning them. i don't have a choice. and if i did i would stay. I don't feel in danger. i'm embarrassed. ashamed. and all i can do is apologize to the ones I love and the staff here at the office. i'm scared to come home. because i don't know what i'm going to do with myself. i don't know how to handle things. or life there at this point. once i figure things out i'll let you know.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) A nation traumatised

The Timorese have fled Dili en masse based on unsubstantiated rumours; rumours which are apparently politically motivated and generally believed by most Timorese. Due to their past history and individual and collective experience of witnessing torture, execution and rape at the hands of the Indonesian military combined with their inability to access grief and loss counselling, the Timorese remain a highly traumatised nation and are highly susceptible to rumours which trigger this trauma. A week after the tsunami that hit Asia on 26 December 2004, people started a rumour that a tsunami was headed for Dili and despite the police assuring residents that this wasn’t the case, they fled en masse to the hills and districts that surround Dili. While they were gone, people looted and stole the few possessions people had from their empty dwellings.

Although Dili feels a little less like a ghost town, slowly people are starting to return. Most of my colleagues were at work today although the ones that fled to the districts have yet to make an appearance.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) I found the dog

On Sunday I awoke to listen to Background Briefing on Radio Australia, which was followed by doing the crossword puzzle in the only English language newspaper in Timor. I soon called Daniel in to help and then we both resorted to the online thesaurus in word although we still cannot solve seven of the questions!

I spent the rest of the day reading half a book by the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho and at sunset went for a walk for the first time since arriving in Timor, alone along the beach. With so few people around, I actually felt safe being on my own!

I managed to track down the neighbour’s dog and throughout the course of the day, she ate two cups of Meaty Bites and even spent the afternoon lazing in our front garden. She’s a sweet little dog, with a golden blonde coat, but she cowers terribly, an indication of her less than desirable treatment. I am however happy that she is eating “dog food” (for the first time in her life) and hope that with time she will come to trust me.

That night we watched the final dramatic episode of series two of Spooks and as I couldn’t wait to know what had happened, we watched episode one of series three much to Daniel’s disgust who had to wait over two years to find out the resolution of the cliffhanger ending!

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) Food for the animals

On Saturday morning we attended an AVI security briefing which included a talk by an Australian Embassy official who Daniel said reminded him of a character straight out of a John Le Carré novel (it didn’t help matters that Daniel was currently reading The Russia House!); and a United Nations security officer who was once an AVIer herself. The briefing allayed any residual concerns I had and engendered in me a much needed sense of calm. From then on, I was able to function normally again.

In the afternoon we went supermarket shopping and I purchased Meaty Bites dog food for our neighbour’s dog next door who they had left behind upon fleeing to Ainaro. It amuses me that in Timor, people value their roosters far more than their dogs for we have had rooster free sleeps since the mass evacuation of Dili while the neighbourhood has slowly been taken over by dogs. (Not being woken at 5am is one of the few good things to have come out of this whole sad sorry saga.) Unfortunately for the abandoned animals, there is little food to eat as normally they rummage through the rubbish produced by humans (and there aren't that many of them around).

We shared lunch with some fellow AVIs and I also talked to three Peace Corps volunteers who were very angry at being evacuated (see The overreaction of the Americans). At the end of our meal, I asked the restaurant owner for some left over scraps which I could feed the two pigs that our family had left caged without any food. As I was unsure when they would return, I wanted to make sure our little piggies were okay (one is an adult male and the other a juvenile).

However, we arrived home to find that Senyor Raphael had returned with a small number of our male neighbours. All the women and children remain in Bobonaro. We were very pleased to see Senyor again and he likewise seemed happy to see that we were still here. We told him that we would look after ourselves in terms of cleaning the house, washing and ironing our clothes but he insisted that this was his job now. Senyora Domingas had told him that if he didn’t do these tasks, he would shame the family, so no matter how much we argued with him he wouldn’t budge. We also asked him if he would like to join us for dinner which I think he was quite touched by, but said that he was cooking fish for himself and the small group of men who had returned.

It is quite humorous having a Timorese man do all our domestic chores for Timor is a deeply entrenched patriarchal society with a strongly gendered division of labour. I am so impressed with Senyor’s capabilities that I have a newfound respect for him.

I endeavored to find the neighbour’s dog but she was no where to be found. I hoped that she would be okay and would try to find her again the following day.

That night we watched the academy nominated film North Country which was very moving and highly commendable.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) An escape route

We arrived home late Thursday afternoon to find that the last remaining souls in Rai Kotu had finally abandoned their homes in fear of what they thought was to come. Even our family had fled leaving us on our own.

The silence was unnerving, particularly in the evening when I’m pretty sure I was the only remaining female in the entire village. We walked along the beach to Tasi Tolu to check on the other malae and were interested to discover that there are six not five residing there: two from Georgia, one from Canada, one from Australia, one from the USA and one from Bangladesh.

For the first time we met the American who is married to a Timorese woman and the man from Bangladesh who is the Ministry of Health’s Forensic Pathologist advisor through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He has a car and offered to drive us out of the area should the need arise. We also met up again with the police officer who lives next to the couple from Georgia. He again reiterated that there were no problems, but many rumours were about. Despite his assurances, our sleep that night was disturbed and fitful.

On Friday morning, I decided to scour the perimeter fence to the airport, to find a way in should that be necessary. I blame my over active imagination as I had just read Taronga by Victor Kelleher, an Australian dystopian young adult novel which is mostly set in Taronga Zoo in Sydney following a huge calamity which, although never stated explicitly, I inferred as a nuclear holocaust. The wall that surrounds the zoo is the focus of much of the story as people try to scale its perimeter in search of imagined sanctuary. We found a section of the airport fence (by the beach) which had collapsed or been knocked down. It was being used by the many roaming goats to access the overgrown grass inside the airport's perimeter. We had found our escape route!

On Radio Australia we heard that both the American and New Zealand governments had decided to evacuate all non essential personnel, and that both Australia and New Zealand were prepared to send in peace keepers should the Timorese government ask. I was growing more edgy.

We received a telephone call from one of Daniel’s malae colleagues and she told us that her two housemates, who are Australian Youth Ambassadors, were being evacuated. “Now we simply couldn’t have Alexander Downer’s (the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister) protégées and so called “future leaders” of Australia harmed in any way now could we? while us AVIs are merely dispensable plebs”, I sarcastically said to Daniel. On the other hand, I take great satisfaction from knowing that I am made of tougher stuff and don’t need my government to hold my hand nor namby-pambie me and fly me out at the mere whiff of trouble! (However, I have since been informed that they were merely given the choice of whether to leave or not, am yet to clarify which is the case.)

At dusk we again walked over to Tasi Tolu and talked to our friendly police officer. He told us that nothing had changed since yesterday so we talked a little about his life. During the Indonesian occupation he was an English teacher (which explained his good English) and during the upheaval of 1999, he worked as a translator for a number of senior Australian army men.

During this time he visited our home city of Melbourne which he naturally enough described as malirin (cold). He subsequently joined the PNTL (police force) and lives with his wife and children in Tasi Tolu. From our brief conversations with him, he appears not only a dedicated police officer, but also an understanding and sympathetic citizen who acknowledges that Timor is a new and fragile democracy that must be nurtured.

Before returning home we decided to go for a swim as the half moon was brightly shining in company with hundreds of twinkling stars. Daniel decided to take a leaf out of my book and skinny dipped (which I had done the week before). I thought to myself how strange it was to be living in a near deserted village of Dili as rumours of an imminent attack abounded, swimming in the dark, one of us stark naked!

That night we watched the academy award winner Brokeback Mountain directed by the Taiwanese Ang Lee. By the end we were sobbing. It was a heart wrenching story wonderfully realized and beautifully filmed in my favourite place in the world (the Rocky Mountains of Canada). I highly commend this film.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) The evacuation of Dili

East Timorese children stay in the church for safety in Dili after last Friday's riots. Source: Reuters and the ABC website

Thousands of people have fled Dili over the past two days following much tension stemming from a myriad of rumours, including that a violent show down (between who and who was not clear!) may occur this afternoon. Our Timorese colleagues are saying that it's just like 1975 and 1999 all over again.

However this is based solely on rumour, speculation and (most importantly) deeply felt trauma over past events. There is no evidence from the government of Timor, the Australian Embassy or the United Nations Security Office in Dili that events will again turn violent. We are trying to keep our ears to the ground while also heeding the more reliable sources of information.

Food supplies are running low as people panic buy and fresh fruit and vegetable sellers who normally come in from the districts have stopped bringing in produce. Petrol prices have soared from 80 cents yesterday to $1.25 a litre today with long queues at petrol pumps.

Half my colleagues failed to turn up to work today while the majority of Daniel's colleagues have either remained at home or fled to the districts. When I arrived at work my colleagues were having a discussion about the little girl who has been staying at our shelter since January (see The rape of a child). Due to the situation in Dili, both my colleagues and the girl's father want her to return to Los Palos but none of our drivers are willing to take her because they're all loromonu!

As I thought, the violence last Friday was started by hooligans and not the '591' petitioners. These young men hijacked the demonstration and the leader of the '591' 'lost control'. Upwards of 20% of young men in Timor belong to martial arts groups (gangs) and surprisingly 5% of young women according to a youth survey report produced by the Timorese government. The Government says that the hooligans are linked to a radical political group that are connected to the integrationist militias of 1999 and that they want to destabilise the government in the lead up to the 2007 elections.

Half the petitioners never participated in the original peaceful week-long demonstration as they had already returned to their villages. Now the leader and approximately one hundred of his men are hiding in the hills of Dili, refusing to come down to participate in the government's promised commission to investigate their claims of systematic discrimination in the country's military. Five people are confirmed dead but again rumours abound as to the exact figure; generally an inflated figure is bandied around.

We have been watching the local news and doing our best to translate from Tetum to English. For the past two nights, the broadcast has been brief to allow for a parade of ema boot to plead with the Timorese to return to their homes. First it was the Prime Minister; then the President followed by the President of Fretilin before a spokesperson for the Catholic Church. Last night it was the Interior Minister. All essentially say the same thing: peace prevails, there is no problem, please come home. Few heed their calls.

Last night we walked along the beach from Rai Kotu to Tasi Tolu and stopped in on four of the five malae that live there. One couple are from Georgia (former USSR/Russia); he is the Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Timor and she works for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The other couple are a woman from Canada who has just finished a contract with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and her partner an Australian Volunteer like us. They were all fine although all but six of their Timorese neighbours had fled. I talked to a police officer who lives next door to the couple from Georgia and he seemed calm and, unlike reports to the contrary that police officers in Dili have sent their families to the districts, he had his small children entwined around his legs.

We walked over to Tasi Tolu on Tuesday morning to see for ourselves the damage wreaked on the village last Friday. We were shocked to see that every single shop had been burnt down along with any houses attached to them. There is not one shop standing in Tasi Tolu (nor houses connected to shops) and no where for both the communities of Tasi Tolu and Rai Kotu to buy essential goods. People now must travel further afield which for already impoverished people is an added burden they can ill afford.

Upon leaving the house for a walk we noticed a military tent erected on top of the hill that lies behind our house with at least one soldier wandering about. This morning they were still there.

Most of our neighbours have yet to return although the father of our ema boot family next door returned yesterday and went to work this morning. In times like these, one becomes better acquainted with one's neighbours. We regularly talk to a couple of families who tell us that during the day they stay at home, while at night, the women and children head to Dom Bosco seminary for the night where thousands continue to seek shelter. This is quite common, particularly for the women and children of families. Often the men stay to guard the houses throughout the night.

For a week now we have not heard a single child playing or the morning cries of the modo (vegetable) or paun (bread) sellers. It is eerily quiet in Rai Kotu.

On the one hand official news sources tell us that everything is "normal", on the other, we see thousands of people fleeing in large over packed trucks or whatever vehicles are available. Many are just walking out of town with whatever possessions they own on their backs.

Our nerves our frazzled. We are unable to sleep for thinking about what might or might not happen. I hope that there will be a speedy resolution to this "crisis" but I'm not holding my breath.

Two days ago I read the East Timor United Nations Development Assistance Framework, 2003-2005 document and on page 8 this one sentence caught my attention:

Political stability and government commitment: on the positive side, however, and unlike many other recent post-conflict situations, there is no internal conflict in East Timor.

Not any more I sadly said aloud to my empty office!

The Australian Embassy sent the following text message this afternoon:

Aust advice updated 4/5 - reconsider need to be in E. Timr due to high level of communal tension. Avoid unnecessary travel, locatns pvsly mentioned. Ex ext. caution.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)

(East Timor Problems) May Day in Dili

Today we came to Daniel’s work to check emails and upload new blog posts. We again walked down our little street and noticed that although a few more of our neighbours had returned home, the place was still rather quiet. We decided to walk along the main road so that we could take photos of the burned down coffee sellers houses before catching a mikrolete into town. The road was quite busy, a noticeable change from yesterday. The mikrolete driver and conductor told us that the fare would be 20c each as the price of petrol had risen to $1 a litre. We thought nothing of this as this is the official fare set by the government that we tend to pay regardless. However, we have noticed that the mikrolete drivers and conductors often only charge 10c if the price of petrol is reasonable. Some other passengers were less pleased and a few kids were refused a ride because they didn’t have the extra fare.

The talk amongst passengers was about how, even though few people had experienced violence, large numbers of people who had left their homes to seek shelter had been robbed in their absence. This also happened during the tsunami scare early last year. It is just appalling how some people will take advantage of others in times of fear!

Upon disembarking, I again tried to buy a telephone card from a young man confined to a wheelchair who appears to have no legs. Again, he wanted $11 so I said I would wait. Daniel thought we could have considered the extra dollar as a donation, but I remain opposed to these particular market forces, verging too near opportunism for my liking.

Some of Daniel’s colleagues were at work despite it being a national holiday. Most of them asked how he was, given that he lived in a manas (hot) area.

When Daniel checked his email he was astonished to read a series of emails from one of his colleagues who had spent two nights sleeping at their workplace. His emails were to us extreme, but understandable given his past experiences. In the first email he said that this would probably be his last as he was in all likelihood going to die. Daniel and I had commented to each other that we were incredibly naïve when it came to violence perpetrated by one human being on another. We have been fortunate to live our lives in a safe and secure country, free of organised violence. Although we have felt tense and a little worried about what might happen, we certainly have not thought that things were as serious as many Timorese did.

We also have had the benefit of being in contact with both the Australian Embassy, the AVI Country Manager, Radio Australia, BBC World News Service and local television and radio which kept us informed as the situation developed. None of these media outlets reported anything as extreme as we heard on the rumour mill, which is how most Timorese obtain their news. However, their recent past has traumatised them to such an extent that any outbreak of violence, leads them to flee their homes in search of safety. Although not always visible on the outside, their scars run deep and (paradoxically perhaps) are never far from the surface.

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)