Reinado death prompts East Timor rebel rethink

As the hunt for the East Timorese rebels responsible for the February 11 attacks on the President and Prime Minister continues, hundreds of petitioning soldiers linked to rebel leader Alfredo Reinado are beginning talks with authorities in Dili.

Alfredo Reinado was killed on February 11 during attempts to assasinated East Timor's president and prime minister.

Radio Australia's Stephanie March reports that hundreds of the petitioning soldiers linked with Reinado and his cause have now come to Dili to begin talks about a peaceful reinstatement to the military.

Joaquim Fornseca, an adviser to East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao told Radio Australia a lot of the rebel soldiers have had a rethink after Reinado's death.

"I think that the death of Alfredo Reinado made a lot of them think, the way in which Alfredo died made them think war is not so much of the best way to follow to achieve their objectives especially as the government is open to talking with them," Mr Fornseca said.

Alfredo Reinado considered himself the leader of the group of around 600 petitioning soldiers from the West of the country, who defected from their military barracks in 2006 because of discrimination from higher ranking officers from the Eastern districts.

The petitioners were subsequently fired by following their desertion which caused the crisis that left 37 people dead, and over 100,000 forced to flee their homes.

But after almost two years of waiting for Alfredo Reinado to resolve their problem, 490 of the petitioning soldiers have decided to come to a make shift encampent called Aitak Laran in Dili, and begin talks with the government about being reinstated to the military.

The government sees the developments at Aitak Laran as positive, but says the situation with the petitioners remains fragile.

There are also positive signs that some of the 100,000 people displaced by the 2006 violence are preparing to leave their make shift residences in internally displaced people camps and return home.

Many of those living in the camps have cited the petitioners and Alfredo Rienado as the reasons they don't feel safe to move back to their homes.

Now that Reinado is dead and that a resolution to the petitioners problems is imminent, the International Organisation for Migration says some of the IDPs are looking at taking up the offer of a government relocation package and going back to their homes.

You can find the full story at the Connect Asia website: http://radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia

As the hunt for the East Timorese rebels responsible for the February 11 attacks on the President and Prime Minister continues, several positive effects of the death of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado are beginning to appear. Hundreds of the petitioning soldiers linked with Reinado and his cause have come to Dili to begin talks with the country's leaders about a peaceful reinstatement to the military, and some of the country's 100,000 displaced people are talking about leaving the IDP camps and going home.

Presenter - Stephanie March Speaker - Joaquim Fornseca, adviser to the Prime Minister; Sofia Cason from the International Crisis Group; Arsenio Bano, vice president of Fretilin party.

<http://www.abc.net.au/ra/connectasia/stories/m1547578.asx>listen <http://www.abc.net.au/ra/connectasia/stories/m1547578.asx>windows media > http://www.abc.net.au/ra/connectasia/stories/m1547578.asx

MARCH: In the weeks following the attacks on East Timor's leaders by Alfredo Reinado and his followers that left the President wounded and Alfredo Reinado dead, many feared the incidents would cause further instability in the fledgling nation.

But it seems there are some positive effects arising from the death of Reinado on his followers and the group of petitioning soldiers.

Joaquim Fornseca is an adviser to East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and is in charge of resolving the problem of the petitioners.

FORNSECA: 142 I think that the death of AR made a lot of them think, the way in which Alfredo died made them think war is not so much of the best way to follow to achieve their objectives especially as the government is open to talking with them.

MARCH: Alfredo Reinado considered himself the leader of the group of around 600 petitioning soldiers from the West of the country, who defected from their military barracks in 2006 because of discrimination from higher ranking officers from the Eastern districts.

The petitioners were subsequently fired by following their desertion which caused the crisis that left 37 people dead, and over 100,000 forced to flee their homes.

But after almost 2 years of waiting for Alfredo Reinado to resolve their problem, 490 of the petitioning soldiers have decided to come to a make shift encampent called Aitak Laran in Dili, and begin talks with the government about being reinstated to the military.

FORNSECA: they want their allegation of discrimination to be addressed, and their protest be respected - their right to protest to be respected, and the decision of the command of FFDTL to dismiss them to be revoked.

MARCH: Whilst the government sees the developments at Aitak Laran as positive, the situation with the petitioners remains fragile.

Joaquim Fornseca admits that not all the petitioners are coming willingly from their hiding places in the districts to engage in the dialogue.

He says the joint military and police operation targeted at catching the rebels responsible for the attacks on February 11 has made some of the petitioners nervous they will be unfairly targeted by the FFDTL and police.

FORNSECA: Because of the operation they cannot just stay at home and be passive, they have to come down.

Analysts agree that bringing the petitioners together for dialouge is a step in the right direction, but striking a deal that both the petitioners and the military agree on could be a challenge.

CASON: I think there may be problems when deals start to be done with petitioners because if you are a current serving FDTL member and you see that these people who deserted or who went AWOL during 2006 or before or after the crisis you may start to think "what is the point of me being in the FDTL if people are going to get rewarded for this kind of behaviour?"

MARCH: There are also positive signs that some of the 100,000 people displaced by the 2006 violence are preparing to leave their make shift residences in IDP camps and return home.

Many of those living in IDP camps have cited the petitioners and Alfredo Rienado as reasons they don't feel safe to move back to their homes.

Now that Reinado is dead and that a resolution to the petitioners problems is imminent, the International Organisation for Migration says some IDPs are looking at taking up the offer of a government relocation package and going back to their homes.

But Sofia Cason from ICG says there has been a mixed reaction among IDPs to the death of the rebel leader.

CASON: Some are worried about reactions from Alfredo supporters particularly some Easteners they think that some of the Westerners in their community will react badly so it will actually put them off returning home for a while because they are worried about repercussions. Others think that the death of A has removed the major symbol of the East/West divide and that problem will sort of die away now and they can go home.

MARCH: Meanwhile, the AMP government led by Xanana Gusmao has used the progress being made with both the petitioners and the IDP's, to slam the former Fretilin government, for being responsible for the collapse of law and order in 2006.

In a press statement, the Minister for Economic Development Joao Gonsalves said the nation has paid a heavy price for the ineptitude and self-interest of Fretilin, and that they have now had enough.

Arsenio Bano is the vice president of the Fretilin party and a member of the parliament committee for defence, security and forigin affairs.

BANO: I think he should focus on the solution because we still see uncertainty about the solution of the petitioners and we still are very uncertain about the peaceful sustainability of the country and it is not time for them to blame Fretilin because they know very well they were also contributing to the crisis

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