During the week, the Fretilin party President, Francisco Guterres (more commonly known as Lu-Olo) suggested that foreign military and police were treating their mission here as a holiday by the sea.<\/p>\n
Although I can understand that the continued gang violence in the face of the foreign security presence may be frustrating, perhaps a few things need clarification.<\/p>\n
The foreign military forces are mainly Australian and New Zealand (and earlier, Malaysian).\u00a0 These guys are on-duty 24×7 and carry arms at all times according to normal practice.\u00a0 These guys are not permitted to eat or drink in local establishments, nor do I believe they have any down-time in TL itself.\u00a0 So these guys are off the hook.<\/p>\n
Initially, the police presence was an international contingent of OZ, NZ and Portuguese (perhaps Malaysian) but has now morphed into a UN Police force from numerous countries.\u00a0 Initially, the police were not allowed out in their down-time but that has been relaxed now.\u00a0 In the early days when the Portuguese military police were barracked in the Hotel Dili 2000, they were a common sight down at the Cristo Rei beaches.\u00a0 When most expats had been evacuated, it was pretty obvious but it is a bit harder to detect now that there are a huge number of foreign aid workers here.<\/p>\n
But you do get the impression that there are a lot of UN police vehicles moving around not actually doing much.\u00a0 Someone told me that there are a number of UN police who are not actually police back in their home country.\u00a0 And for the more professional officers from OZ and NZ, this is known to be a frustration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During the week, the Fretilin party President, Francisco Guterres (more commonly known as Lu-Olo) suggested that foreign military and police were treating their mission here as a holiday by the sea. Although I can understand that the continued gang violence … Continue reading