Daily Media Monitoring 26 March 08

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One of Salsinha's men surrender: One of Salsina's men, Alexandre de Araujo, has voluntarily surrendered himself to the East Timorese authorities through the Prosecutor-general, Longuinhos Monteiro, in Maubesi, Ainaro District on Tuesday (25/3). He did not surrender a weapon. The man was presented to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, Brigadier General, Taur Matan Ruak and the State Secretary for Defence, Julio Pinto at the Government Palace.

NZ Defense Minister meets Lasama: The Defence Minister of New Zealand, Phill Goff, has met the Acting President of Timor-Leste, Fernando de Araujo 'Lasama,' to discuss the relationship between the two nations and how to strengthen security, development and democratic governance.

During the meeting Mr. Goff said the NZ Government will send advisors to assess the Defense Force reform in Timor Leste and will provide logistic and weapon's training to the East Timor Defense Forces.

94 IDP families from Has Laran return home: Ninety four IDP families who were residing at the Canossa Has Laran Camp have returned to their home in Delta and Manleuana, Dili on Tuesday (25/3) after having their data verified by the Ministry of Social Solidarity. The families were happy to return home as their communities have agreed to receive them.

One of Salsinha's men surrender: One of Salsina's men, Alexandre de Araujo, has voluntarily surrendered himself to the state through the Prosecutor General, Longuinhos Monteiro in Ainaro District on Monday (25/3). The man was presented to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, Brigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak and the Secretary State for Defense, Julio Pinto at the Government Palace. Alexandre had been with Gestao Salshina since 2006.

Meanwhile, The Prosecutor-General said that three other members were supposed to surrender together, but were not able to meet each other to do so.

"Three other members were supposed to surrender today with Alexandre but they failed to do so. I believe that they will surrender themselves voluntarily in a very short time," said the Prosecutor-General. (TP, STL).

NZ Defense Minister meets Acting PR: The Defense Minister of New Zealand, Phill Goff, met the Acting PR of Timor-Leste, Fernando de Araujo 'Lasama' to discuss the relationship between Timor-Leste and New Zealand.

The meeting was aimed at discussing security, development and democratic issues in Timor-Leste.

Mr Goff also met Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to discuss the bilateral cooperation between the two nations. At the meeting, Mr. Goff said that the NZ Government will support the security sector reform by sending advisors to asses the defense forces in Timor-Leste and to provide some armed and logistics training to the East Timor Defense Forces. (STL, TP)

Commission formed to review the condition of Petitioners: The Acting President of the National Parliament, Visente Guterres, said that the National Parliament will form a commission to assess the lives of the petitioners currently gathered in Aitarak-Laran.

"It is a necessary to form a commission to review the condition of the petitioners in order to find a solution to their problems" said Mr Guterres on Tuesday (25/3) at the National Parliament (TP).

Minister asks UN Delegation to provide training for justice sector: During a meeting between the Government and the UN Delegation, the Minister of Justice, Lucia Lobato asked the UN for assistance to help strengthen the justice sector.

"We recommended that the UN should work with the Government of Timor-Leste to provide training for Timorese prosecutors and public defenders so that they can act with full professionalism in dealing with justice issues in the future," Minister Lobato on Tuesday (25/3) at Palacio do Governu, Dili. (TP)

Gusmao: police reprimanded over abuses: The Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao said some members of the police force have been reprimanded over human rights violations committed during the State of Siege. "The present government does not tolerate people violating the human rights of people," said the PM. (DN)

Fretilin asks ISF to explain February 11 events: Fretilin MP, Fransisco Miranda Branco, has asked the ISF to provide an explanation for the attacks against the President and the Prime Minister on 11 February.

"The presence of ISF in Timor Leste is legal. Therefore, I ask the ISF Commander-General to clearly explain to the national parliament the assassination attempts against the President and Prime Minister, because the responsibility for security falls under the Government, UNPOL and ISF," said Branco. (DN)

National News Sources: Televizaun Timor-Leste (TVTL) Radio Timor-Leste (RTL) Timor Post (TP) Suara Timor Lorosae (STL) Diario Nacional (DN)

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