UNMIT

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

Audit: Fretilin rules with weak system – Timor Post

The audit performed by the Government on the former government has concluded that there were many problems and irregularity of practices. The Minister of Finance, Emilia Pires, said that audit also made recommendations on how to improve the finance ministry.

Separately, member of Commission C for Economy, Finance and Corruption Aderito Hugo said: “With this report, the public may know our real administration and will be able to compare the Fretilin and AMP governments.

Fretilin-PSD: AMP Govt not serious to combat CCN – Timor Post and Diiario Nacional

Fretilin MP Miranda Branco said that that the AMP government policy towards good governance, transparency and good administration will not succeed as there is no serious policy to combat corruption, collusion and nepotism (CCN). “I am strongly questioning the seriousness of this government to combat CCN. All they do is deliver nice speechs- there is never any action based on the budget. The budget itself proves this,” said Mr Branco.

Separately, The President of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Mario Viegas Carrascalão has agreed with Fretilin that the AMP government is not serious about combating CCN.

Lasama: congratulates Alkatiri’s initiative – Diario Nacional

The President of the National Parliament Fernando Lasama has congratulated the initiative of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to build the statue of Pope John Paul II in Timor-Leste, which is currently now seen in Tasi Tolu, Dili. The statue is visited by the young people of Timor-Leste, especially those who are in Dili every Saturday and Sunday.

Gov takes big money from petroleum funds to avoid instablity – Diarrio Nacional

Minister of Finance Emilia Pires said that the government is taking large amounts of money from the petroleum funds to avoid instability of the country. Related to the concerns of the Consultative Council of Petroleum Funds (KKFP) that the government should not withdraw such large sums, Minister Pires said that petroleum funds’ law does not ban the government from doing so.

“Based on our analysis, the current global economic situation is that the oil price will increase and negatively impact on other basic needs. If we do not intervene then there will be a national crisis,” said Minster Pires.

Editorial: Buy peace with money …??? – Diario Nacional

Prime Minister Xanana has stated that his Government is withdrawing large amounts of funds from petroleum funds for the sake of peace and stability.The budget proposed by the government is US$425M; bigger than the budget approved by the National Parliament in December 2007 – this means that in only one year the government is to spend US$ 772M.

With this huge sums of money, the AMP Government has been criticized for spending too much of the petroleum funds. It is true that the government has reason to take the money to respond to the needs of the people, such as the petitioners’ problem and the IDPs.

But the question remains: can peace and stability only be realized with money, or is there another way? If we guarantee peace and stability with the petroleum funds, how will we sustain peace and stability when the funds run out? We wait…

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

Defence forces simulate emergency in Timor Sea- ABC Radio, 22 July

The Australian Defence Force says personnel from nine countries taking part in a military exercise off the coast of the Northern Territory, are practising in case a disaster hits the Asia Pacific region.

More than 2,000 sailors and air men will use war ships, aircraft and submarines over the next few weeks to simulate an emergency situation in the Timor Sea.

Australian Navy Captain Phillip Spedding says Exercise Kakadu allows naval personnel from countries, including Australia, Singapore and Japan, the chance to work together and set up emergency response procedures.

"We'll work through such things like how would we go about a collective response to humanitarian assistance or some form of disaster relief and we'll also look at how we do protection of the force alongside or at anchor," he said.

"Then we'll go to sea and we'll start of doing fairly basic manoeuvring exercises to make sure we're safe and get used to working with each other."

UNMIT MEDIA MONITORING www.unmit.org 

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