East Timor: Vigilante Groups Needed in Interior, Falintil Commander 30 Jan-13:24

The commander of East Timor's former Falintil guerrillas has urged the organization of vigilante groups to assure security in the interior and defended summary death for those who abusively use Falintil's name to provoke disturbances.

In an interview this week with the Dili newspaper "Suara Timor Lorosae", Taur Matan Ruak, who has been tapped to head the territory's future defense forces, said "popular security" organizations should be encouraged to keep order in remote areas.

In the capital, however, security should remain exclusively in the hands of UN police forces, Cmd. Matan Ruak was quoted as saying.

Referring to recent incidents carried out by gangs claiming Falintil credentials in Baucau, the territory's second city, he said the population should defend itself and summarily kill aggressors.

"That is why the victimized populations have been ordered to kill those they capture and then we'll resolve the problems", he reportedly said.

Separately, the territory's transitional legislature, or National Council, approved a temporary code Monday for the creation of the East Timor Defense Force.

The hurried legislative initiative came in order to permit the transfer of the former Falintil guerrillas to the jurisdiction of the new defense force on Feb. 1, as previously scheduled.

February
January Menu
World Leaders Contact List
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
Main Postings Menu