Subject: Irish Times interview with David Ximenes
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 14:40:24 +0000
From: "East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign" <etisc@indigo.ie>Source:
The Irish Times Date: Thursday 17th June 1999
PENDULUM SWINGING AWAY FROM PRO-INTEGRATION FORCES, SAYS XIMENES
Independence fighters say they would sit down with opponents to promote reconciliation,
writes Conor O'Clery
Going to meet David Ximenes, chairman of the National Council of the Timorese
Resistance (CNRT), involved intricate planning beforehand. When the appointed time came
his colleague Leandro Isaak, mobile phone to his ear, drove past the safe house in a quiet
avenue in Dili to ensure that no members of the pro-Indonesia militias were around, then
came back and turned smartly into the yard of a metal workshop.
Mr Ximenes sleeps in a different house in the capital of the former Portuguese colony
every night. He asked that no photographs be taken of the building so that it could not be
identified. The veteran resistance leader narrowly escaped death when militia members
fired on his car outside the Makhota Hotel in Dili on April 17th, the day they killed over
20 independence sympathisers.
"The military want to keep the status quo, that is why they formed the militias on
January 1st," said Mr Ximenes, speaking in English. "Since the UN came the
situation in Dili looks like it is improving. The militia are not so active. But it is
virtually impossible for CNRT to come out of hiding to do its work. The police said they
would guarantee our security but how can they do that when the militia are everywhere and
the Indonesian police are still involved in an offensive against our people."
As evidence of this he said that when a militia group last week attacked members of the
resistance near Liquica, one assailant who was captured (and later released) turned out to
be a policeman. Last week the Indonesian police recruited the militia into unarmed civil
defence units, but as to the suggestion that this might neutralise them, Mr Ximenes had
one word: "bullshit!"
The UN mission head, Mr Ian Martin, is currently negotiating with the police to enable
the CNRT to open offices in all East Timor towns in preparation for the "popular
consultation" on August 8th in which 400,000 East Timorese will be asked whether they
accept autonomy within Indonesia or choose independence. But Mr Ximenes is not happy with
the size of the civilian UN police force being sent to East Timor to provide security at
the referendum.
The first 38 civilian police officers - 15 Australians, 10 New Zealanders, 10
Spaniards, two Irishmen and a Zimbabwean - of a 274-member UN police force are due to
arrive in Dili on Saturday. Indonesia sent 452 extra police on May 31st, and another 821
left yesterday for Dili. Known as the "Larosae Contingent" they are to guarantee
security for both sides during the referendum campaign under the UN agreement.
The UN force is inadequate "bearing in mind there are already over 20,000
Indonesian soldiers here, some in plain clothes, some in military uniform," Mr
Ximenes said. He has refused to accept the safety guarantee offered by the Indonesian
military commander overseeing East Timor, Major General Adam Damiri, to members of the
armed wing of CNRT, which is headed by Xanana Gusmao, at present under house arrest in
Jakarta.
Falintil has conducted a 24-year campaign of resistance against Indonesian military
occupation but it is presently on ceasefire. "The Indonesians wanted conflict so they
can say to us there is civil war, and that East Timor needs the Indonesian army - that is
why there is no resistance," said Mr Ximenes. "Even if they have been killing us
we do not respond."
He insisted that the murder of a militia member near Dili on Friday night was not done
by his side. "A man called José from the Aitarak (Thorn) militia killed him because
he was mentally crazy and every day shouted insults at the military," he said.
Nevertheless East Timor's most prominent independence leader on the island acknowledged
that the referendum process is still at the beginning and he did not want to say that a
fair vote could not take place. The pendulum is swinging away from the pro-integration
forces.
The veteran fighter in short grey beard and gold-rimmed glasses was able to come out of
hiding briefly on June 3rd and appear among thousands of pro-independence supporters who
turned up to cheer the flag-raising of the UN mission in East Timor (UNAMET). Despite the
campaign of terror against them, CNRT is prepared to sit down with its opponents to
discuss a pre-referendum reconciliation under a dialogue proposed by Bishop Belo, Mr
Ximenes said. "Reconciliation is necessary but it depends on Indonesia also because
Indonesia has a big influence over the pro-integration people. They are like robots."
If the vote was free, secret, honest and just he would be prepared to accept the result
even if it meant autonomy. On the other hand, if the majority preferred separation from
Indonesia, the pro-integration groups would have to accept the outcome. In any eventuality
he would be prepared to sit down with militia leaders like Eurico Guterres who had led the
April 17th rampage in Dili. "There would be reconciliation," he said with some
emphasis. "We need them for the future. The resistance wants to finish the war."
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