REBELS ATTACK TIMOR-LESTE PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DILI 000040

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR EAP- MARCIEL AND EAP/MTS
PACOM FOR POLADS - CHRISTY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/11/2018
TAGS: PGOV ASEC AS TT
SUBJECT: REBELS ATTACK TIMOR-LESTE PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER

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CLASSIFIED BY: Henry M. Rector, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S.
Embassy Dili, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (U) Summary. On the morning of February 11, a small group
of rebels affiliated with fugitive military dissident Alfredo
Reinado mounted coordinated attacks on Timor-Leste President
Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Ramos-Horta
was seriously injured and has been flown to Darwin, Australia
for hospitalization. Xanana Gusmao was uninjured. Reinado and
one of his men were killed, and the remainder of his group
remains at large. Dili has remained calm throughout the day,
but the Prime Minister and Acting President have requested that
Australia provide additional troops to the International
Stabilization Force (ISF) already deployed in the country as
well a separate group of police to maintain public order.
Australian PM Rudd has agreed, and also intends to visit
Timor-Leste soon in order to demonstrate solidarity. As of 1830
local time on February 11, Xanana Gusmao was consulting with the
Council of State and the Superior Council for Defense and
Security, the two bodies of government legally mandated to deal
with national emergencies. The GOTL has announced a 48-hour
formal state of emergency with a curfew in effect from 8 p.m. to
6 a.m. End summary.

Gunmen Attack President, Prime Minister

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2. (SBU) The following account of the February 11 shootings is
based on preliminary information; some of the details are
subject to verification. At about 6:30 a.m., Timor-Leste
President Jose Ramos-Horta was just outside of his residence
taking his morning walk. At least one vehicle stopped outside
the house. Major Alfredo Reinado, the armed military dissent
who has been at large since August 2006, entered the compound
and reportedly told the household staff that he intended to take
President Ramos-Horta into the bush. One of the President's
bodyguards recognized Reinado and open fire, killing him. At
the sound of the shots, Ramos-Horta came back into his house and
Reinado's followers opened fire, hitting the President twice in
the abdomen. The President's bodyguards then shot and killed
one gunman. The remnant of Reinado's men fled. An ambulance
was summoned and the President was taken to Aspen Clinic, an
Australian contract facility supporting the International
Stabilization Force (ISF),where he underwent surgery.


3. (SBU) Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao learned of the attack
just after the ambulance was called to Ramos-Horta's compound
and immediately left his residence. About 200 meters down the
road, his convoy was ambushed by a group of armed men who had
been lying in wait all night, according to local residents. The
Prime Minister's security detail recognized them as known
associates of Reinado, and a firefight ensued. No one was
injured, although the two vehicles in the PM's convoy were
disabled. The gunmen escaped. One of the Prime Minister's
security guards flagged down a mini-bus and had it take Xanana
Gusmao back to his residence.

PM Convenes UNMIT, ISF

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4. (SBU) At about 10:00 a.m., Xanana Gusmao met with Finn
Reske-Nielsen, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary
General and acting head of the United Nations Integrated Mission
in Timor-Leste (UNMIT),and ISF Commander Brigadier James Baker.
Confusion still reigned this point, with the principals unsure
whether Reinado was among those killed. The group decided to
task the ISF, Armed Forces of Timor-Leste (F-FDTL),National
Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL),and UN Police Mission in
Timor-Leste (UNPOL) to develop a plan to apprehend the remaining
shooters and maintain public order.

Xanana Gusmao Requests Australian Help

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5. (SBU) Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao then placed a call to
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. According to Australian
DCM, Rudd reaffirmed his commitment to Timor-Leste and expressed
his intention to demonstrate this with a visit to the country
over the next several days. Gusmao immediately agreed to this,
and requested that PM Rudd augment the current level of the ISF
(about 800 troops). Rudd agreed. Following the phone call, PM
Gusmao followed up with a letter requesting "enhancement of the
ADF presence in Timor-Leste and a separate contribution of
police." The letter was cosigned by Vicente da Silva Guterres
as Acting President and Maria da Paixao de Jesus da Costa as
Acting President of the National Parliament. (Fernando Lasama
de Araujo, the President of the National Parliament, would
normally serve as Acting President, but he is on official travel
to Lisbon. He plans to return to Dili on February 12. The job
of Acting President therefore falls for the moment to the Acting
Speaker of Parliament, Vicente Guterres.)

Deputy PM, ForMin Reassure Diplomatic Corps

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6. (SBU) At about 11:00, it was confirmed to the GOTL that
Alfredo Reinado was among the dead. Deputy Prime Minister Jose
Luis Guterres and Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa announced
this at a briefing for the diplomatic corps convened at 12:00
p.m. at the Foreign Ministry. During this briefing, the two
Ministers provided the account of the shooting as stated in
paras 2 - 3 above, and expressed some concern that Reinado's
supporters in Dili and the country's western districts might
react violently when they learned of his death. They stressed
that Dili had remained calm, and stated that the GOTL intended
to proceed as usual to the greatest extent possible. They said
that an ongoing conference of Ministers for Social Affairs from
Portuguese-speaking countries would continue, and that they were
not asking the Irish Foreign Minister to reschedule next week's
planned visit. The Ministers noted that foreign civilians had
not been targeted in past episodes of unrest, and that foreign
nationals in Timor-Leste had no cause for concern. In response
to a question from Charge, the Ministers could not provide
information concerning ongoing operations against the fugitive
gunmen, but said that ISF and Timorese police and military would
pursue the perpetrators.

Xanana, GOTL Present United Front To Press

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7. (U) At about 2:00 p.m., the Prime Minister held a press
conference. Xanana Gusmao was accompanied at the event by
Acting President Guterres, F-FDTL Commander Taur Matan Ruak,
National Police Commander Alfonso de Jesus, and Prosecutor
General Longhinos Monteiro. He confirmed that Reinado was dead,
and updated the media on Ramos-Horta's condition.


8. (U) Xanana Gusmao then sought to lay to rest a rumor that
Reinado himself had been betrayed and ambushed en route to a
meeting with Ramos-Horta. He called for calm, and announced
that he was about to convene the Council of State and the
Superior Council for Defense and Security, two bodies that have
legal and constitutional responsibilities in times of national
emergency. He said that the decisions coming out of these
meetings would likely entail some temporary restrictions on
movement and other freedoms. He called for the people's
cooperation and understanding of such measures.

Ramos-Horta Airlifted to Darwin

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9. (SBU) At 3:15 p.m. local time, President Ramos-Horta was
airlifted to Darwin, Australia for hospitalization. According
to Australian DCM, the President's condition was serious but
stable and the "doctors believed he would survive."

F-FDTL Confined To Base

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10. (SBU) MilRep reports that F-FDTL Commander Brigadier Taur

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Matan Ruak has ordered the Timorese military confined to base at
this time, and that this order is being obeyed.

FRETILIN Reaction

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11. (C) The opposition FRETILIN party, which over the past
several weeks has associated itself with and even disseminated
some of Reinado's criticisms of the current government, issued a
strong condemnation of the attacks especially given "the
President's tireless efforts to find a mechanism of national
consensus to find solutions" to Timor-Leste's problems. Less
helpfully, the media release quoted FRETILIN Secretary General
Mari Alkatiri insinuating that lapses (or worse) by UNMIT and
the ISF were to blame for "breaches in security" that led to the
shootings.

PM Consults On Next Steps

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12. (U) In the late afternoon of February 11, the Prime
Minister convened two bodies to consult simultaneously on next
steps. These were the Council of State and the Superior Council
for Defense and Security. The Council of State, as defined by
Section 90 of the Constitution, is an advisory body to the
President made up of a mix of appointed members and government
officials. The Superior Council for Defense and Security,
described in Section 148, is a consultative entity on matters
relating to defense and sovereignty, comprising both civilian
and military officials. We have no word on the outcome of these
deliberations except that the GOTL has invoked a 48-hour state
of emergency and imposed a curfew from 8:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m.

Comment

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13. (C) Based on available evidence, today's events were not a
coup attempt, but rather a failed assassination. There seems to
have been no effort to replace the current government, but
merely to decapitate it. Post attributes the non-violent
reaction thus far in part to the fact that by attempting to
murder two undisputed heroes of the resistance, Reinado
forfeited any support he might have enjoyed. Secondly, the fact
that Reinado died in this incident leaves his erstwhile
supporters without a leader to rally around. However, we do not
rule out the possibility of unrest in coming days, either in
Dili or in the western districts where Reinado enjoyed
considerable popularity.
RECTOR