Plot to kill Xanana foiled<\/p>\n
DILI, East Timor (AP): United Nations police on Wednesday
\narrested three men in connection with a possible assassination
\nattempt on independence leader Jose Alexandre \"Xanana\" Gusmao,
\nwho accused political opponents linked to the Indonesian military
\nof being behind the alleged plot.<\/p>\n
Gusmao spoke shortly after police intervened during a
\npolitical gathering to arrest three men trying to push their way
\nthrough the crowd toward him.<\/p>\n
Officers found two hand grenades in an abandoned house nearby.
\nThe men were not armed at the time of their arrest, authorities
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
A police commander said they were tipped off about a plot to
\nkill the man widely expected to become East Timor's first
\npresident when it achieves independence later this year.<\/p>\n
Dacosta Sousa, the UN police commissioner in the capital,
\nDili, said officers monitored the suspects during the meeting in
\na Dili auditorium.<\/p>\n
The United Nations, which is administering East Timor as it
\nmoves from Indonesian territory to independence, has accused
\nhard-line elements within the Indonesian military of organizing
\nand training militias in an effort to destabilize the nascent
\nnation.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's U.S.-trained special forces brigade, known as
\nKopassus, was accused of organizing a number of armed incursions
\ninto East Timor since September 1999, when international
\npeacekeepers took control of the half-island territory to quell
\nviolence that followed an August 1999 UN-organized referendum on
\nindependence.<\/p>\n
Gusmao said later that the three men arrested during the melee
\nonce had close links with the Indonesian army, which occupied
\nEast Timor in 1974 and ruled it as a fiefdom for 24 years.<\/p>\n
\"I do not say they are now backed by Kopassus or the
\nIndonesian military. I only present the situation to the East
\nTimorese people,\" Gusmao said.<\/p>\n
He showed reporters a photo of one of the suspects, identified
\nas Americo Nascimento, with two Kopassus officers.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, a foreign ministry spokesman said he had no
\ninformation about the incident.<\/p>\n
\"These (accusations) must be proved,\" said spokesman Sulaiman
\nAbdulmanan. \"They could just be made to damage Indonesia's
\nimage.\"<\/p>\n
Gusmao said the suspects were members of a pro-Indonesia gang
\nthat terrorized East Timor and acted as auxiliaries for the
\noccupation forces during the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Gusmao also played a tape recording of three men discussing
\nhow to kill him in a grenade attack Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
UN officials, speaking on condition of anonymity said the
\nother two men in police custody were former members of the
\nIndonesian intelligence service.<\/p>\n
Sousa said all three had been charged with the burning of two
\nUN vehicles in Dili last month.<\/p>\n
\"We have to ask, knowing the background of these people, who
\nis provoking division among us and who is provoking revolt
\nagainst the international community,\" Gusmao said.<\/p>\n
He appeared to be referring to a spate of violent incidents
\nbetween the 2,000-strong UN police force -- which consists mainly
\nof foreigners -- and local youths.<\/p>\n
Many East Timorese say they are frustrated by the lack of jobs
\nand the slow pace of reconstruction. The territory was devastated
\nby the Indonesian army and militia gangs following a UN-
\nsupervised independence referendum 19 months ago.<\/p>\n
After the arrival of international peacekeepers, the
\nmilitiamen fled to Indonesian-held West Timor, from which they
\nhave mounted repeated armed incursions into East Timor.<\/p>\n
Two UN soldiers and numerous civilians have been killed by the
\ninfiltrators. UN officials have warned that the paramilitaries
\nmay try to disrupt upcoming elections by mounting terrorist
\nattacks inside the territory.<\/p>",
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