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Subject: UNMIT Daily Media Review 22 February 2007
[Poster's note: Repeats of international articles already sent out to the east-timor list (info@etan.org) have been removed.] Wednesday, 22 February 2007 UNMIT MEDIA MONITORING THE UN INTEGRATED MISSION IN TIMOR-LESTE DOES NOT VOUCH FOR THE ACCURACY OF THESE REPORTS National Media Reports 250 Tones of Rice to the Sub-Villages The Ministry of Labor and Community Reinsertion and the Ministry of Development plans to distribute today a total of 250 tones of rice to vulnerable people in 24 sub-villages of Dili. In the meantime, Deputy Prime Minister Estanislau da Silva reportedly said rice import will arrive in the country sometime this week. Da Silva said there are no indications that anyone has died as a result of food shortage and stressed that the problem can not be resolved with rock attacks. (DN, STL) Students Rejects CVA Program University students from UNTL, ARY, UNDIL, Dom Martinho and UNPAZ held a meeting and called on the attention of the country leaders that the recent public hearing program of Comissão Verdade e Amizade (CVA) in Bali does not reflect the victims' wishes and it has been a manipulation by holding the hearing in Bali rather than Timor-Leste. The students' appealed to the government and the Parliament to pay more attention to the peoples concerns and problems stating that the time is not appropriate to discuss the demands of CVA but the friendship within the country to stop the violence here and that for justice to prevail there should not be amnesty. The sovereign bodies must focus on the basic necessities of the population. They also called on the abolition of the pension for members of the Parliament and lamented the action of UNPOL in detaining and torturing two of their colleagues from UNPAZ. The groups' spokesperson said they rejected the CVA public hearing in Bali because they don't want the involvement of the victims and their families, adding that the group will continue to fight for justice to the victims in a spirit of nationalism and patriotism. The group said it is not affiliated with any political party. (DN) People Have Questioned UNPOL Operations: Barris Minister of Interior Alcino Barris said the some actions of UNPOL have raised a few questions among the population for detaining members of one group and not the others. Based on this matter, Barris said he constantly meets with UNPOL and has brought the subject to their attention, adding that both the MI and UNPOL will be discussing operation strategies and he hopes that it will proceed properly in the long term. President of Partido Democratico (PD) Fernando Lasama reportedly said UNPOL is already discriminating in relation to security by providing security to Mari Alkatiri who is no longer the Prime Minister. Lasama wants to know why so many numbers of UNPOL provided security to Alkatiri during a political activity in the District of Gleno. He said if that is the case then he would request UNPOL for security for PD political campaign but stressed that if his party would ask for security it would create a perception among the community that leaders are scared of their own people. Therefore, he asked UNMIT to look into this matter as it is not appropriate. He said that if this is the case then all parties are entitled to security and not only Fretilin. President of PMG, Hermenegild "Kupa" Lopes said his party considers the actions of the police discriminatory because Mari Alkatiri is not a member of the government or the prime minister. He said the government is also responsible for not removing the assets still used by Mari like the house he is staying, the car and the bodyguards. (DN, STL) Impact of Rice Crisis The impact of the rice crisis in the country has led to damages of the Ministry of Development building, government and UNMIT cars. Two government cars were burned and seven UN cars were damaged from rock throwing. (TP) International Media Reports 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] UNMIT MEDIA MONITORING www.unmit.org Back to February menu January 2007 menu |