Colimau 2000

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Map of the activities of Colimau 2000 in East Timor

Colimau 2000 ( Kolimau 2000 , in the rarely used long version Comando Libertasaun Maupe , German  command for the liberation of the Maetze ) is an organization in East Timor . The number of members is estimated at several hundred.

Colimau is a word from the Kemak language and means something like "hate one another" . Colimau is also the name of a village ( administrative office and municipality of Bobonaro ), but in which Bunak live.

classification

Colimau 2000 is a collecting tank for former fighters of the pro-Indonesian militias , the FALINTIL liberation army and for disappointed farmers. This is driven by frustration with the economic situation and the resulting social problems. Large parts of the population also regard the unfulfilled expectations of independence as a failure of the FRETILIN government at the beginning of independence. Colimau 2000 questioned the legitimacy of this government and is rumored to be converting to a party in order to gain broader support. To this end, Colimau reinvented itself in 2000 as a movement for national unity (MUN). One of the main demands is the change of the national flag of East Timor , as this is a symbol of FRETILIN. The Christian cross is to be added to the flag. The Partido Unidade Nacional PUN ( Party of National Unity ) emerged from this movement . Under its founder Fernanda Borges , she took part in the 2007 parliamentary elections and entered parliament . Leading members of Colimau 2000 are members of the PUN. The party received support from the Diocese of Dili .

In addition to its political activity, the organization shows strong religious traits. The Catholic Church sees Colimau 2000 as a sect , which is denied by members. Its members believe resurrected resistance heroes will emerge from the jungle to lead them to victory. Since Colimau 2000 has its sphere of influence in the immediate vicinity of the Indonesian border and from there still receives support for the refugee camps, it is accused of a certain susceptibility to manipulation. The traditional, animistic belief to which the majority of the population still belonged in the 1970s plays a role here.

Colimau 2000 also appears to be involved in petty crime and extortion. Members of the organization were arrested again and again in the period before the Atsabe incident in 2003 for terrorizing neighbors and extorting money. However, some sources consider Colimau 2000's reputation undeserved. The group would be linked to incidents that they had nothing to do with.

structure

Osorio Lequi (2012)

The leaders of Colimau 2000 are Osorio Lequi ( Ozorio Leque , Osorio Leki , Osório Leki ) and Bruno da Costa Magalhães ( Dr. Bruno ). Former rebel Gastão Salsinha is also said to be a leading member. The majority of the members, who are mostly illiterate, come from the western communities of Ermera and Bobonaro, but the organization is also active in the state capital Dili .

A center of power is the village of Leimea-Craic in the Hatulia administrative office (municipality of Ermera), where two thirds of the population supported Colimau 2000. The inhabitants belong to the Kemak ethnic group . The organization came to the region in 2000 with the return of refugees from the 1999 riots from West Timor . Colimau gained a lot of sympathy among the residents of Leimea-Craic in 2000 when they invited a Catholic priest to consecrate land for a future church. This case of support from the Catholic Church contradicts the basic animistic features of Colimau 2000.

history

Originated during the occupation

Colimau was originally founded in 2000 during the Indonesian occupation (1975-1999) as a secret underground resistance movement. It has its roots in the religious group Sagrada do Coração de Jesus (Sacred Heart of Jesus), which emerged in the mid-1980s. The founders were Martinho Vidal from Hatu-Builico and twelve other people. Over time, three members joined the resistance against the Indonesians. One operated from Colimau in Bobonaro, one in central East Timor and one in the east. In contrast to other groups who practiced traditional magic, the group had chosen Jesus as a symbol. In 1994/95 the Indonesian military district command ( Kodim ) of Bobonaro began to generally refer to the members of the resistance as Colimau . In the 1990s, Martinho is said to have had a dream that East Timor would be liberated from the Indonesians in 2000. Indeed, this happened at the end of 1999 with the intervention of the international intervention force INTERFET . In a cave called Ai Turi Laran , on the outskirts of Dilis, Martinho declared his dream a prophecy in front of his twelve followers and local traders. This spread quickly. In November 1998, the group participated centrally in a very controversial attack on the Indonesian military in Alas ( Manufahi municipality ). Several weapons were stolen from the headquarters of the sub-district ( Koramil ). Colimau 2000 was part of the Conselho Nacional de Resistência Timorense ( National Council of the Timorese Resistance CNRT ), but resigned from it in August 1999, which makes it impossible for her to legitimately participate in the government and administration of the now independent East Timor. The member in Colimau was killed in the Indonesian operation Donner in the independence referendum . The others dispersed and fled to the mountains or to West Timor.

The original members no longer became active, but in 2000 a new generation of leaders began with Gabriel Fernandes , Osorio Lequi and Bruno Magalhães. It finally took over the name Colimau 2000 . From 2001, contacts began with the Associação dos Antigos Combatentes ( Association of Former Combatants ), an unofficial veterans' organization supported by the later FRETILIN Interior Minister Rogério Lobato . Originally the association was called Força Base de Apoio AAC ( Armed Forces of the Resistance Base ). After independence, several violent incidents with other veteran groups occurred in Atabae , Maliana and Suai , which resulted in several Colimau 2000 leaders being jailed. In Dili, rumors spread about a place called Orsenaco (derived from Organisação Resistência Social Cooperativa ) near Turiscai . Colimau 2000 is supposed to build holy houses that represent the different regions of the country. According to other information, Orsenaco is an agricultural commune whose members share the work equally, with their own “bishop” and “priests”. This municipality rejects the East Timorese government and denies outsiders access.

Raids in Atsabe 2003

Colimau 2000 has been linked to the 2002 riots in which the house of Prime Minister Marí Alkatiri was burned to the ground . In January 2003, members of the Colimau 2000 were accused of raiding the village of Atsabe (municipality of Ermera) in which a total of seven people died. The Sucos Tiarlelo and Laubono in the Atsabe administrative office were attacked by up to 15 bandits masked with balaclavas with automatic weapons and old Indonesian uniforms. Three people were killed and five injured. The East Timorese Defense Forces F-FDTL then sent 180 soldiers to the region for police duties.

In the neighboring administrative office of Hatulia, Colimau 2000 members killed two buffalo and stole a horse in the village of Samara . When members of the F-FDTL were surrounded by 2000 Colimau people, the soldiers shot into the air to defend themselves.

50 people, including 39 Colimau 2000 members, were arrested, but the courts released all suspects because the rule of law was not complied with when they were arrested. Among the prisoners were the Bishop of Colimau and their commander-in-chief. The victims in Samara and Atsabe protested in writing to the state government.

A few months later, Bruno Magalhães was arrested because he met militia leaders in Atambua, West Timor , and allegedly received weapons there. However, he was released five months later as innocent. In an interview, Bruno said that the militias were actually created by pro-independence advocates to create instability in Indonesian-occupied East Timor. One should now unite all former resistance groups under the "banner of the Southern Cross " in Orsenaco. At the end of January 2004, the Indonesian military chief of West Timor accused Colimau 2000 of planning together with the former anti-independence militias to destabilize East Timor as soon as the UN peacekeeping forces left the country. As a result of the rejection by public opinion and the arrests, Colimau initially disappeared from the political scene in 2000.

Unrest in East Timor in 2006

From the end of April 2006, shortly after the withdrawal of the last UN soldiers, riots broke out in East Timor after 600 soldiers of the East Timor’s Defense Forces mutinied and were released. Osorio Lequi called for Prime Minister Alkatiri to resign at a mutineer demonstration in Dili. Shootings broke out on the fifth day of the demonstration. Ethnic conflicts and fights between youth gangs followed, which have flared up again and again since then. An official government announcement on April 28 accused "young opportunists connected to Osorio Lequi" of being responsible for the violence in Dili in late April. Likewise the PDRT , of which Lequi was still secretary general in 2011. In this context, ETAN called Colimau 2000 a rent-a-mob . When the unrest in Dili broke out again in early September 2006, however, the members of Colimau 2000 behaved in a peaceful and disciplined manner. This year Colimau-2000 and PDRT members gathered in the movement towards the national unity MUN.

In mid-August 2006, fighting broke out in Zumalai between Colimau 2000 and the Saka Izoladu group , in which one person died. The population fled the area.

A serious incident that occurred a few days earlier was reported on November 16, 2006. Youngsters from Colimau 2000 from Ermera and other places attacked an offshoot of the Perguruan Setia Hati Terate (PSHT) Martial Arts Club in the village of Estado . The East Timorese Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta said that according to unconfirmed information there were four dead. Ten houses were also burned down. Prime Minister Ramos-Horta flew to the scene of the attack in a helicopter to get an idea of ​​the situation. Special police forces have been deployed to the region. A witness testified that around 600 youths from Colimau 2000, armed with samurai swords, machetes, spears, bows and arrows and rifles, attacked the martial arts club. The attack appears to be an act of revenge after PSHT members beat up a member of Colimau 2000 on November 2. Eight people were later arrested in connection with the attack on the club.

Street fighting in Maubisse was reported on November 22nd . Locals had quarreled with members of Colimau 2000 when these residents tried to force Maubisse to join the organization. One person was killed and another injured. When the police tried to intervene, one officer was beaten to hospital.

See also

literature

  • Andrea Molnar: An Anthropological Study of Atsabe Perceptions of Kolimau 2000. A New East Timorese Religious Cult or Internal Security Problem? Anthropos, 99 (2): 365-380, 2004.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dennis Shoesmith: Political Parties and Groupings of Timor-Leste , Australian Labor International ( Memento of May 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b c d Kabar-irian, October 30, 2006, Dili gangs linked to political players ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i ETAN, September 15, 2006, A Survey of Gangs and Youth Groups in Dili, Timor-Leste (PDF; 3.1 MB)
  4. ↑ a b c Greenleft Australia, May 10, 2006 ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Douglas Kammen: Fragments of utopia: Popular yearnings in East Timor , Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 40 (2), pp. 385–408 June 2009, doi: 10.1017 / S0022463409000216 .
  6. ↑ UNMIT Situation Report, January 19-25, 2007 ( Memento from May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) ( MS Word ; 125 kB)
  7. ↑ Suara Timor Lorosae, June 28, 2007
  8. ↑ a b c d ETAN, February 1, 2003
  9. ^ Vandra Harris, Andrew Goldsmith: Security, Development and Nation-Building in Timor-Leste: A Cross-sectoral Assessment . Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series. Taylor & Francis, 2012, ISBN 978-1-136-80669-8 ( text excerpt , Google Books ).
  10. ↑ The Age, Report on the Jan. 2003 Atsabe Incident
  11. ↑ ETAN, January 23, 2003
  12. ↑ a b The Australian: Four believed dead in more Timor violence, November 16, 2006 , accessed February 6, 2016.
  13. ↑ ASAP, 28./29. January 2004 ( Memento from August 11, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ WSWS, July 29, 2006, How Australia orchestrated “regime change” in East Timor
  15. ↑ UNMIT: Governance of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste - Accountability Mechanism of Key Institutions , Second Edition, December 2011. ( Memento of the original dated February 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 3.2 MB)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / unmit.unmissions.org
  16. ↑ UNMISET, 12.-14. August 2006 ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.unmiset.org
  17. ↑ a b ABC news, November 22, 2006, One killed, two injured in fresh E Timor violence ( Memento from January 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive )