Pressure mounted yesterday on East Timor's unpopular leader to quit with more than 1,000 people on trucks and motorbikes converging on the capital escorted by peacekeeping troops.
"The most important thing is that [East Timorese Prime Minister] Mari [Alkatiri] must resign and take responsibility for all that he has done," Augusto Junior, one of the rally organizers, said in the conflict-torn capital.
Alkatiri is widely blamed for the near-daily violence that has gripped the tiny nation since April when he sacked 600 of the country's 1,400 strong army.
PHOTO: AP
The soldiers, who are from the country's east, had been on strike claiming they were suffering discrimination from those in the west, who are generally seen as more pro-Indonesian.
Alkatiri on Sunday reiterated his refusal to resign, saying he would only quit "if gunfire is heard all around -- not now."
But since the weekend the clamor for his departure has grown, culminating in yesterday's rally with dozens of trucks packed with protesters and hundreds of motorbikes gathering at his offices on the Dili waterfront.
"Bring down Alkatiri," shouted protesters from trucks draped in banners, one saying, "Dissolve the government of Alkatiri."
The reasons for his unpopularity among the wider East Timorese community are complex, starting with his Yemeni origin and Muslim religion in a deeply Catholic country where local ties and former colonial power Portugal remain major influences.
The east-west dynamic is also a sensitive issue in East Timor, which fought a long guerrilla campaign for independence from its much larger neighbor that erupted in widespread bloodshed after a breakaway vote in 1999.
"The eastern and western districts together bring down Alkatiri. If he doesn't resign war will not end," read a banner on another truck as it headed into the capital.
The leader of the rally, Augusto Araujo, met with Xanana Gusmao, East Timor's popular president who led the country fight for freedom. He has so far refused to bow to calls to sack Alkatiri.
When their meeting ended Gusmao came out and addressed the crowd for 13 minutes in a speech punctuated by applause, but which failed to address the issue of Alkatiri's resignation.
"I have to tell you that I promise that starting this year the people need not suffer anymore," Gusmao said, standing on top of a car.
At one point a tear fell from the president's left eye as he explained that what burdened him was the people with weapons that were terrorizing the people, burning houses and stealing.
Araujo is a friend of Major Alfredo Reinado, who says he is in command of the 600 soldiers sacked by the prime minister last month, Junior said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese