East Timor President asks PM to resign

DILI - East Timor President Xanana Gusmao has asked Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to resign, government sources said last night.

Officials including Alkatiri met at the presidential office to discuss the demand, but the meeting ended inconclusively in the afternoon and will resume today, the sources said.

The request to Alkatiri was contained in a letter sent on Tuesday night, East Timor's ambassador in Indonesia Arlindo Marcal told Reuters.

"The letter asked the prime minister to resign because the president does not trust the prime minister any more," Marcal said.

"The deadline was actually at 5.00pm Dili time (8pm NZT) but the prime minister wants to consult this with his party first. We don't know the follow up yet," he added.

Alkatiri heads the Fretilin party that has an overwhelming majority in parliament, which has so far resisted suggestions Alkatiri should step down.

East Timor was plunged into violence in May after Alkatiri sacked 600 of the 1,400-strong army for mutiny when they protested about alleged discrimination against soldiers from the west of the country.

Since then, rebel troops and thousands of protesters have called for Alkatiri's removal, blaming him for violence that has seen youth gangs fighting, looting and burning buildings in Dili.

At least 20 people have died since the violence began.

A 2,500-strong international peacekeeping force led by Australian troops now patrols Dili.

Although regional differences have been cited as the major factor in the dispute within the military that sparked the weeks of violence, tiny East Timor's politics are complicated by many other factors.

There is resentment by those who stayed in the country to fight Indonesia's 1975-1999 occupation against those, like Alkatiri, who spent most of that period abroad.

Some also view Alkatiri and his dominant faction of Fretilin as following an outdated Marxist-leaning philosophy, and not being sufficiently friendly with the Catholic church to which most Timorese belong.

The country is also struggling with poverty and widespread unemployment, as rich natural gas resources are only beginning to be exploited.

Dili was calm yesterday, with news about the resignation request not widely known outside the government.

Portuguese news agency Lusa linked the letter to a television report that Alkatiri was involved in arming an alleged hit squad in the violence-torn nation.

Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s "Four Corners" television news programme reported on Monday that Alkatiri was present when then-Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato ordered an alleged hit squad linked to the ruling Fretilin party to eliminate rivals. Lobato has since resigned.

"Having seen the 'Four Corners' programme, which shocked me immensely, the only thing remaining is to give you the chance to decide: either resign or, after the Council of State is heard, I will dismiss you, because you no longer merit my confidence as president of the republic," Lusa quoted Gusmao's letter as saying.

Alkatiri has previously denied the hit squad reports.

East Timor was a Portuguese colony for hundreds of years before a few days of independence in 1975 were followed by an Indonesian invasion, and then annexation by Jakarta in 1976.

Indonesia was criticised by human rights group for a brutal rule responsible for anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 deaths, charges Jakarta denies.

After an overwhelming vote for independence in 1999, marked by violence blamed largely on pro-Jakarta militia with ties to the Indonesian military, an international peacekeeping force came into the territory and there was a transition period of UN administration.

East Timor became a full-fledged nation in 2002.

- REUTERS