A rebel leader in East Timor yesterday rebuffed demands for his group to disarm immediately, saying he would only hand over the weapons directly to President Xanana Gusmao.
Vincente da Concecao has reportedly alleged that Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri paid his group of retired guerrilla fighters to ensure he was re-elected as the Fretilin party leader last month, but broke away from him.
Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta traveled to a mountain village outside Liquica, 30km west of Dili, to ask da Concecao to follow Gusmao's order and hear his account of what happened.
Greeted by traditional tribesmen in warrior garb and feather headdresses, Ramos-Horta asked that da Concecao follow the example of Major Alfredo Reinado, the leader of 600 rebel soldiers who began giving up arms last Friday.
"East Timor doesn't need weapons. We need food, medicines. We don't need weapons," the Nobel peace prize winner, who was guarded by Australian peacekeepers during his visit, told the militiamen.
"Everybody should cooperate with President Xanana," he said.
But da Concecao refused to do so immediately.
Proper authority
"I will only give these weapons to the president because they are evidence," he said, referring to his allegations. He did not elaborate.
Ramos-Horta, who is also defense minister, said the men wanted to hand over the arms.
"They don't want to keep these weapons, they want to get rid of them. But they want to get rid of them through proper authority, and that is our head of state and commander-in-chief, who would in turn surrender these weapons to force commanders," he said.
He said da Concecao and his group had asked that they be given protection "for their well being as witnesses."
"What I heard was very disturbing in regard to the allegations that weapons were distributed to civilian individuals," he said.
"I do not form a judgment about whether these allegations are based on solid evidence. The truth can only be established by the international commission of investigation," he said, referring to a probe backed by the UN which began work last week.
The foreign minister said that he would convey da Concecao's message to the president, who would decide when he would be able to make the journey to accept the weapons.
"These elements have shown [themselves] to be very disciplined, but they were given orders by others," he added, without specifying who distributed the weapons.
Meanwhile, Australian-led multinational forces fanned out across the capital yesterday amid reports that opponents of Alkatiri were planning a major protest this week.
Huge protest
The security alert came as peacekeepers announced they had arrested a "person of interest" who "posed a significant threat to security."
At least seven Malaysian armored personnel carriers and four Australian tanks patrolled the main Comoro highway leading into the capital, converging outside the headquarters of Alkatiri's Fretilin political party.
"This is a coordination between the Malaysian and Australian forces. We are expecting a huge protest tomorrow [today], and we want everyone to be safe," the commander of the Malaysian forces, Colonel Nazri Cheelah said.
Australian and Malaysian sol-diers armed with assault rifles and in full combat gear flagged down suspicious-looking vehicles and searched for weapons.
The tanks blocked a portion of the Comoro highway leading into Dili, causing a minor gridlock.
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