East Timor
Will the death of a leading rebel and shooting of the president spur peace efforts?
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| A state of emergency was imposed shortly after the assassination attempts |
Before he launched his attack on the president and prime minister of East Timor, rebel leader Alfredo Reinado claimed that prime minister, Xanana Gusmao orchestrated the turmoil which engulfed the country in 2006.
In a DVD, widely disseminated in East Timor, late last year, he threatened that “there were no guarantees” if Xanana Gusmao did not accept some responsibility for the violent unrest and resolve the impasse with Reinado.
Alfredo Reinado and his armed militia had been on the run since 2006 when he played a lethal role in initiating the uprising.
In a series of interviews he claimed that he had been manipulated by those in power but it was not until he issued his final DVD message where he explicitly named Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and threatened reprisals.
Was Alfredo Reinado a deluded murderer or a convenient scapegoat?
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This episode of 101 East aired on Friday, February 15, 2008
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