Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DILI439
2006-08-29 02:56:00
SECRET//NOFORN
Embassy Dili
Cable title:
PRESIDENT GUSMAO CONCERNED ABOUT CAPE VERDE SRSG CANDIDATE
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 DILI 000439
SIPDIS
NOFORN
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS, IO
USUN FOR RICHARD MCCURRY
NSC FOR HOLLY MORROW
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/29/2016
TAGS: CV PO TT KPKO UN PREL KDEM PHUM
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT GUSMAO CONCERNED ABOUT CAPE VERDE SRSG CANDIDATE
REF: DILI 429
DILI 00000439 001.2 OF 002
CLASSIFIED BY: Grover Joseph Rees, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy
Dili, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
(1) (S/NF) Summary: President Xanana Gusmao told Ambassador
Rees today that he is deeply concerned about reports that former
Cape Verde President Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro might be
appointed to head the new United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste
(UNMIT). Gusmao said it would take Monteiro or almost any other
new Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) at
least a year to understand the political situation in East
Timor, and that this could seriously hinder efforts to ensure a
level playing field for the 2007 elections and to improve the
national police, the armed forces, and the justice system. He
expressed a strong preference for the reappointment of current
SRSG Sukehiro Hasegawa, who he said understands these problems
and knows that new approaches will be needed to solve them.
Gusmao's chief of staff told Ambassador that the President is
particularly concerned that Monteiro would see East Timor
through the prism of the Community of Portuguese Speaking
Nations (CPLP),many of whose leaders have close relationships
with former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and his "Mozambique
clique." End Summary.
(2) (S/NF) Ambassador met with President Gusmao today to
discuss a wide range of topics. A full report on the
President's observations on the current situation in East Timor
will follow in Septel. Much of the meeting was devoted to a
discussion of UNMIT, and particularly on Gusmao's concern about
reports that Mascarenhas Monteiro is about to be appointed to
head the mission.
(3) (S/NF) Gusmao said he has met Mascarenhas Monteiro but does
not know him well enough to make a detailed assessment of his
character or capabilities. He predicted, however, that it would
take Mascarenhas Monteiro or almost any other new SRSG at least
a year to understand the political and social situation in East
Timor. This would result in an unfocused UN mission that would
offer no serious resistance to efforts by the Fretilin party
leadership, dominated by Alkatiri and the Mozambique group, to
rig the national elections that must be held in early 2007.
Gusmao told Ambassador that he had sent a letter to Secretary
General Kofi Annan (see Reftel) urging that Hasegawa be
reappointed to head the new mission and that he remain at least
until after the elections. He said he believes Hasegawa has
become acutely aware of past mistakes made by the international
community including the UN, as well as by the Timorese
themselves, and that he would insist that the elections be
organized and conducted in such a way as to produce a free and
fair outcome. Gusmao said he believes Hasegawa also understands
UN efforts to retrain the police, the armed forces, and the
justice system must be directed in large part to ensuring that
these institutions not be manipulated to perpetuate the power of
any party or faction. In the President's opinion, Hasegawa
would be more likely than a new SRSG to insist that UN advisors
promote "best practices" rather than assisting Timorese
officials in using the machinery of the state to pursue narrow
political objectives.
(4) (S/NF) In the course of discussing his opposition to
Mascarenhas Monteiro and support for Hasegawa, President Gusmao
touched briefly on what he regards as the continuing support by
the external Lusophone community, and particularly by the
government of Portugal or at least important elements within it,
for former Prime Minister Alkatiri and his political faction.
(Please strictly protect.) The President's chief of staff, Agio
Pereira, elaborated on this aspect of Gusmao's concerns in a
separate conversation with Ambassador that immediately followed
the meeting with the President. He said the President believed
Mascarenhas Monteiro would almost certainly see East Timor from
the perspective of the external Lusophone community and
particularly of the CPLP. According to Pereira, during the
recent crisis elements in the CPLP and particularly the
Government of Portugal put pressure on Gusmao not to seek
Alkatiri's resignation. He added that many Portuguese-speaking
DILI 00000439 002.2 OF 002
UN advisors in East Timor had participated in a concerted effort
to support Alkatiri and to portray the President's actions as
unconstitutional and imprudent. Pereira says the President fears
that a mission headed by Mascarenhas Monteiro would be dominated
by these elements, and that this would be counterproductive to
the tasks of promoting genuinely participatory democracy and
professional justice and police systems. (Please strictly
protect.)
(4) (S/NF) Pereira said he believes the continuing affection for
Alkatiri and his faction within the external Lusophone community
--- which is in sharp contrast to their extreme unpopularity in
East Timor --- is due in part to Alkatiri's single-minded and
inflexible efforts to impose the Portuguese language on an
unwilling population and in part to effective lobbying by
Minister of State Administration Ana Pessoa and other Alkatiri
associates in Lisbon and other Lusophone capitals.
(5) (S/NF) Comment: President Gusmao's belief that Hasegawa
would vigorously support fair elections and correct approaches
to policing and the justice system is consistent with the
assessment of most like-minded observers, including Embassy
Dili. It is nevertheless remarkable that the President and his
chief of staff Pereira --- both of whom have longstanding ties
to Portugal and who regard the Portuguese language and culture
as an important part of Timor's heritage --- should express
concern about the appointment of a leading Lusophone political
figure to head the UN mission. Unfortunately, they are right in
believing that a big part of the next SRSG's job will be to
dismantle the network of UN-provided advisors who, under the
rubric of "Timorese ownership", assisted the Alkatiri
government's efforts to misuse the police, the military, the
justice system, and the electoral machinery. End comment.
WHITMAN
REES
SIPDIS
NOFORN
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS, IO
USUN FOR RICHARD MCCURRY
NSC FOR HOLLY MORROW
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/29/2016
TAGS: CV PO TT KPKO UN PREL KDEM PHUM
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT GUSMAO CONCERNED ABOUT CAPE VERDE SRSG CANDIDATE
REF: DILI 429
DILI 00000439 001.2 OF 002
CLASSIFIED BY: Grover Joseph Rees, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy
Dili, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
(1) (S/NF) Summary: President Xanana Gusmao told Ambassador
Rees today that he is deeply concerned about reports that former
Cape Verde President Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro might be
appointed to head the new United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste
(UNMIT). Gusmao said it would take Monteiro or almost any other
new Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) at
least a year to understand the political situation in East
Timor, and that this could seriously hinder efforts to ensure a
level playing field for the 2007 elections and to improve the
national police, the armed forces, and the justice system. He
expressed a strong preference for the reappointment of current
SRSG Sukehiro Hasegawa, who he said understands these problems
and knows that new approaches will be needed to solve them.
Gusmao's chief of staff told Ambassador that the President is
particularly concerned that Monteiro would see East Timor
through the prism of the Community of Portuguese Speaking
Nations (CPLP),many of whose leaders have close relationships
with former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and his "Mozambique
clique." End Summary.
(2) (S/NF) Ambassador met with President Gusmao today to
discuss a wide range of topics. A full report on the
President's observations on the current situation in East Timor
will follow in Septel. Much of the meeting was devoted to a
discussion of UNMIT, and particularly on Gusmao's concern about
reports that Mascarenhas Monteiro is about to be appointed to
head the mission.
(3) (S/NF) Gusmao said he has met Mascarenhas Monteiro but does
not know him well enough to make a detailed assessment of his
character or capabilities. He predicted, however, that it would
take Mascarenhas Monteiro or almost any other new SRSG at least
a year to understand the political and social situation in East
Timor. This would result in an unfocused UN mission that would
offer no serious resistance to efforts by the Fretilin party
leadership, dominated by Alkatiri and the Mozambique group, to
rig the national elections that must be held in early 2007.
Gusmao told Ambassador that he had sent a letter to Secretary
General Kofi Annan (see Reftel) urging that Hasegawa be
reappointed to head the new mission and that he remain at least
until after the elections. He said he believes Hasegawa has
become acutely aware of past mistakes made by the international
community including the UN, as well as by the Timorese
themselves, and that he would insist that the elections be
organized and conducted in such a way as to produce a free and
fair outcome. Gusmao said he believes Hasegawa also understands
UN efforts to retrain the police, the armed forces, and the
justice system must be directed in large part to ensuring that
these institutions not be manipulated to perpetuate the power of
any party or faction. In the President's opinion, Hasegawa
would be more likely than a new SRSG to insist that UN advisors
promote "best practices" rather than assisting Timorese
officials in using the machinery of the state to pursue narrow
political objectives.
(4) (S/NF) In the course of discussing his opposition to
Mascarenhas Monteiro and support for Hasegawa, President Gusmao
touched briefly on what he regards as the continuing support by
the external Lusophone community, and particularly by the
government of Portugal or at least important elements within it,
for former Prime Minister Alkatiri and his political faction.
(Please strictly protect.) The President's chief of staff, Agio
Pereira, elaborated on this aspect of Gusmao's concerns in a
separate conversation with Ambassador that immediately followed
the meeting with the President. He said the President believed
Mascarenhas Monteiro would almost certainly see East Timor from
the perspective of the external Lusophone community and
particularly of the CPLP. According to Pereira, during the
recent crisis elements in the CPLP and particularly the
Government of Portugal put pressure on Gusmao not to seek
Alkatiri's resignation. He added that many Portuguese-speaking
DILI 00000439 002.2 OF 002
UN advisors in East Timor had participated in a concerted effort
to support Alkatiri and to portray the President's actions as
unconstitutional and imprudent. Pereira says the President fears
that a mission headed by Mascarenhas Monteiro would be dominated
by these elements, and that this would be counterproductive to
the tasks of promoting genuinely participatory democracy and
professional justice and police systems. (Please strictly
protect.)
(4) (S/NF) Pereira said he believes the continuing affection for
Alkatiri and his faction within the external Lusophone community
--- which is in sharp contrast to their extreme unpopularity in
East Timor --- is due in part to Alkatiri's single-minded and
inflexible efforts to impose the Portuguese language on an
unwilling population and in part to effective lobbying by
Minister of State Administration Ana Pessoa and other Alkatiri
associates in Lisbon and other Lusophone capitals.
(5) (S/NF) Comment: President Gusmao's belief that Hasegawa
would vigorously support fair elections and correct approaches
to policing and the justice system is consistent with the
assessment of most like-minded observers, including Embassy
Dili. It is nevertheless remarkable that the President and his
chief of staff Pereira --- both of whom have longstanding ties
to Portugal and who regard the Portuguese language and culture
as an important part of Timor's heritage --- should express
concern about the appointment of a leading Lusophone political
figure to head the UN mission. Unfortunately, they are right in
believing that a big part of the next SRSG's job will be to
dismantle the network of UN-provided advisors who, under the
rubric of "Timorese ownership", assisted the Alkatiri
government's efforts to misuse the police, the military, the
justice system, and the electoral machinery. End comment.
WHITMAN
REES