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Local and International - For April 14, 2010

In this edition

National News’ Headings:

*Xanana finally opens his door to Zacarias *Today Council of Ministers will discus resignation case of Minister da Costa *PM Gusmão will conduct his work two moths in districts *PM Gusmão calls for new generation leader *Tens of organizations become beneficiary of the Govt’s funds *KAK Commissioner and his Deputies met PM Gusmão *Minister da Costa says he won’t resign from his post *President Horta agrees to hold dialog with politicians *An officer of PNTL beats former MP of ASDT *Commissioner Monteiro: “Promotion case is not my fault” *Rank promotion for 14 officers of PNTL from Baucau is yet pending *PNTL suspended Same Intelligent Police commander *Carrascalão: “I believe PM Gusmão won’t suspend Minister da Costa” *Today ombudsmen Ximenes will be sworn-in *Horta told PSD leaders to remain in coalition government *I would go down to districts, Xanana told Horta *Parliamentarian urged Government to take care of Mauhuno

National News:

*Xanana finally opens his door to Zacarias

*Televizaun Timor-Leste, April 13, 2010 language source: Tetun

Prime Minister Kayrala Xanana Gusmão has expressed his willingness to have dialogue with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Zacarias Albano da Costa today in order to find solution to political turbulence involving the two coalition leaders.

Prime Minister Gusmão was called by President Ramos Horta to have a meeting with him which lasted for two hours Tuesday at the Palace of Nicolau Lobato.

After the meeting Prime Minister said that in the meeting he informed the President about ways to end the issue.

“I informed the President of Republic that tomorrow (today, ed,) we are going to resolve it during a meeting of Council of Ministers,” said Gusmão, adding that the case was an internal problem of the government.

On Monday night Gusmão had invited Minister Da Costa via a phone call to participate in the meeting of Council of Ministers.

Minister Da Costa said that he will participate in the Wednesday’s meeting of Council of Ministers.

“I’ll participate in the meeting, he called me last night,” said Da Costa.

He added that he had lived his normal life and did his work normally after the rift.

Asked whether he is loyal to Prime Minister Gusmão, he said that he is loyal to his chief of the government.

“As I said in a recent press release I am loyal to him and I believe that after the meeting I can talk with him for several hours,” said Da Costa.

Prime Minister Gusmão has said recently that he would not allow Minister Da Costa to step his foot on the Palace of the Government unless he apologized for the ‘offensive’ short message services sent to him asking his resignation three weeks ago.

Minister Da Costa, who is also the President of the Socialist Democratic Party (PSD) was backed by his party members that if he was to be fired by the Prime Minister, the party would leave the coalition government.

The MPs from the party walked out yesterday when the Secretary of State for Council of Minister, spokesperson for Gusmão’s government, presented a bill on proceedings of state protocols to the Parliament.

Last week, sources from the office of Prime Minister said that he would call for an early election if Minister Da Costa tendered his resignation.

The problem has concerned many people in the country, including President of the Republic who wants to the problem to be solved immediately.

*Today Council of Ministers will discus resignation case of Minister da Costa

*Radio Timor-Leste, April 13, 2010 language source: Tetun

Today the Government will discus the resignation case of the Timorese Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa at the Council of Minister’s meeting.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão has said that the Government have an obligation to resolve the problem appear within the Government’s institution to avoid a possibility prejudicial on the Government’s plans and programs been set up to develop the country.

“This is an internal problem of the Government and we all know that all the institutions have its own rules and therefore we will discus this case tomorrow in the meeting of the Council of the Ministers to seek for a possibility solution to this case,” PM Gusmão said.

*PM Gusmão will conduct his work two moths in districts

*Radio Timor-Leste, April 13, 2010 language source: Tetun

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão will conduct his work in the districts for two months in order to hold public consultation about national strategic plan.

PM Gusmão made the comment after he met with President Jose Ramos Horta at the President Palace of Nicolau Lobato in Aitarak-klaran, Dili.

“I meet with President Horta to tell him about my program that I will conduct in the districts and sub districts,” PM Gusmão said.

*PM Gusmão calls for new generation leader

*Radio Timor-Leste, April 13, 2010 language source: Tetun

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão has trusted in the Bishop for Baucau Diocese, Monsignor Basilio do Nascimento to prepare new leader of the new generation to lead the country in the future.

A source who participated in the meeting of PM Gusmão and Monsignor Nascimento said that PM Gusmão and Monsignor Nascimento had talked about how the new generation can govern this country well in the future.

The source said that PM Gusmão has asked availability of Monsignor to prepare skillful new generation leader to lead the country.

*Tens of organizations become beneficiary of the Govt’s funds

*Radio Timor-Leste, April 13, 2010 language source: Tetun

Prime Minister Advisor for Civil Society, Joaquim da Costa, has confirmed that more than ten local organizations have become beneficiary for the Government’s funds.

Da Costa said that the Government’s priority program this year was to better facilitate local residents, particularly provide clean water to the residents in the rural areas.

“The priority program of the Government this year is to supply clean water to the local residents of rural areas,” PM’s Advisor da Costa said.

Da Costa made the comment yesterday after signing agreement with those organizations at the Government’s Palace.

Total amount spend this year by the Government for this program is more than US$ 7 million.

*KAK Commissioner and his Deputies met PM Gusmão

*Timor Post, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

The Timorese anti-corruption commission (KAK) Commissioner Aderito de Jesus Soares and his two deputies met with Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão yesterday.

Soares said that the objective of the meeting was part of coordination related to the works of the commission in eradicating corruption.

“We talked about many things with PM Gusmão and I think it was part of our coordination with PM Gusmão,” Soares said.

Soares said that he will meet and talk with the Public Function Commission to start recruiting high ranking officers of KAK.

“We are now collaborating with the Public Function Commission to conduct recruitment process during two months, this is what we do at this time,” de Jesus said.

*Minister da Costa says he won’t resign from his post

*Timor Post, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

Timorese Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister, Zacarias Albano da Costa has said that he will not resign from the current political post he assumed, because he is loyal to Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão.

Minister da Costa said that information spread around about himself was nothing but a political maneuver created by certain individuals to create political disturbance within the Government’s institution.

“I will manage myself not to fall down into political maneuver which is aimed to serve private ambitions,” Minister da Costa said in a press release.

Minister da Costa also said that only Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão can resolve this problem as he is the chief of the Government.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister for Management and Public Administration Mario Viegas Carrascalão has totally denied the information saying that the Council of Ministers has decided to ask Minister da Costa to tender resignation letter.

“The one who said that the Council of Ministers has decided to ask Minister da Costa to resign himself is an imposturous because the Council of Ministers has never made such decision,” Deputy PM Carrascalão said.

Carrascalão said that the Secretary of State for Council of Ministers has no power to talk about the suspension of any minister because it is the sole competence of PM Gusmão to do so.

Deputy PM Carrascalão added that this polemic happened due to miscommunication.

*President Horta agrees to hold dialog with politicians

*Timor Post, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão has said that President Jose Ramos Horta agreed to hold dialog with politicians to seek for solution to the case of the Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minster Zacarias Albano da Costa.

“President Jose Ramos Horta will call all politicians to talk on the political situation in the country” PM Gusmão said

PM Gusmão made the comment yesterday after he met with President Jose Ramos Horta yesterday to ask his opinion on how to resolve the case of Minister da Costa.

PM Gusmão added that President Horta considered this case appeared due to miscommunication between PM Gusmão and his Ministers.

PM Gusmão also said this case is an internal case and therefore the Government will resolve this problem in the meeting of the Council of Ministers’ meeting.

“We will talk about this case in the Council of Ministers meeting tomorrow (today), because it is an internal problem of the Government and therefore it is important to this case in the Council of Ministers’ meeting to seek for a possible solution to the problem,” PM Gusmão said.

*An officer of PNTL beats former MP of ASDT

*Timor Post, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

A former MP of the Timorese Association Democratic Party (ASDT), Afonso Noronha was beaten up by a member of the Timorese National Police (PNTL) in Gatitas, Zumalai on April 1, 2010.

According to Noronha, before he was beaten there was fighting involving António Babol and Guilhermino.

As the suspect Guilhermino ran away, Antonio Babol called PNTL for intervention in order to arrest the suspect.

The PNTL was fully armed when they reached Galitas, running amok beaten up villagers they found on their way, including the former ASDT MP.

Noronha said that once they reached his house which was about 50 meters from the venue, he was also threatened to be beaten but he told them that he was a former MP and that he has nothing with the incident.

“Juvino and one of his friends from UIR department of the National Police punched me on my eyes and asked me why I ran away. But I respond them that I did nothing with issue and that those who had engaged in conflict had been detained by the police,” Noronha explained.

Noronha said in his official letter to the Parliament he expressed his dissatisfaction with the PNTL because he was treated as a criminal though he never joined any ninja gangs or any group so far.

Meanwhile, MP Inâcio Moreira from Fretilin has concerned with the attitude of the PNTL members and called on them to respect law and order.

At the same time Carmelita Moniz from the National Congress for the Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) has also express her dissatisfaction with the PNTL officers’ bad attitude because they beat people recklessly.

According to Noronha, he has filed the case with the office of public prosecution to be investigated.

*Commissioner Monteiro: “Promotion case is not my fault”

*Timor Post, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

The Timorese Police Commander, Commissioner Longuinhos Monteiro has said that the case of rank promotion to the National Police was not his fault.

Monteiro made the comment because he said he had not involved in the rank promotion team.

“We conduct promotion to the PNTL officers after I receive list of the officers’ names in an envelope on 26 of March and realized promotion on March 27th,” Commissioner Monteiro said.

Commissioner Monteiro said that some demoted officers had protested the rank promotion as it was believed that the rank promotion to the PNTL officers was unfair.

Commissioner Monteiro also called on all the PNTL officers to carry out their task based on the law and order to serve the Government and people.

He added that those demoted officers still have chance to attend the second promotion.

*Rank promotion for 14 officers of PNTL from Baucau is yet pending

*Timor Post, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

Baucau District Police Superintendent Assistant, João Sancho has confirmed that rank promotion for 14 of 176 officers of the Timorese National Police (PNTL) in Baucau District are pended due to the 14 officer’s cases were still pending.

“Total number of PNTL officers in Baucau district is 176. 161 of them been promoted with new rank and 14 of them are demoted due to pended case and one officer’s name had not include in the rank promotion list,” Sancho said.

Sancho said that it was true that many PNTL officers including the officers in Baucau District were dissatisfied with the promotion because it was believed that the promotion was unfair, but he promised that the commando will report this case to the General Commander of the National Police in order to seek for solution to resolve this problem as soon as possible.

“It is not only the officers in Baucau District unsatisfied with the rank promotion but also those officers in the other districts, but there are procedures to be fallowed and the commando in the district will repot this case to the General commando of the PNTL,” Sanho said.

Meanwhile, an officer of the PNTL who refused to give his name said that he dissatisfied with the promotion as some officers have high scores in the test but they are demoted.

*PNTL suspended Same Intelligent Police commander

*Suara Timor Lorosa’e, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

The Timorese Police Commander, Commissioner Longuinhos Monteiro has instructed the commando of the SIP department of the National Police to stop the work of the Same Intelligence Police Commander because he had against the Government and Commando’s decision.

“I will stop or suspend him because of indisciplinary case and some internal problems,” Monteiro said.

He also urged the Same Intelligent Police to take responsible to what he did in the past.

Monteiro also called on those officers who dissatisfied with the recent promotion to keep calm because the commando will make efforts to seek for solution to resolve this problem.

*Carrascalão: “I believe PM Gusmão won’t suspend Minister da Costa”

*Suara Timor Lorosa’e, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

Deputy Prime Minister for Management and Public Administration, Mario Viegas Carrascalão has said that he believe that Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão will not suspend the Timorese Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa from his current post.

Deputy Carrascalão said that although the State Secretary for Council of Ministers has officially announced that PM Gusmão will expel Minister da Costa but the Council of Ministers had not made decision on this case.

He added that the SMS sent by Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa to PM Gusmão been invented politically.

“The SMS been publicized by the State Secretary of the Council of Ministers was not complete and it seemed that some people want to use this opportunity to explore their own political interest,” Deputy Carrascalão said.

He also said that the recent rumor about decision made by the Council of Minister to suspend Minister da Costa was untrue and falsehood as the council of Minister had never made decision on this case.

“The council of Ministers has never held meeting and decided to suspend Minister da Costa,” deputy Carrascalão said.

*Today ombudsmen Ximenes will be sworn-in

*Suara Timor Lorosa’e, April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

The Timorese National Parliament will officially inaugurate the newly Timorese Human Right and Justice Ombudsmen (PDHJ) Sebastião Dias Ximenes today.

The Newly Ombudsmen Ximenes was elected by the Parliament on last Mach 10th to continue assuming his former post as ombudsmen.

Meanwhile, Ombudsmen Ximenes has recently said that he will amend some laws articles of ombudsmen which has no benefit to the ombudsmen and will send them to the Parliament to be approved.

Ximenes had also planned to appoint his new deputy to help him in conducting their role that been guaranteed in the law.

*Horta told PSD leaders to remain in coalition government

*Diário Nacional April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

In order to save the coalition government led by Prime Minister Kayrala Xanana Gusmão in relation to the recent conflict involving Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, President José Ramos Horta called an urgent meeting Tuesday with the Socialist Democratic Party (PSD) leaders such as Mário Viegas Carrascalão, Zacarias Albano da Costa, and João Gonçalves.

“The President of the Republic called us to come here in order to get his advice in relation to hotly debated issue involving Dr. Zacarias in order to cool it down in order to save the coalition,” said Carrascalão, founder of the party who is now a Vice Prime Minister of Management of State Administration.

According to Carrascalão, in the meeting Horta urged PSD leaders not to pull themselves out of the coalition and that the party should remain an important component of the coalition.

Carrascalão added that it was a mistake for Hermenegildo Pereira, Secretary of State for Council of Minister to suspend or even to ban Minister of Foreign Affairs from getting into the Government’s Palace.

“It is the Secretary of State for Council of Ministers who said that Minister for Foreign Affairs has been suspended and it is him who said that Xanana prohibit Minister Zacarias to get into the Government’s Palace. This is wrong because the Secretary of State does not have any right to suspend (a minister,” Carrascalão highlighted.

According to Carrascalão, PSD leaders demanded an investigation into the statements made by the Secretary of State for Council of Ministers.

President Ramos Horta had also meeting with Prime Minister Gusmão in order to find a quick solution to the case of Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa who threatened to resign from the government.

*I would go down to districts, Xanana told Horta

*Diário Nacional April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

Prime Minister José Alexandre Kayrala Xanana Gusmão has told President Ramos Horta that in the near future he and his cabinet would go down to 13 districts of Timor-Leste the see with his own eyes the status of local development, including inspection to controversial referendum package projects.

“We talked about the situation of Timor-Leste. You all know that I stayed up there in Balibar but now I am coming down to Dili and I told the President that I will send my programs to all districts and sub-districts,” said Gusmão after meeting.

Referendum package has been a very controversial as many of projects have poor quality, including allegations of corruption and nepotism in the implementation of the projects.

Regardless of critics, the government has launched decentralization package, a new name for the controversial referendum package.

Some critics have said that by going down to inspect the project himself, Prime Minister Gusmão indicated that he has lost his confidence in his ministers and secretaries of state.

*Parliamentarian urged Government to take care of Mauhuno

*Diário Nacional April 14, 2010 language source: Tetun

Former veterans at the National Parliament have urged the Government to take care of the country’s veterans, especially José António da Costa who is also known as Mauhuno.

MP Renan Selak from UNDERTIM said that during the celebration of Falintil on August 20, 2009, Mauhuno was like a vagabond as there was no one to take care of him.

“When our elder brother Mauhuno reached the place of the ceremony he did not have any seat to sit so he had to walk up and down; fortunately there were some veterans who gave him seat to sit and this shows that there is lack of consideration from the state to the veterans,” said Renan Selak Tuesday.

Renan made the comment in relation to the bill of law on proceedings of state protocols presented by the government to the Parliament for discussion and approval.

According to him, there should be certain articles in the bill that defines the status of veterans in state ceremonies, not only places for state organs.

He added, “We all should be aware that the country was built by veterans and every one of us should respect them.”

In the bill of law, article 23 provides the procedures to deal with veterans in the state protocols.

MP Francisco Miranda Branco said that the state should give special attention to its veterans, as many countries do.

“We have to bow ourselves to our heroes/heroines because of them we attained our liberation and the state should provide special positions for veterans in state ceremonies,” said Branco.

Mauhuno was second commander-in-chief after Xanana Gusmão in the struggle for the national liberation.

Mauhuno was also a member of the Central Committee of the Fretilin in 1975. He was captured by Indonesian Armed Forces in early 1990s after the capture of Xanana Gusmão.

After independence he rejoined Fretilin and was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly but was inactive due to a stroke.

In 2005, he and others left Fretilin to form Fretilin Movement.

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