EMBOFFS MEET WITH ALLEGED FRETILIN "SECRET SECURITY" FORCE

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DILI 000303

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, CA, DS
NSC FOR HOLLY MORROW
PACOM FOR POLAD
REL AUS/UK/NZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/9/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINS ASEC TT
SUBJECT: EMBOFFS MEET WITH ALLEGED FRETILIN "SECRET SECURITY" FORCE


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CLASSIFIED BY: Grover Joseph Rees, Ambassador, EXEC, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary. U.S. Embassy and United Nations Mission in
Timor-Leste (UNOTIL) PolOffs met today with the leaders of the
"Fretilin Secret Security" force in their mountaintop compound
outside of Liquica. The group, comprised entirely of former
Falintil resistance fighters, showed PolOffs the weapons given
to the group at the order of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and
Minister of the Interior Rogerio Lobato. Railos, the leader of
the group, stated that the group was established soon after the
April 28 demonstrations to act as a hit squad assigned to kill
petitioners, certain opposition party members, disloyal Fretilin
partisans, and anti-Alkatiri Church officials. They first
showed these weapons publicly several days ago in a
widely-broadcast ABC Australia story. Railos indicated that the
group is ready to disarm, but will only hand over the arms to
President Gusmao. The group claims there is at least one other
armed pro-Fretilin group in the western districts. An Embassy
source reports that a number of Fretilin members have told him
they knew about the arming of the Railos group several weeks
ago. End summary.


2. (C) Political officers from the U.S. Embassy and UNOTIL
traveled to a remote mountain village two hours west of Dili
yesterday to meet with a group of former veterans who identify
themselves as the "Fretilin Secret Security" force. The group
of 31 men is currently staying on the compound of former
Indonesian-era Governor, Mario Carascalao, who is also a
prominent opposition party leader.


3. (C) Railos, former Falilintil resistance fighter from the
Liquica area and the leader of this new force, provided PolOffs
with a chronology of the group's establishment and its contacts
with senior GOET officials. During the meeting, he was
accompanied by a former local staff member of UNDP's Dili office
and by Dr. Lucas da Costa, who is President of one of East
Timor's largest private universities and one of the few Fretilin
delegates to vote against Alkatiri in the recent Fretilin Party
Congress.


4. (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) According to Railos, on May 5 at around
8 p.m. he received a call from then Minister of the Interior
Rogerio Lobato. Lobato told Railos to gather former Falintil
fighters at the district Fretilin Party office in Liquica.
Railos said approximately 100 veterans attended the meeting and
that because of the size of the group Lobato refrained from
providing specific details about the armed groups he wanted to
create, but that Lobato did ask the men to "cooperate with the
Government to create stability." Railos claims he was contacted
the next day by Lobato and asked to come to Dili as soon as
possible. Railos, accompanied by fellow veterans Harakat and
Leandro Lobato (Note: All three of these men were later
delegates at the Fretilin Party Congress),went to Lobato's
house in Dili on the evening of May 7. After spending 15
minutes with Lobato, Railos reports that the group was taken
down the street to the temporary residence of Prime Minister
Alkatiri where they met in a secure room with the PM, Minister
Lobato, and Border Patrol Unit (BPU) Commander Antonio da Cruz.
The Prime Minister did not outline his "mission" for the group
during this meeting, but after speaking to them for a few
moments about the importance of being a dedicated member of
Fretilin and reminding them how the party needs them now more
than ever to win the 2007 elections, Alkatiri reportedly told
Lobato "I think we can trust them with the equipment now."


5. (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) Railos reports that on May 8 he and his
men were given ten HK33 automatic rifles by BPU Commander da
Cruz. A few hours later, he said he was called by Lobato and
given the following mission: a) "deal" with the petitioners to
ensure they do not return to Dili and threaten the Alkatiri
Government; b) eliminate certain opposition leaders including
Democratic Party (PD) Secretary-General Fernando Lasama de
Araujo and the PD district co-ordinator for Liquica; and c)
shoot anti-Alkatiri members of Fretilin such as Lucas da Costa
and eliminate "radical priests" like Father Domingos Soares
("Padre Maubere"),who was central in the organization of the

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anti-Alkatiri Church-led demonstration of May 2005. (Comment:
Railos spoke far more extensively about his instructions to kill
certain key members of the group of petitioners than about the
other elements of his alleged mission. Both U.S. Embassy and
UNOTIL PolOffs believe it is possible that instructions for
dealing with the other targets may have been fabricated for
consumption by the foreign press. On the other hand, these
instructions could have been delivered to the group with a lower
level of detail than the instructions regarding the petitioners,
or could have been described to them as secondary assignments to
be carried out after the operation against the petitioners. End
comment.)


6. (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) Railos and his group conducted no
operations during the first two weeks after they were given the
arms, although he did say he was in frequent contact with Lobato
and also spoke on occasion with the Prime Minister. Railos
reports that on May 21 BPU Commander da Cruz provided them with
an additional seven HK33s and one shotgun. Sources indicate
that these weapons likely came from BPU officers from the East
who had abandoned their posts along the land border to return
home.


7. (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) According to Railos, on May 23 when
violence broke out between Major Reinado's group of dissident
MPs and the Timorese military (F-FDTL),Minister Lobato, upon
hearing rumors that the petitioners would come down from Gleno
to attack Government forces, called Railos and asked that he and
his men proceed to Tibar (a few miles to the west of Dili) to
"deal with the petitioners". Railos and his group put on the
green striped uniforms given to them by Lobato and used the two
GOET vehicles they had also been given to travel to Tibar. Once
in Tibar, Railos claims he realized that most of the petitioners
were from the same area as his men and many of them were distant
relatives or friends. Thus, Railos claims he and his men simply
warned the petitioners against going to Dili and convinced most
of them to return to Ermera district. Railos and his group,
however, remained in Tibar and also claim to have dissuaded
several youth gang members from going closer to Dili. (Note: An
EmbOff who passed through Tibar on the afternoon of May 23 has
confirmed that he saw a group that fits the description of
Railos and his men, with the same distinctive uniforms and
weapons.) In the fight that ensued at daybreak on May 24
between the F-FDTL and dissident forces, Railos' group lost four
men. Railos said the bodies were recovered by the Red Cross on
May 25 and were then taken back to Liquica and buried.


8. (S/REL AUS/NZ/UK) Railos says he had several phone
conversations with Lobato and at least one with Alkatiri after
the events of May 24. Railos and his group were extremely angry
over the lack of sympathy from Alkatiri and Lobato over the loss
of the four men. According to Railos, the two GOET leaders were
initially upset with his group for having failed to kill the
leaders of the group of petitioners, but in subsequent telephone
conversations tried to convince Railos that he and his group
were still central to Fretilin's plans. Railos said it was out
of anger at this lack of sympathy that he contacted the
journalist from ABC Australia to come and interview him and view
his group's weapons. Since the ABC story aired, Railos has had
no contact with Alkatiri or Lobato. (Comment: PolOffs believe
there might have been another reason why this group quickly
turned against Alkatiri and Lobato. It is possible that they
were promised money or some other form of compensation that was
not delivered when the group failed to carry out Lobato's
instructions in Tibar.)


9. (C) When questioned about what conditions his group was
placing on disarming, Railos stated that he wanted to speak
directly to President Gusmao and would only hand over his
group's weapons if he could do so directly to the President. He
also requested that the town of Liquica where most of his men
live be patrolled by an international force, as they fear
retaliation from Alkatiri and Lobato. (Comment: News of this
group's whereabouts is widespread in Dili, and the compound

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where they were staying did not appear well protected.)


10. (C) Railos concluded by stating that his group is not the
only one of its kind. He claims there is also another
pro-Fretilin armed group in Ermera, known as Group 5-5, which
was allegedly given between 12 and 16 weapons from the Timorese
police (PNTL) armory by then-Minister Lobato's chief of staff.


11. (C) EmbOff met today with Dionisio Babo Soares, a member
of the Superior Council on Defense and Security, and with Agio
Pereira, President Gusmao's Chief of Staff, to discuss the
Railos group. Soares stated that various moderate members of
Fretilin had informed him that they had known for several weeks
about the arming of this group. The President's Chief of Staff
told EmbOff that Railos had contacted him early in the morning
on May 24. Railos reportedly called to report the death of four
of his men to the President. Pereira suggested that if this
group was indeed armed by the Prime Minister, he would face
"serious legal consequences." Although Pereira did not mention
to Emboffs the possibility that the President would dismiss
Prime Minister Alkatiri on account of this matter, the President
himself suggested this possibility to Ambassador in a recent
conversation that will be reported in septel.
REES