Tuesday, May 09, 2006

(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)

posted by Samantha at 6:24 pm 2 Comments |


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2 Comments:

Samantha,

Great blog! I can't agree with you more on how irresponsible the international media has been reporting on unfounded rumors while exaggerating the scale of the events here to the point of providing misinformation. It is our collective responsibility to not fall prey to this rumor mill and stick with the facts.

That said I would like to correct one of your previous entires. I am rather disappointed myself in what I feel was a premature decision to evaucate all the Peace Corps volunteers and as a former volunteer can only sympathize with the trauma that having to say goodbye to Timorese host families must have represented. But you say "The US State Department has pulled all non essential staff out of Timor". This is not correct. The US Embassy has invited those non-essential staff to leave if they choose to do so, they have not ordered us out. My family and I are considered non-essential staff and we are still here and plan to stay. Please correct this entry in your blog, to avoid another rumor spreading ;-) Thanks, gotta go get my daughter ready for preschool.

Nick in Dili

By Blogger nickhobgood, at 8:01 am  

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your comments. I have duly updated the post to reflect the accuracy of the US State Department's statement.

Do you by any chance live in Tasi Tolu?

Regards,

Samantha

By Blogger Samantha, at 4:35 pm  

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