[Poster's note: Repeats of international articles already sent out to the east-timor list (info@etan.org) have been removed.]

UNMIT

(International news reports and extracts from national media. UNMIT does not vouch for the accuracy of these reports)

Only 80 petitioners still want to return to the military - Timor Post

Of the 339 petitioners who indicated a preference for rejoining the military, only 80 of them still want to return since Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão asked them last week to re-consider their choice of military or civilian life.

"There are 80 petitioners who have not changed their decision to return to the military,� said one of the petitioners who still wants to be rejoin the military due to his love for the F-FDTL.

He also said those other petitioners who changed their minds and now want to enter civilian life are illiterate and have some health problems. Some of them believe that if they return to the military, then they will not receive Government compensation.

Recently the numbers of the petitioners who want to become civilians increased from 356 to 605 out of a total of 685.

The Vice President of the National Parliament Vicente Guterres said that it was good for the petitioners to be civilians as they have abandoned their barracks. Mr. Guterres said that when there is problem within an institution, the problem should be solved internally, not outside of the institution.

"As they have brought the problem out of the institution, if I were them, I would not go back," said Mr. Guterres.

Democratic Party MP Adriano do Nascimento said that he did not agree with the Prime Minister who had earlier said that it was good for the petitioners, who are illiterate, to return to civilian life. This statement dishonoured the petitioners, he said.

"The petitioners left their barracks because of political matters and actions taken by political leaders [not because they are illiterate],� said Mr. Nascimento.

Be model for the world: PR Horta asks permission for the UN and NGOs to visit Becora prison – Timor Post

On his visit to Becora Prison on Wednesday (21/5) PR Ramos-Horta asked prison guards to allow the Red Cross, UNMIT Human Rights and national NGOs to visit Becora Prison in order to ensure transparency.

"I am requesting this prison to allow visits from the National Red Cross, UNMIT Human Rights and NGOs who work for human rights, not for NGOs who are working for politics. If we do this, then our prison will be a model for the world, a prison that hides nothing and reveals everything,� said PR Horta.

PR Horta also said that he visited Becora Prison as a Nobel Peace Laureate, not as President, Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

President's pardon: 10 prisoners freed, Rogerio's sentence reduced – Timor Post

Out of 84 prisoners who received pardons from PR Ramos-Horta on Independence Day, 20 May, ten of them have received a full pardon. Rogerio Tiago Lobato, the former Minister of Interior, received only a reduced sentence.

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato said that the Government's preference is for the president to only reduce Rogerio's sentence by three months as the court had sentenced him to seven years in prison.

Timor-Leste hopes to receive support from MCC – Televisaun Timor-Lestee

Minister of Finance Emilia Pires said that Timor-Leste hopes to receive funds from the Program of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to help decrease poverty in the country.

"On behalf of the Government, I am happy that MCC is considering Timor-Leste as a potential recipient of financial support. The Government promises to work with MCC to improve socio-economic development and build peace in this country,� said Minister Pires on Thursday (22/5) in Dili.

The Vice President of MCC John Hewko said that Timor-Leste needs to have program of good governance, as such a program could reduce poverty in the country and improve its economy.

Mr. Hewko said that recently MCC had established a monitoring team to follow the country's governance programme.

Minister: Government recommends reduction of three months of Rogerio Lobato's sentence – Suara Timor Lorosa'e

Minister of Justice Lucia Lobato has recommended to the President Jose Ramos-Horta that he reduce only three months of the prison term given to the former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato because of his involvement in arming civilians which caused many people to be killed in 2006. She made the statement to journalists on Wednesday (21/05) while accompanying president Ramos-Horta's on his official visit to Becora Prison

"The government has recommended only three months reduction of sentence but it depends on the president's decision,� said Lucia Lobato.

According to the president, the pardon is based on the former Interior Minister's past struggle to free the country. He said that Rogerio has also lost many of his family who sacrificed their lives during the war. Dili's international airport is named after Nicolau Lobato, the former Minister's younger brother who was killed during the struggle for independence.

U.N. says donors should back Afghan aid plan – Reuters, 22 May

KABUL (Reuters) - The international community should back a $50-billion (25 billion pound) Afghan development strategy at a donors' conference in Paris next month, but Kabul must also fight rampant corruption, the U.N.'s special envoy said on Thursday.

Afghanistan depends on aid for 90 percent of its spending. But international donors have fallen behind in paying what they have already pledged and much of the money goes straight back to donor countries in salaries and profits. Official corruption eats into the remainder.

More than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban, Kabul and its Western backers are faced with a revived insurgency and a public frustrated by the lack of security and disappointed with the slow pace of development.

"It's obvious the international community does not spend its resources as well as it should and it's obvious that corruption is a much too widespread phenomenon in Afghanistan," the U.N. Special Envoy Kai Eide told a news conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"I would like to see a partnership coming out of Paris where the international community says 'yes, we will spend our resources better' and the government says 'yes, we will fight corruption more vigorously," he said.

International donors have pledged some $24 billion at three donor conferences since 2002, but the level of aid to Afghanistan is still many times lower per head than to other countries struggling to emerge from conflict such as Kosovo or East Timor.

This was partly due to the international community underestimating the scale of the problems faced by Afghanistan after nearly three decades of war and also due to the failure to foresee the re-emergence of the Taliban insurgency.

AFGHAN PLAN

The Afghan government has now also drawn up a 5,000-page national development strategy, setting out its goals which it is to present to the June 12 Paris conference hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Afghanistan is seeking $50.1 billion from Paris, more than half of which it wants spent on security and infrastructure, the lack of which hampers almost every level of economic development.

"There are certain priorities as set by the Afghan government in its development strategy," said Eide. "We in the international community have to align our resources behind that strategy."

Many donors are wary of giving funds directly to the Afghan government fearing much of it will disappear into the pockets of corrupt officials. Afghanistan is ranked 172 out of 180 countries on Transparency International's corruption perception index.

Consequently, some two-thirds of aid is not channeled through the Afghan government, meaning Kabul has almost no control how the money is spent and the state remains weak and ineffectual.

"We have to spend much more resources and attention on building the state institutions that must be the basis for progress with regard to security and development," Eide said.

Afghanistan also suffers from a lack of coordination among more than 60 major donor countries and international organisations, dozens of aid agencies and foreign forces who are also engaged in reconstruction and development work.

Eide's appointment by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in March was meant to bring better coordination to the international community's efforts in Afghanistan.

The Paris conference, he said, will be a chance for the international community to commit in writing to renewing and improving their efforts in Afghanistan. (Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Operation Smile Joins USNS Mercy as Part of Four-Month Southeast Asia Deployment – Pacific Partnership 2008 – TransWorldNews, 22 May

Operation Smile, a worldwide children's medical charity that provides free surgery to children in developing countries born with facial deformities, will join the United States Navy's hospital ship, USNS Mercy, during its summer 2008 humanitarian civic assistance deployment. The USNS Mercy mission, Pacific Partnership 2008, will provide humanitarian services to four countries in Southeast Asia.

Pacific Partnership 2008 brings together host nation medical personnel, partner nation military medical and construction personnel, and non-governmental organizations to provide medical, dental, construction and other services ashore and afloat.

Operation Smile will be working side-by-side on the USNS Mercy in four countries: Philippines, Vietnam, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. Approximately 350 children suffering with cleft lips and cleft palates will receive free reconstructive surgery as a result of these medical missions.

Operation Smile Chief Medical Officer Dr. Randy Sherman said, "Operation Smile is honored to participate in the 2008 USNS Mercy Pacific Partnership deployment. After introducing ourselves to the Navy in 2006 during the Mercy mission to Bangladesh, we joined its sister ship, the USNS Comfort last year, for a multi-site partnership in Latin America.

Operation Smile medical volunteers from the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, the United States and other partner countries are excited to join with the Mercy and its crew in bringing new smiles to children throughout the Pacific basin this summer.�

USNS Mercy departed from San Diego, Calif., on May 1. The first mission involving Operation Smile will take place in Cotabato, Philippines, in late May. Free medical evaluations will be conducted by Operation Smile medical volunteers, provided by Operation Smile Philippines, at Cotabato Regional Hospital to identify surgical patients who will then be transported aboard the ship for surgery. Post-operative checks for the patients a week after surgery will also take place at the hospital.

The Philippines was Operation Smile's first partner country and since 1982, medical volunteers have provided more than 18,800 Filipino children and young adults with free physical examinations, and more than 13,700 have received life-changing surgery during medical missions.

USNS Mercy will move on to Nha Trang, Vietnam, for the next medical mission involving Operation Smile in mid-June. Free medical evaluations will be conducted by Operation Smile volunteers in General Hospital of Khanh Hoa Province to identify surgical patients. Operation Smile's medical team, made up primarily of volunteers provided by Operation Smile Vietnam and Operation Smile Cambodia, will work with Navy personnel to conduct five days of surgery aboard the ship. Post-operative care will also take place at General Hospital of Khanh Hoa Province. Since 1989, Operation Smile has treated more than 19,000 children in Vietnam through international medical missions, in-country local missions and dental missions.

In mid-July, approximately 45 Operation Smile medical volunteers, many provided by Operation Smile Australia, will work with USNS Mercy's medical team in Dili, Timor-Leste. The Operation Smile team will provide free medical evaluations at a local hospital and patients will be brought onto the ship for surgery. This marks the first Operation Smile medical mission in Timor-Leste.

Operation Smile volunteers will join the USNS Mercy crew in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in early August. Physical examinations will be provided at Port Moresby General Hospital and then the Operation Smile volunteer medical team, provided by Operation Smile Philippines, will work together for five days with the Navy to provide surgery aboard USNS Mercy. This will be Operation Smile's inaugural mission in Papua New Guinea.

Operation Smile is honored to be invited to join USNS Mercy's staff and crew on this deployment. In the summer of 2006, nearly 40 Operation Smile volunteers deployed with the USNS Mercy to Chittagong, Bangladesh and provided free physical examinations at Chittagong Medical College Hospital for more than 140 children. The 54 patients selected for surgery were transported by helicopter from Chittagong to USNS Mercy.

Then in the summer of 2007, Operation Smile joined the USNS Comfort during its humanitarian assistance deployment. Operation Smile volunteers and the ship's medical team worked together during missions in Nicaragua, Peru and Colombia, providing more than 100 children with free reconstructive surgery.

About Operation Smile ( www.operationsmile.org )

Founded in 1982, Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children's medical charity whose network of global volunteers are dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults.

Since its founding, Operation Smile volunteers have treated more than 115,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its 26 partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency.

UNMIT MEDIA MONITORING www.unmit.org