News

Disturbances in Dili 3rd May 2006 Reliable news of the events in Dili over the last week has been hard to come by however it seems that demonstrations by people dismissed from the army were joined by other groups who turned it into a riot in which possibly as many as twelve people (reports of deaths vary wildly) have been killed. Some cars have been burned in the center of Dili and some stalls are reported to have been burned in the two main markets. Many people were/are sheltering at the Dom Bosco monastery and there are reports of people sheltering at a military base on the west side of Dili. Some reports say there has been another incident at Tasi Tolu where the army chased the rioters into the hills   Final Report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) The CAVR report covers the period from 1974 to 1999 and urges increased attention to crimes committed before 1999, including the 99% of the total murders committed under the Suharto dictatorship, which received strong backing from foreign governments. UN-sponsored justice processes have so far limited their work to 1999.   Cyclone hits Timor Managed to speak to Narciso last night, he's in Dili for a few days, he once again thanks solidarity here for their ongoing support, pipes are continuing to be laid despite terrible weather conditions. Narciso told me they had had much needed rain, crops were coming along great then high winds started. Says most of the crops have been destroyed - they are going to do a salvage exercise when the weather improves. As usual Narciso did not say how bad the weather was, he doesn't like to worry us or sound moaning. Just received the report below this morning which says East Timor was hit by cyclone "Daryl". It's telling that it hasn't been mentioned by western media, but then neither was the famine - guess there aren't many western holiday makers that will be effected. Looks like there will once more be food shortages throughout East Timor. Lidia Tyneside East Timor Solidarity. Subject: LUSA: *Tropical storm destroys homes, crops* East Timor: Tropical storm destroys homes, crops Dili, Jan. 19 (Lusa) - Tropical cyclone "Daryl" has battered East Timor for the past week and already destroyed 200 houses and corn crops in several districts of the new nation, a Dili official said Thursday. A source in Timor's natural disasters bureau told Lusa that the worst-affected region was Atauro Island, about 25 km north of Dili, and an official on the island said one village had been without electricity for four days due to storm-damaged power lines. The category 2 storm is currently off the north coast of Australia and expected to ease as it moves south over the weekend. EL/CJB. Lusa         More Australian Oil Blackmail HABURAS FOUNDATION Rua Celestino da Silva, Farol, Dili, Timor-Leste P.O. Box 390, Telp: +670-7232851, +670-3310103 Media Release 14 November 2005 AusAID ‘Blacklists’ East Timor NGOs over Timor Sea Comments Australian aid agency (AusAID) has effectively ‘blacklisted’ 13 East Timorese NGOs for speaking out over East Timor’s maritime boundary dispute with Australia. The 13 NGOs are to be denied funding for ‘openly criticizing Australia’ in press releases dated 29th of September 2004 and 27th of October 2004. The press releases called for the maritime boundary to be set fairly according to international legal principles. AusAID’s decision to deny funding to these NGOs follows the earlier withdrawal of funding from Forum Tau Matan (FTM), one of the signatories to the press releases. Demetrio do Amaral de Carvalho, Director of Haburas Foundation, said “we were told by AusAID that because FTM was denied funding, AusAID must be consistent and not fund other organizations that signed the same press releases”. “East Timorese civil society is being punished by Australia for speaking out about something that affects all East Timorese people. This is a restriction of our freedom of speech and a breach of our human rights” said Mr Carvalho. “Haburas Foundation was called in to meet with AusAID on 10 November to be told we would not get funding for our project supporting environmental education in schools, because we had signed the press releases last year” said Mr Carvalho. “We were told that unless Canberra changes its view, AusAID would not be funding the NGOs that signed the releases”     AusAID confirmed in Senate Estimates Committee hearings on 3 November that the decision was taken at the ministerial level to withdraw Australian aid funding from Forum Tau Matan over the press releases calling for a fair maritime boundary. The 13 NGOs signing the September and October 2004 press releases were: · Haburas Foundation (recipients of the Goldman International Environmental Prize 2004) · HAK Association (Association for Law, Rights and Justice), · La’o Hamutuk (Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis), · Sahe Institute for Liberation, · Kdadalak Sulimutu Institute (founded by Nobel Prize winner Bishop Belo), · Timor Leste Community Radio Association (AKRTL), · Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP), · KSTL (Timor-Leste Trade Union Confederation), · Labour Advocacy Institute for East Timor, · FOKUPERS ( East Timor Women’s Communications Forum), · Forum Tau Matan (FTM) · LABEH (Mirror for the People) · and Timor Leste Students Association · contact: Demetrio do Amaral de Carvalho, Executive Director, Haburas Foundation and The Goldman Environmental Prize Recipient for 2004 + 670 723 2851 haburaslorosae@yahoo.com       Pictures From the concert. Thanks to everyone who helped Tyneside East Timor Solidarity     1 Oct 2005 - Report from Mehara by Narciso Narciso, who lived in Winlaton for five years, with others from the village of Mehara have taken the initiative and organised a local NGO co-op. They have planted crops and are now hoping for rain. Failure of rainy season for the last 3 yrs led to crop failure and famine, resulting in malnutrition and a large death-toll in an already weakened society.  Government assistance was to say the least unhelpful (read G8 report in archives for further details). Building and other co-operatives are also being set up.   Tyneside East Timor Solidarity hopes to raise enough money to pay for repairs to Mehara’s water supply so villagers don’t have to walk 5 miles, for drinking water and to help with the irrigation of crops, thus lowering dependancy on the rainy season, and ensuring families in the area are fed. Repairs to water pipes in other villages in the Los Palos area have been carried out   Tyneside East Timor Solidarity and THE MEDICAL FOUNDATION FOR THE CARE OF VICTIMS OF TORTURE are proud to present:Tekee media’s A Journey to East Timor A multimedia experience Featuring Live performance by Australian Clarinettist Ros Dunlop and composer Martin Wesley-Smith films and animations by:award winning film maker and journalist Max Stahl Adam Gartell and Christine Tancred · St Thomas,s Church, Haymarket, Newcastle upon Tyne · Tuesday 11th Oct 2005 · 7:30pm doors open 6:30pm · Entry £5.50 waged - £2.50 unwaged (proceeds to support the continuing work of the above groups) · Max Stahl with John Pilger filmed Death of a Nation bringing the plight of the people of East Timor to the general public. Tour details:   ~http://www.shoalhaven.net.au/~mwsmith/ttttour4.html   Report by ETAN Jan 2004 Mehara population without clean water The head of the Village in Mehara, Sub-District of Tutuala, District of Lautem, Amadoro Miguel, said that the population of Suco Mehara does not have access to clean water. He said that the population has being waiting for the past two years and every day the population has to walk seven kilometers to fetch water.b