LISBON - After centuries of Portuguese
colonialism and more than two decades of
Indonesian military occupation, instability and
violence continue to plague East Timor,
simultaneously one of the world's newest and
poorest nations.
Since East Timor won
independence in May 2002, grave uncertainty has
marked the future of the small, resource-rich
island nation. Violent clashes that started this
April and peaked in June are now kicking up again,
indicating that the island's long
struggle for freedom has now
morphed into a violent fight for power among
competitive armed groups.
Last week rival
groups of marauding youths primitively fought one
another with knives, machetes and bows and arrows,
set fire to houses and, significantly, attacked
the 1,600-strong foreign peacekeeping contingent,
which landed in May and is made up mainly of
Australian troops, with smaller contingents of
Malaysians, New Zealanders and Portuguese. At
least four people have died in the latest surge in
violence.
That augurs ill for those who
hoped foreign intervention and the July 8
appointment of former Nobel Peace Prize winner
Jose Ramos-Horta would quell the violence and help
to reconcile competitive groups inside the police
and military. Rather, the recent disturbances have
been interpreted by Brigadier-General Taur Matan
Ruak, the current commander-in-chief of the armed
forces, as an attempt to overthrow the new
government.
He says the main objectives of
the violent gangs are "the collapse of the
executive branch, the dissolution of parliament,
and the establishment of a government of national
unity". Matan Ruak, a Ramos-Horta loyalist, was a
legendary guerrilla leader who fought against the
occupying Indonesians for 25 years.
Rioters have recently targeted
international peacekeepers, notably after
Australian troops shot tear gas last week into an
improvised refugee camp, which injured a child
near the airport in Dili, the capital. Australian
troops also reportedly opened fire that same day
when a man approached them in a perceived
threatening manner. The director of the Dili
hospital, Antonio Calere, told Portuguese
reporters that four people were killed and 47
injured last week. Two Portuguese soldiers and one
Australian were among the injured.
The
United Nations Office in East Timor (UNOTIL) has
since called for the replacement of Australian
troops with UN police officers, who would be led
by Antero Lopes of Portugal and include soldiers
from Portugal, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Acting
Police Commissioner Lopes told the Portuguese
press that the violence last Wednesday reached the
worst level since June, when more than 20,000
Timorese fled the capital for the nearby hills.
Ramos-Horta said by telephone from Rome -
where he was visiting the Vatican to invite Pope
Benedict XVI to visit East Timor - that "different
groups in Timor are trying to manipulate the
foreign military forces, alternately accusing the
Portuguese and the Australians".
"Members
of a group that was neutralized by the Australians
accuse them of supporting the other side, and
members of a group neutralized by the Portuguese
accuse the Portuguese of favoring the other side.
It's a never-ending story," said Ramos-Horta, who
concurrently serves as the country's defense
chief.
"The Australian, New Zealand,
Malaysian and Portuguese forces went to East Timor
at the request of the presidency, parliament and
the government. In general, the troops have
behaved in an exemplary manner. Incidents have
occurred, but they have never been deliberate," he
said.
That's not necessarily how the UN
Independent Special Commission of Inquiry for
Timor-Leste, which was established to investigate
the causes and culprits of the recent violence
that led to at least 40 deaths and triggered the
ongoing crisis, views the situation. Released last
month, the UN inquiry recommended that some 90
high-ranking Timorese officials and others be
investigated and, if the evidence warranted,
prosecuted in local courts. One top official named
by the UN commission: army commander-in-chief
Matan Ruak.
Ramos-Horta said in the
interview that the armed forces and Matan Ruak had
already "presented public apologies" after the UN
special commission issued the results of its
investigation. "It is very rare for a military
force anywhere in the world to show such
integrity, courage and humility, an attitude that
will help cure many wounds in our society," he
stated.
In late June, East Timorese
President Xanana Gusmao asked for the resignation
of prime minister Mari Alkatiri and defense
minister Roque Rodrigues, and named then-foreign
minister Ramos-Horta to both posts. The reason
given for the move was alleged discrimination
against the Loromunus ethnic group from the
western part of the island by the Lorosae from the
east, who significantly have much greater
representation in the armed forces and police.
But analysts in Portugal and Australia say
the problem is not so much ethnic as economic.
They point in particular to the competitive
interest for political control over the country's
vast oil and natural-gas reserves. Once brought
online, those reserves are expected to lift
significantly the country's gross domestic product
per capita of about US$400 and help solve the
country's endemic unemployment.
"We do not
have a middle class in the real sense of the word,
nor any significant private sector, and I say that
because no country develops without a private
sector and a middle class," Ramos-Horta said. "As
everyone knows, this takes many years to develop.
Sometimes people forget that we are only in our
fourth year of independence."
For his
part, Matan Ruak has said a parliamentary
investigation commission should be set up "to
guarantee a rapid return to peace". The aim of the
commission would be "to determine the objectives
and strategies" of the violent groups "and
identify the moral and intellectual authors behind
the crisis - and, above all, to hold them
accountable".
Ramos-Horta said it was
"only natural" that the UN would call for further
investigations. "It is the responsibility of the
attorney general to determine whether or not that
is necessary," he said, adding: "For my part, I
continue to have full confidence in
Brigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak."
Unfortunately, not everyone else that
matters is in agreement. Major Alfredo Reinado,
who deserted the armed forces with a group of his
military followers in June, is still holed up in
the jungle. Ousted prime minister Alkatiri is
still disgruntled and politically powerful. And
the prognosis from the streets is for more
violence in the weeks ahead.
