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DOOR Newsletter on Timor-Leste (East Timor)
International
Commentary regarding the 2006 East Timor Crisis
Ema Mundu sira Hateten konaba Susar
iha Timor Lorosae laran
Komunidade Internasional Koalia konaba Krize iha Timor-Leste laran
Last updated: 25 July 2006
Return
to Main Contents / Fila fali ba Lista Primariu:
BD: 2006 Crisis in
East Timor / Susar/Emerjensia iha Timor-Leste laran
21
July 2006 TLNAIT / ACTJET / IFET: Letter to United Nations on Justice
"The recent crisis in
Timor-Leste has created the need for new justice and peacebuilding
processes, ... However, the crisis this year has also reinforced the
need to deal with “unfinished business” from the past. ... We
believe that the creation of a new, expanded UN mission is necessary if
Timor-Leste is to succeed as a nation. In addition, the international
community must seize this unique opportunity to make amends for its
failure to adequately support the transitional justice process. ... This
may be the UN’s last chance to achieve justice for the people of
Timor-Leste in line with the Security Council’s earlier commitment,
expressed nearly seven years ago in Resolutions 1264 and 1272. If this
does not happen, there may be further instability in Timor-Leste, and
the rule of law and respect for human rights internationally will be
undermined. There will also continue to be calls for an international
tribunal."
Rosentino Amado Hei, Timor-Leste National Alliance for an International
Tribunal,
Dr Mark Byrne, Convenor, Australian Coalition for Transitional Justice
in East Timor,
John M. Miller, UN Representative, International Federation for East
Timor
26
June 2006 LH: Suggestions for next United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste
"The
Dili-based Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis is
proposing an expanded and extended United Nations mission in
Timor-Leste (East Timor), beginning shortly and lasting several years.
In a detailed memorandum to UN staff and Security Council members, the
Institute (known in Tetum as La’o Hamutuk) draws on six years
experience monitoring UN activities in Timor-Leste to urge “that both
the quality as well as the duration of the international presence there
be evaluated and improved.” " Charles Scheiner, La'o Hamutuk (The East
Timor
Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis)
Spanish Original:
18 June 2006 Sin Permiso: Wark & Cabral: Timor Oriental:
detrás de la demonización de Mari Alkatiri
http://www.sinpermiso.info/textos/index.php?id=605
"Los medios de comunicación,
especialmente los australianos (Noticias del Departamento de Asuntos
Exteriores y Comercio) han ofrecido una visión particularmente
distorsionada de la crisis. ... El mal está representado en la
figura de una persona. Identificar una cabeza de turco sugiere que su
eliminación hará que, mágicamente, las cosas
vuelvan a ir bien de nuevo. Mucha gente piensa hoy que
“musulmán” y “terrorista” son términos afines, si es que
no son sinónimos. El primer ministro musulmán de Timor
Oriental, Mari Alkatiri, aparece en la prensa mediante “entrevistas al
hombre de la calle” como un “terrorista” (para no mencionar
también sus cualidades de “traidor” y “asesino”), una palabra
que vuelve verificada y fortalecida por la prensa en la calle.
¿Qué hay detrás de estas caricaturas de Alkatiri?"
Estêvão Cabral, doctor en Relaciones Internacionales y fue
un guerrillero del Falantil & Julie Wark, miembro del Consejo
Editorial de sinpermiso
English Original:
24 June 2006 ICH: Cabral & Wark: Behind The Demonisation
Of Mari Alkatiri
"The media, especially the
Australian media (News from the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade), has offered a particularly
distorted view of the crisis. ... Evil is represented as embodied in
the figure of one person.
Identifying a single scapegoat suggests that his removal will magically
make all well again. Many people today think of “Muslim” and
“terrorist” as related, if not synonymous terms. The Muslim Prime
Minister of Timor-Leste, Mari Alkatiri, appears in the press through
man-in-the-street interviews as a “terrorist” (not to mention “traitor”
and “killer”), a word that then returns press-verified and reinforced
to the street. What lies behind these depictions of Alkatiri?"
Julie Wark, (Spanish and Catalan) translator and author & Estêvão Cabral,
long-time member of Fretilin
27 May 2006 ETAN Statement
on the Current Violence in Timor-Leste
"Statements
by Australian government leaders that providing security assistance
entitles them to influence over Timor-Leste’s government are
undemocratic, paternalistic, and unhelpful. Who governs Timor-Leste is
a decision to be made by its people within its constitution. ...
Australia bears
special responsibility for Timor’s underdevelopment by refusing to
return revenues, totaling billions of dollars, from the disputed
petroleum fields in the Timor Sea, including Laminaria-Corallina, and
by bullying Timor-Leste into forsaking revenues that should rightfully
belong to it under current international law and practice. As in 1999,
we must not forget that the Australian government’s actions have
contributed to the situations their peacekeepers have now been sent to
correct. Australia should not view its current assistance to
Timor-Leste as a favor, to be repaid, but instead as a partial
repayment for the debt Australia owes the Timorese people for its help
during WW II and for Australia's deep complicity in Indonesia's
invasion and occupation." East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
9 May 2006 ETAN: Country
Fragile, International Assistance, Justice Still Needed
"We urge the international community
and the UN, especially the Security Council, to work with Timor-Leste
to complete the nation-building and development tasks to which it has
already committed. Security Council members should favorably consider
the Timor-Leste government's request for a special UN office until
after next year's presidential and parliamentary elections. These
national elections, the first in independent Timor-Leste, will help
determine if democracy has staying power in this new nation. In
addition to electoral assistance, the Secretary-General has proposed
continued human rights monitoring, military liaisons, police training
advisers, and other assistance to improve the competence of government
institutions. A formal mission will also increase the East Timorese
people's sense of security over the coming year, whereas a premature
end to the mission could escalate public fear." East Timor and Indonesia Action
Network (ETAN)
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