Subject: UNOTIL's Daily Media Review 04-06 February 2006

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

UNOTIL

Compiled by the Public Information Office from national and international sources

Daily Media Review

Friday, 04 - 06 February 2006

National Media Reports

Horta on TNI sexual violation case and Women's Network demonstrate

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Jose Ramos Horta has stated that the case of sexual violation that the TNI allegedly committed against a Timorese woman in January in the border area must move forward in order to obtain justice. Speaking to journalists last Thursday, Horta declared that the Timor-Leste Government would be sending the investigation report to the Indonesian Government so that they may understand that the matter is indeed very serious. (TP, STL, DN)

Xanana should continue as RDTL President: Horta

Rumours have begun to arise that Minister of Foreign Affairs and Negotiation Jose Ramos Horta will be a Presidential candidate if President Xanana decides not to run in the upcoming 2007 elections. When asked to confirm however, Horta denied the rumour and said that he has not yet thought about this matter. He said that in his opinion, President Xanana should continue in the position for another five years, as the people still have confidence in him and he is still fit, healthy, and young. (TP)

Martins: Five members of PNTL to be dismissed due to undisciplined behaviour

Five PNTL officers will lose their positions due to undisciplined behaviour. PNTL General Commander Paulo Martins told journalists last Thursday that the reasons for dismissal include prolonged absences from work without a valid reason, misuse of weapons, granting illegal entry to an Indonesian police officer and sexual violations. (TP)

Jose Reis: There are none to Replace Lu-Olo and Alkatiri

Speaking after the opening of Fretilin's (Political Party) district congress in Manatuto district, Jose Maria Reis, the Deputy Secretary-General of Fretilin told media that in the up coming five years there are no alternative candidates to replace Lu Olo and Mari Alkatiri in their current positions as the President and the Secretary-General of Fretilin Political Party, Timor Post and Diario Nacional reported. He stated that to replace the two current figures in the future, qualified candidates should be sought within the party to move the party forward. Reis added that since Fretilin is a historical political party, Fretilin is the future of Timor-Leste and the other political parties stand no chance of winning in the 2007 election. (STL, DN)

Da Costa, Guterres and Saldanha: Timor-Leste's media need international communities' support

Speaking during a Consultative Group Meeting held at UNOTIL last week, Director of Timor Post, Aderito Hugo da Costa, Deputy Director of Suara Timor-Lorosa'e, Domingos Saldanha, and Virgilio Guterres from Public Broadcasting Services argued that Timor-Leste's media is in need of international support and/or assistance. The three main speakers, supported by a separate presentation by the Director of Internews, Sonny Inbaraj, made the appeal to the international communities' representatives who participated in the meeting. Mr da Costa, Mr Saldanha and Mr Guterres, together with Mr Inbaraj, highlighted the concerns faced by the local media including the lack of infrastructure, human resources, and technical equipment such as computers, photocopiers and printing machines. The Deputy Special Representative of Secretary-General, Anis Bajwa, supported the appeal of the Timor-Leste media actors by asking development partners to provide more attention to ways of assisting Timor-Leste's media in meeting these challenges. (TP)

RTTL News Headlines 03-02-2006

Rede Feto Demonstrated to demand Justice; The Timorese women Organization, Rede Feto, held a demonstration on Friday to demand justice for the victim of sexual violence in Oecusse recently. The Demonstrators marched from the Organization's office in Balide to the Indonesian Embassy, making a stop over at the National Parliament. One of the demonstrators, Rosa Maria de Sousa, told journalists that they were pleased that the Parliamentarians paid attention to the case. Meanwhile, Leroy Siagian, the Political staff at the Indonesian Embassy, stated that the case was under investigation and would be dealt with by the law. On the same day, The National hospital reportedly handed over the report of the medical examination performed on the victim to the Ministry of Interior.

TL would insist justice; The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has not lodged any official complaint to Indonesia on the sexual violence case in Oecusse pending the release of medical examiner’s report. Nevertheless, Minister Jose Ramos Horta told RTTL that the crimes committed by TNI members, accused of raping a woman and torturing a man, are serious crimes. The Minister also said that this action shocked the Government and the people of Timor-Leste and that it is unacceptable. He hopes, however, that the Indonesian authorities will punish the perpetrators accordingly.

Malibaka update; Speaking on a different issue, Minister Horta stated that the Indonesian side of the Joint Investigation Team continue to present opposing findings regarding the Malibaka incident which has resulted in disagreement by both sides on the final report of the team. If the disagreement continues to exist, the Minister said that the Government of Timor-Leste will ask for an International Investigation, conducted by the UN, to reveal the truth about the incident.

Building materials for Victims in Ainaro; From the Districts, RTTL reported that building materials are being handed over by the Ministry of Labour and Community Reinsertion to the District Administration of Ainaro to help with the rebuilding of homes that were destroyed or damaged during the strong winds that occurred recently. RTTL also reported that food assistance was on the way to the District.

Australia's reaction to CAVR's report; The Australian Treasurer, Peter Costello, has reportedly reacted to the CAVR's report that was handed over to the UN by President Gusmao arguing that if it weren't for Australia, Timor-Leste would still remain a province of Indonesia.

Regional Media Reports

Death toll in Indonesia ferry sinking rises to 31

KUPANG, Indonesia, Feb. 3 The death toll from the sinking of a ferry in eastern Indonesia rose to 31 on Friday, while only one survivor was picked up from the sea by naval ships.

"After three days, we don't have much hope that there will be more survivors tomorrow or the days after tomorrow," Agus Susilo, operational assistant of the local navy headquarters, told Kyodo News.

As of Friday evening, he said, 126 passengers on the KMP Citra Mandala Bahari ferry, which sank late Tuesday in high waves and strong currents, had been rescued.

The ferry was on its way from Kupang in the Indonesian part of Timor Island, shared with independent East Timor, to the nearby island of Rote, about 55 kilometers to the south. Kupang is located about 2,000 km east of Jakarta.

The ferry was believed to be carrying about 200 people, including 23 crewmembers, but only 72 of the passengers were registered.

It was also carrying three cars, eight trucks and 27 motorcycles.

It is common in Indonesia for ferries to take on loads beyond their capacity. The company said, however, that the ferry had a capacity of 350 passengers. (Kyodo)

The Next U.N. Secretary General

WASHINGTON - Almost invisible to the general public, a major international election campaign is underway. It is the equivalent of primary time now, and candidates are flying quietly into New York, Washington, Beijing, Paris, Moscow and London, meeting with foreign ministers and other officials with little or no fanfare, and slipping out of town again, often denying they are running for anything at all. Although most Americans have not yet heard of any of the candidates, the winner will instantly become a major world figure.

The job they are running for is, of course, Secretary-General of the United Nations; Kofi Annan's term ends Dec. 31. Historically, the job rotates by region, and by tradition it is Asia's turn. But things are never simple at the United Nations, and other regions and nations are disputing Asia's claim to the next ``S-G.'' Eastern Europe, in particular, says that it now constitutes a separate regional grouping that emerged after the Cold War, and two people greatly popular in Washington, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, have tossed their hats into the ring. But any one of the five permanent members of the Security Council can veto the choice of Secretary-General (it was this power that President Bill Clinton wisely used in 1996 to block a second term for Boutros Boutros-Ghali), and Russia seems virtually certain to oppose any candidate from what it still regards as its former ``space.''

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has said that the world body should not be bound by the rotation system; let the best man or woman be chosen. Nothing wrong with that theory, but, as with our own election system, certain traditions are difficult to discard. I seriously doubt that the Asians, having allowed Africa to hold the position for 15 straight years (Boutros-Ghali and two terms for Kofi Annan), and not having had an Asian Secretary-General for almost 40 years (since U Thant of Burma in the 1960s), will allow the brass ring to pass them by again. Especially for China, the next S-G _ who would be the first Asian in the post since Beijing took over the Chinese seat in 1972 _ offers a major opportunity that coincides with their newly assertive diplomacy throughout the world. And remember: No one who is not acceptable to both Beijing and Washington can get this job, and the two countries have significantly different views of what the role of the United Nations should be. The Americans will presumably want a more assertive, reform-minded and interventionist Secretary General than China.

Bear in mind also that at the United Nations, Asia may not be what you think. For bureaucratic and historical reasons, the Asian group runs from the shores of the Mediterranean to the far islands of the South Pacific; it includes most of the Arab world and even Turkey, which has, in Kemal Dervis, currently head of the U.N. Development Program, an excellent dark-horse candidate respected by all.

A handful of other names have begun to emerge, but I warn the reader inclined to handicapping: The next S-G may well come from names that have not yet surfaced. The possibilities include:

_ Surakiart Sathirathai, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister, has been running openly since last year and has visited dozens of capitals around the world. He has the formal endorsement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a solid base from which to launch a candidacy.

_ Ban Ki Moon, South Korea's impressive Foreign Minister, has excellent relations with both Washington and Beijing. But would China accept a Secretary-General from a treaty ally of the United States, and a diplomat who is deeply engaged in sensitive six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs?

- Jose Ramos-Horta is Foreign Minister of East Timor - the newest nation in the world and, until recently, itself a war-torn half-island in the South Pacific administered by the United Nations. Ramos-Horta is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and is well known internationally, but his country is tiny, with only 800,000 people.

- Jayantha Dhanapala, a respected Sri Lankan, served as U.N. Undersecretary-General for disarmament and as Ambassador to the United States. He has been openly campaigning for over a year, but some question the selection of another U.N. bureaucrat right after Kofi Annan.

Anyway, you get the idea. As I said, the next S-G may not be on this list at all. The former Prime Minister of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, could, for example, emerge at the very end. Another dark horse, Prince Zeid Raed Hussein, the deft and elegant young Jordanian ambassador to the U.N., deserves closer scrutiny. My guess is that the final decision will not come until at least the end of September, during the annual convention of foreign leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. Then, with a deadline staring them in the face, the leaders of the Big Five and other major powers, including India and Japan, will get down to it. It is not coincidence that all U.N. secretaries general since the first (from Norway, but pre-NATO) have come from non-aligned countries (Sweden, Burma, Austria, Peru, Egypt, and Ghana). Big aligned countries tend to cancel each other out.

But the job does matter. A weak S-G means a weaker United Nations, and although that may please some die-hard U.N.-haters, the United Nations has been an important part of American foreign policy on many issues since the end of the Cold War. Right now, for example, the Security Council is about to become a major focal point for the Iranian nuclear issue. The Secretary-General can play an important role on such issues, and it is in the American interest, more often than not, to have a strong Secretary-General exerting pressure on reluctant or rogue states. The same may not be true of China. The drama coming up, especially between Beijing and Washington, will be interesting to follow, and will tell us a lot about both the future of the United Nations and the long-term intentions of China on the world stage.

Richard Holbrooke was ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration. (The Washington Post)

National News Sources Timor Post (TP) Radio Timor-Leste (RTL) Suara Timor Lorosae (STL) Diario Tempo (DT) Diario Nacional Seminario Lia Foun (LF) Televisaun Timor-Leste [TVTL]

These Items Do Not Reflect the Position or Views of the United Nations. UNOTIL Public Information Office


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