Subject: [reg-easttimor 137] Fw: Gusmao to resign as guerrilla commander on Sunday
From: Koshida Kiyokazu <koshida@jca.apc.org>
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 22:06:58 +0900
Seq: 137

シャナナ・グスマオがファリンテル司令官を辞任する。２０日から開かれるCNRT全
国大会で、シャナナの司令官辞任が正式に発表される予定だ。CNRT全国大会では、
４５０人の参加者が５つの委員会に分かれて新生東ティモールの政策について話
し合う。

Forwarded by Koshida Kiyokazu <koshida@jca.apc.org>
---------------- Original message follows ----------------
 From: Joyo@aol.com
 Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 15:05:13 EDT
 Subject: Gusmao to resign as guerrilla commander on Sunday
--

Gusmao to resign as guerrilla commander

JAKARTA, Aug 19 (AFP) - Xanana Gusmao will resign on Sunday as commander of 
the Falintil guerrilla army which fought for East Timor's independence from 
Indonesia.

Gusmao, who has led Falintil for more than 19 years, wants to concentrate on 
his role as political leader of the UN-administered territory which is moving 
toward full independence, National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) 
spokesperson Ines Almeida said.

"It is time for him to give it away. He can't do both the military and the 
political," Almeida told AFP by telephone from East Timor.

Gusmao's resignation comes on the eve of the first-ever congress of the CNRT, 
of which he is also president. The congress opens Monday and runs until 
August 29.

The bearded Gusmao, 54, will transfer command to his deputy, Taur Matan Ruak, 
during a celebration marking the 25th anniversary of Falintil, known in 
Portuguese as the Forcas Armada de Libertacao Nacional de Timor-Leste.

Almeida said the ceremony will take place south of Dili in the mountain town 
of Aileu, which served as Falintil's headquarters after an international 
peacekeeping force landed and Indonesian forces withdrew last year from the 
former Portuguese colony they invaded in 1975.

After the previous Falintil commander was killed by Indonesian troops in 
1979, Gusmao emerged to rebuild the decimated guerrilla forces.

He spent 17 years in East Timor's mountains until Indonesian soldiers 
captured him in November, 1992. He was released last September.

During his imprisonment, Gusmao became president of the CNRT. Members of 
three old East Timorese political parties formed the CNRT as a successsor to 
the earlier National Council of Maubere Resistance to direct the struggle for 
independence. 

Now, with its goal achieved, the CNRT will meet in its first ever congress to 
seek ways to redefine itself.

"The time for CNRT is supposed to be over," a knowledgeable observer said 
>from Dili. "The (political) parties should be doing their own thing outside 
of 

Since late last year the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor 
(UNTAET) has been running the territory in close co-operation with CNRT 
officials.

Almeida said the 450 congress delegates will form five commissions to examine 
a variety of issues including a new structure for CNRT, its relations with 
UNTAET, and future national and international policies for the world's newest 
nation.

The congress ends on August 29, one day before first-anniversary celebrations 
of the UN-supervised August 30 vote in which East Timorese overwhelmingly 
chose independence, despite a terror campaign by Indonesian-backed militias.

The militia campaign of murder and destruction intensified after the vote and 
left much of the half-island in ruins. 

Hundreds of thousands of East Timorese were forcibly expelled or fled the 
violence. Most went to Indonesian West Timor where more than 120,000 refugees 
remain, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The agency says 
168,500 refugees have returned to East Timor.