Word: fretilin
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...coalition made up of his own party, the National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor, the Timorese Social Democratic Association, the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Party. The coalition holds 37 of the Parliament's 65 seats, giving it a substantial majority over the former governing party Fretilin, which won 21 seats in the June 30 elections. Fretilin's leaders, notably its general secretary, former prime minister Mari Alkatiri, argue that having won more seats than any other party Fretilin is entitled to run the country. Alkatiri has refused to cooperate with Gusmão's government...
...Within minutes of Ramos-Horta's announcement Fretilin activists, most of them from Timor's eastern provinces, poured into the streets from their refugee camps dotted around the capital, Dili. They set up barricades of tires, stones and bushes wherever roads bordered the camps, and from behind them launched rock attacks on passing cars. In the grounds of Dili hospital, Fretilin supporters living in tents pitched in the grassy courtyards between the wards emerged to taunt westerners living nearby. As the shouting turned into fighting, UN police, New Zealand soldiers and Portuguese Republican National Guard with riot gear and bullet...
...country's east, the new Prime Minister's talk of national unity fell on deaf ears. At Metanaro, hundreds of refugees erected huge Fretilin banners across the main highway, then blockaded it with rocks and logs. The road quickly became a no-go zone for the UN, with a policeman posted to stop UN vehicles from approaching after several were badly damaged by rocks. In Baucau seven buildings were torched and in Viqueque seven more were destroyed. At Quelecai, south-east of Baucau, fighting was continuing between pro-Fretilin youths and supporters of other political parties when TIME visited...
...violence began to ease in Dili, Alkatiri announced he would encourage a campaign of civil disobedience across the country. His statements - and his party's refusal to recognize the new government - have damaged Fretilin's already tarnished reputation. Former interior minister Rogerio Lobato is serving a seven-and-a-half-year jail term for arming a hit squad in the lead-up to last year's unrest. And just before the June election, the Fretilin-controled parliament voted to grant amnesties or reduce sentences for serious crimes relating to the violence of 2006, although the resolution was never signed into...
...Realistically, though, Fretilin will have to reach out to the No. 2 party if it wishes to be part of a governing bloc. No one said that democracy would be easy...