East Timor - Man on the Run

ABC – Foreign Correspondent - Broadcast: 13/03/2007
[NOTA: O vídeo ainda não se encontra disponível online]

Reporter: Eric Campbell
Synopsis

Alfredo Reinado escaped capture by Australian forces in the hills of East Timor ten days ago. Five Timorese were killed in the assault.

Since then there’s been an intensive manhunt for Major Reinado, the former head of East Timor’s military police.

While Reinado has managed to elude the military, including Australia’s elite SAS, he’s been tracked down in the jungle by reporter Eric Campbell.

Reinado told Campbell that he had done nothing wrong. “I never want to shoot any Australian,” he said. “I defend myself because they are firing at us first.” He says he and his men will fight if they are surrounded again.

Reinado has been a fugitive since last August when he escaped from prison. He had been accused of attempted murder during the rioting which broke out in Dili last May.
Australian military negotiators spent months trying to persuade Reinado and his armed supporters to surrender.

But when Reinado’s forces took automatic weapons and ammunition from a border post last month the East Timor government, supported by President Xanana Gusmao, asked the Australian forces to capture the renegade officer.

President Gusmao has also spoken to Eric Campbell about the Reinado affair, dismissing his excuse that border police gave him weapons to protect the people from government-backed militias. “How can a soldier living outside the institution go to a police post and borrow the weapons?” he said. “If he went here to borrow some food from them, to borrow some pencil to write his plea, but borrow the weapons! What for? This is something we cannot accept.”
Australian Brigadier Mal Rerden says his forces are not giving up the chase. “We have to obviously locate him and we’re working very hard to do that and you know the nature of the terrain it’s very rugged.”

Campbell told Rerden that he had interviewed people in the village of Sasaneh who had accused Australian forces of tying them up and interrogating them.

Brigadier Rerden responded: “Our soldiers are highly trained. They’ve been conducting their operations in a very professional manner. They have a great deal of understanding of the need for sensitivity and respect for civilians when they’re conducting their operations.”

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The Australian – March 14, 2007
Reinado will not give in to Diggers
Mark Dodd, Dili

East Timorese rebel leader Alfredo Reinado has vowed never to surrender to Australian troops and says he will defend himself if fired upon.

"I don't never have a word of surrendering. I'll surrender to justice, not to any command, any force," he said in an ABC interview broadcast last night.

Asked if he would attack Australian soldiers if he were surrounded, he replied: "I never want to shoot any Australian."

But when challenged that he had fired at Australians earlier this month, Reinado said: "I defend myself because they are firing at us first."

The former commander of the country's military police unit faces treason charges for his involvement in last year's political violence, notably a gun battle with government soldiers on the outskirts of Dili that left five dead and 10 injured. President Xanana Gusmao has asked the Australian-led peacekeeping force in Dili to arrest him.

Tensions have heightened since March 4, when Australian soldiers attacked his base in the town of Same, killing five of his supporters.

The rebel leader said he was fighting the East Timorese Government because security forces had shot dead anti-government protesters during the chaos that rocked Dili last year.

"I have to get out there and stop them because this institution belongs to the people, to stand up to defend the people, not to kill the people," he said.

Reinado was once seen as an ally of Australia and his wife and children live in Perth.
He said he doubted whether the Australian public supported the military's attempts to capture him. "The Government was responsible, I don't believe people of Australia order this," he said.
The UN yesterday admitted holding talks with Reinado's lawyers after twice denying it was involved in negotiations to secure his surrender.

Asked on Sunday and on Monday whether Atul Khare, the head of the UN mission in East Timor, had been involved in talks with Reinado's lawyers about a possible deal, UN spokeswoman Allison Cooper said he had not.

But presented with evidence obtained by The Australian, the UN has now admitted holding talks with Benevides Correia Baros, president of the East Timor Lawyers Association, who is representing Reinado.

Ms Cooper said Mr Baros, in his capacity as Reinado's lawyer, met Mr Khare last week.
It is understood the Australian Defence Force is uneasy about any UN role involving Reinado.

The ADF regards the UN's admission that it has been involved in talks as a breach of an undertaking it gave to stay clear of dealings involving the country's most wanted man.

"A perception other parties are prepared to negotiate with Reinado could undermine the ongoing operation to secure his arrest," a Western diplomatic source in Dili said.
- Additional reporting; AAP