Mario de Queiroz, Lisbon – With less than a week to go to the presidential elections in East Timor, the violence has not let up in this small island nation that was born in May 2002 after nearly five centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and 25 years of brutal occupation by Indonesia.
In the Apr. 9 elections, voters will choose the successor to Josi Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, a leader of the guerrilla struggle against the Indonesian occupation who is currently president of one of the smallest and poorest nations in the world, with a total territory of 15,000 square kilometres and 400 dollars a year in per capita income.
The candidates with a real chance of winning are Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta, an independent backed by Xanana Gusmao, and Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin), who is backed by former prime minister Mari Alkatiri (2002-2006).
Also running for the largely ceremonial post of president are Avelino Coelho of the Socialist Party of Timor, Lzcia Lobato of the Social Democrat Party, Xavier do Amaral of the Timorese Social Democratic Association, and independent candidates Manuel Tilman, Joco Carrascalco and Fernando "Lasama" de Arazjo.
Voter registration surpassed expectations, with more than 500,000 people registering out of a population of 1.063 million, as indicated by statistics that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative in East Timor, Finn Reske-Nielsen, provided to Portuguese correspondents on Mar. 29.
The elections will be overseen by around 1,000 local observers and some 100 foreign experts who have received training from the UNDP, and according to Reske-Nielsen, the process should go smoothly, with neither logistical nor security problems.
But the continuing instability in this Pacific island nation means the elections will be held under the vigilant gaze of a heavily armed international peacekeeping force, in accordance with a Feb. 22 UN Security Council resolution, which extended the mandate of the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) for another year and authorised police reinforcements.
Violence has continued intermittently since June 2006, after rebel officer Alfredo Reinado, a former military police chief, escaped from prison with a group of followers. From their hideout in the mountains surrounding Dili, they have incited the activities of gangs made up of youths from the city's slums.
The election campaign has become the latest excuse for street violence, like clashes between supporters of different candidates, who threw rocks at each other Wednesday, leaving an estimated 30 people injured.
Local authorities have asked for help from Portugal, given the growing tension caused by the increasing presence of Australian peacekeeping troops.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a Hercules C-130 of the Portuguese air force transported to Dili 77 members of Portugal's National Republican Guard to reinforce the UN police contingent in East Timor, which occupies half of the island of Timor, located southeast of the Indonesian archipelago and north of Australia.
The international peacekeeping force is led by Australia, which has deployed 1,100 troops. They are treated with suspicion by the local population, who fear that the country will become a kind of Australian protectorate.
The governments of Australia and East Timor are caught up in a longstanding dispute over the demarcation of their territorial waters. The underlying conflict is over who has the right to exploit the immense oil and natural gas deposits beneath the Timor Sea.
Since its empire fell apart in the mid-1970s, Portugal has been especially careful in its relations with its former overseas territories. In the case of East Timor, it appeals to the friendly relations with many local residents and the political leaders, who were mainly educated in schools and universities in Portugal.
Portugal is taking part in the peacekeeping force with 220 National Republican Guard troops, who were sent in response to a direct request by the government of East Timor.
The election campaign began on Mar. 23. The majority of violent incidents have occurred in Dili. But on Mar. 27, stones were lobbed at the headquarters of Fretilin in Liquiga, 34 km from the capital.
A day later, in Viqueque, 220 km from Dili, stones were thrown at the entourage of candidate Ramos Horta, and 24 hours later, demonstrators threw sharp objects at the motorcade of supporters of "Lu Olo" Guterres. In none of the cases were the aggressors identified.
In statements to the Portuguese news agency Lusa, Catholic priest Martinho Gusmao, spokesman for the National Electoral Commission, urged the candidates to keep their supporters under control but said the elections would be held as scheduled. "We must not blow this out of proportion. We regret what has happened, but these cases are not going to stand in the way of the elections," he said.
The priest took analysts by surprise Wednesday by coming out in favour of a candidate, "Lasama" de Arazjo.
Ramos Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace laureate and the candidate with the strongest chance of replacing Xanana Gusmao, also downplayed the violence, in a telephone interview with IPS from Dili.
Over the past year, "the violence has been localised in Dili, and only in a few neighbourhoods of the city actually. There is a mistaken perception that the violence is a nationwide phenomenon, but that's not true," he said.
Ramos Horta said that despite the violent incidents that have been occurring for almost a year, "crime levels in Dili are no higher than in the large cities of Asia, or in Rio de Janeiro or Johannesburg. The difference is that these and other cities have police forces that are strong enough to do something about the gangs."
The candidate said the future will be complex, but not impossible to deal with. "Our police force fell apart in late April 2006, and we are now trying to reorganise it. Until we are able to do that, we depend on the UN police, who are unfamiliar with the city, the gangs and their leaders. But little by little we are regaining the initiative."
On Tuesday, Ramos Horta announced that if he loses the elections, he will quit politics and retire to private life.
The crisis erupted in late April 2006 after nearly 600 East Timorese soldiers led by Major Reinado were fired after they went on strike, complaining about ethnic discrimination and poor pay and conditions. The crisis led then prime minister Alkatiri to resign.
Many of the members of the military were former guerrillas who had spent years fighting the Indonesian occupation army. One-third of the population of East Timor was killed during the invasion and occupation.
When Reinado was interviewed in his hideout by the Portuguese Lusa agency last month – refusing to speak in Portuguese, and insisting on English – he said he was opposed to what he sees as "neo-colonisation" of East Timor through the increasing influence of Portugal
Gertrudes Lambiza, who was a UN humanitarian aid official during East Timor's transition to independence (2000-2002), told IPS that "many international functionaries and diplomats from English-speaking countries fuelled a systematic campaign in that period to prevent Timor from choosing Portuguese as a second language after Tetum." Both are now the official languages of East Timor.
Besides the internal conflicts among factions disputing power, "there is also still a clear division between the 'pro-English' and 'pro-Portuguese' camps," said Lambiza. (END/2007)