This comes from a La’o Hamutuk press release. La’o Hamutuk is a non-governmental organization that is a reliable source of information in Timor-Leste.

La’o Hamutuk calls on the military and civilian commanders of Australian and other foreign soldiers in Timor-Leste to direct their soldiers to avoid involvement in local politics, including asking Timorese citizens their political views or encouraging them to identify with one political grouping or another.

We recently received the attached letter from Mr. Mateus Fernandes Sequeira, Chefe do Suco of Lore I (Lautem District), which describes Australian and New Zealand military observers inviting local residents to a community meeting on 23 February. After arriving by helicopter, the soldiers asked the residents to raise their hands if they like the AMP government better than the previous one.

We hope that the incident in Lore I is an isolated case (although we have heard otherwise), and encourage the commanders of foreign troops here to make sure that nothing like this happens again.

Following on from earlier, this is from a press release today:

In response to a Press Release issued by Amnesty International (AI) on 8th March, in which it is claimed that President Jose Ramos-Horta now supports calls for an International Tribunal for the crimes committed between 1975 and 1999, the President clarifies:

"I remain firmly unconvinced that the interests of the victims of my country and the cause of peace and democracy are best served with an International Tribunal".

The AI Press Release inaccurately reported and thus misrepresented the discussion the President had with elements of Amnesty International during his recent short engagement with the University of Bradford.

On Monday, Amnesty International sent out a press release that began like this:

The President of Timor-Leste has told Amnesty International he would support the establishment of an international criminal tribunal for crimes committed during the 1975-1999 occupation by Indonesia, should the UN Security Council set it up.

This is a complete 180 from what Ramos-Horta has been saying in the past. I have audio of him saying there will "never" be an international tribunal. So what's happened? Why has he changed his mind? Has he been misquoted or misinterpreted, or is he playing some kind of weird game by trying to score popularity points because deep down he is still sure there won't be an international tribunal?

It's difficult to fathom because he isn't in the country at the moment. Surely at least one journalist will bring this up during his current world tour. We're all dying to know what's going on.

The Jakarta Globe yesterday ran a story with the headline Indonesian Military Doubts Talk of E. Timor Military Tribunal, so apparently not everyone is convinced by the Amnesty press release.

Military spokesman Air Vice Marshall Sagom Tamboen said that he doubted Amnesty International’s claim.

He said East Timor’s ambassador to Indonesia, Manuel de Araujo Serrano, on Monday visited Military Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso at his headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, and stressed his country’s willingness to build better ties with Indonesia, especially with the military.

"So it means that there is no problem between the two countries. The Indonesian military is even seen by East Timor as a reference for the establishment of its armed forces," Tamboen said.

Last year, Louis Gentile, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told me, "To ask for accountability of the individuals who did really horrible things in no way undermines that [relationship] – it only strengthens it."

Tamboen himself said, "The main spirit of the agreement is that what happened in the past would be left behind and both countries would move forward together by building mutual relationships," referring to the Truth and Friendship Committee established by Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

Tamboen then calls the Amnesty press release "propaganda". I've emailed Amnesty and am waiting to hear back from them. We'll see how this one plays out.

Timorese newspaper STL carried a story last week in which police inspector Mateus Fernandes said members of CPD-RDTL and Bua-Malus were launching a coup in Timor-Leste. This is in relation to the "ninja" farce that has been gripping the nation.

How can two groups as small CPD-RDTL and Bua-Malus launch any kind of coup? It's just nonsensical. There's a full-scale police operation going on in Kovalima and Bobonaro. How on earth there could be any sort of coup in Timor-Leste is beyond me.

We're hearing all sorts of reports about human rights violations committed by the police in those districts.

This is the most telling part of the STL story:

Fernandes said that excessive use of power was exercised in order to restore peace and stability in the country, particularly in the districts of Bobonaro and Kovalima.

And then this…

He also mentioned that there is also widespread rumor amongst these groups that that the hands of the PNTL are not tightly tied up with the existing agreement with the UN.

He said that there is such provision but if the people are crying for help, then PNTL are ready to restore peace, stability and tranquility in the country.

That looks to me like a big FU to the UN, no?

CPD-RDTL and Bua-Malus aren't angels. They have created trouble in the past, but nothing that would warrant a full-on paramilitary response by the nation's police force.

CPD-RDTL is a disaffected group doesn't recognise the current state or constitution. Bua-Malus is a kind of sect that mixes animism and Catholicism, I'm told. Last week a bunch of Bua-Malus guys were brought to Dili by the police. They had apparently been issuing Bua-Malus ID cards. It wasn't clear what else they'd done or even if they'd done anything illegal.

The police seem well and truly out of control.

Angie Pires was cleared in Dili today. Twenty-three men were sentenced up to 16 years. Four men got off. I have photos from the trial on my Flickr. I was filing for AFP today, but there are lots of stories on the trial, if you're interested. Everyone was there from Australia, including ABC, The Australian and AAP.

It was a struggle getting to grips with the Portuguese. A lot of the local journalists left confused. Pires looked calm to begin with, but as the trial progressed she almost broke down. Lots of tears and shaking of her head. She looked absolutely exhausted after this seven-month debacle.

She had prepared a statement for the press and said there was never any doubt she would walk free. I can't imagine what she is feeling today, but spare a thought for the 23 men who were sentenced. Theirs is perhaps the bigger story.