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Timorese rebel set to surrender

A fugitive soldier wanted over the coordinated attacks that nearly killed East Timor's president is negotiating the terms of his surrender, the nation's military chief said yesterday.

Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak said officials had been talking to Gastao Salsinha, who tops the list of those most wanted over last month's attacks.

Salsinha, for his part, indicated in a brief message that he would emerge from hiding "some time in the future" to help end the crisis draining the impoverished nation.

"We are preparing the conditions for him to come down [from the mountains]. I see that he has been cooperating well," Matan Ruak told reporters, referring to Salsinha, after meeting acting president Fernando de Araujo.

"Make use of this opportunity that has been provided by God to do something good for yourself, for the people and for the nation," he urged the rebels.

Salsinha was the right-hand man of rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, who led his group in the Feb. 11 assaults on Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and President Jose Ramos-Horta.

Reinado and one of his men were killed when they attacked the residence of Ramos-Horta, who was seriously injured, while Gusmao escaped unharmed from an ambush on his convoy.

The president, who won the Nobel peace prize for helping lead East Timor to independence from Indonesia, is recovering at a hospital in Darwin, Australia, and has said he has forgiven his assailants.

Matan Ruak did not reveal details of contacts between government officials and the rebels, but said Salsinha and "a large group of his men" were now in Ermera, just south of Dili.

He also did not say when the surrender would take place.

However he said authorities have been given until the end of this month, when a curfew period expires, to track down all those wanted in connection with the attempted assassinations.

In a short telephone text message, Salsinha said that "some time in the future I will come down to contribute to peace and stability and bring an end to the crisis."

"Fighting for justice means we have to abide by justice," he said.

Salsinha has repeatedly vowed he would not "surrender," arguing this implies defeat, instead preferring "coming down from the hills."

On Saturday, another of Reinado's many lieutenants, Amaro da Silva Susar, surrendered to authorities, while seven other wanted rebels followed suit the next day.

Authorities have issued 23 arrest warrants for renegade soldiers accused of taking part in the attacks last month.

Operations to capture the soldiers have been conducted by a joint force of East Timor armed forces and police. Australian-led international peacekeepers, along with UN forces, have been helping with the search.

The parliament on Monday agreed to recommend that the government set up an international commission to investigate the assassination attempts.

Ramos-Horta is reported to have responded well to five operations to repair injuries caused by bullet wounds to the back and chest.

International forces were originally sent to East Timor at the government's request after friction in 2006 between military and police factions led to an upsurge in street violence that left 37 people dead.
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