East Timor's rebel leader yesterday rejected an agreement designed to end the chaos that has engulfed the tiny nation and demanded the sacking of the country's embattled prime minister.
Major Alfredo Reinado said President Xanana Gusmao had made a "mistake" when he took emergency control of the police and military but resisted calls to sack Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.
"This it's not a solution, he [Alkatiri] is a criminal and should not be allow to stay as prime minister," Reinado said, as sporadic arson attacks continued in the capital.
PHOTO: AP
"That is the mistake that the president has made," he added.
Reinado was speaking by mobile phone from his base outside the capital Dili, where he is holed up with nearly half the country's 1,400-strong military sacked by Alkatiri after going on strike over alleged ethnic discrimination.
Clashes between government and rebel forces quickly descended into gang warfare between rival groups from the east and west of the country who went on a burning and looting rampage in the capital.
After two days of crisis talks in the capital, as mobs battled with swords and machetes nearby, the hugely popular Gusmao on Tuesday announced 30 days of emergency rule and the sacking of the defense and interior ministers.
In a statement he said he was "implementing the necessary measures to prevent the violence and avoid further fatalities" as well as for the "rapid re-establishment of public order."
Reinado would not comment on whether the rebels were ready to surrender their weapons to the 2,250 troops from Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand. Some 120 Portuguese paramilitaries will arrive today.
But Alkatiri denied that Gusmao, a former guerrilla leader regarded as a national hero, had full control of the military. The prime minister insisted he still commanded wide support.
"Defense and security are still part of the government and I am the head of the government," Alkatiri told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"If my party decided to call for a rally we would get up to 100,000 or more people in the streets," he added. "I will be prime minister until the next election."
The US renewed its travel advisory after a day of fresh running battles between gangs of masked youths on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed concern about the violence and described the withdrawal of a UN mission last year, which had operated since independence in 2002, as premature.
"It's really sad and tragic that we have to relive this experience again in East Timor," Annan said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number