(16 Jun 2006)
Maubisse
1. Wide of Alfredo Reinado, leader of rebel group, (standing centre) with other armed men
2. Pan from weapon to soldier's face
3. Various of Reinado leading his men to give weapons to Australian peacekeepers
4. Various of Reinado lining up with men
5. Various of Reinado ordering his men to take out magazines from weapons
6. Various of Reinado giving weapons to Australian peacekeepers
7. Various Australian peacekeepers closing shipping container housing weapons
8. Soldiers looking at container
9. Close-up of Alfred Reinado smoking a cigarette with his soldiers
10. Reinado with his soldiers without weapons
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Alfredo Reinado: Lieutenant Commander of dismissed soldiers:
"Everybody has to cooperate. That's also just another mechanism or element to get to the objective. Which doesn't mean that I hand over my weapon, I solve the problem."
Dili
12. Journalists interviewing Brigadier Mick Slater
13. SOUNDBITE (English): Brigadier Mick Slater, Australian Army:
"Those weapons that we are attempting to have handling, I think that will happen over the next few days till a week. There are so many weapons in this country though, I don't think that, in my lifetime, we'll get all of the guns handed in. There will be guns hidden in the hills for many, many years to come."
14. Wide shot of Slater talking to journalists
STORYLINE:
A renegade East Timorese military commander and about 30 of his followers turned in their weapons at the request of the president on Friday, but warned that peace won't last if Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri remains in power.
Lieutenant Commander Alfredo Reinado, leader of a campaign to oust Alkatiri, handed over his rifle and ammunition to Australian peacekeepers at a Portuguese villa on a mountaintop overlooking Dili where he and his rebel troops have been based for more than a month.
Reinado and his supporters laid down 12 automatic rifles, four pistols and an unknown amount of ammunition to start a disarmament process seen as vital to ending the recent violence that has threatened to plunge the fledgling nation into civil war.
Reinado minimised the significance of the disarmament in finding a lasting solution to East Timor's current crisis.
"That doesn't mean that I hand over my weapon, I solve the problem," he told reporters in the villa near the village of Maubisse, referring to a need for a political solution.
He said peace and justice cannot be achieved in East Timor while Alkatiri remains in power.
Alkatiri, whose ruling party is likely to win elections next year and who was re-elected party leader last month, has refused to go unless he is voted out of office.
Reinado was one of 600 soldiers fired by Alkatiri in March in a move that triggered armed conflict within the military ranks and overflowed into mob violence in Dili.
More than 30 people have died and the UN refugee agency estimates nearly 150,000 have fled their homes, but peacekeepers from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore have managed to maintain relative peace in Dili's streets this week.
Friday's surrender of weapons was secured by President Xanana Gusmao, who telephoned Reinado on Thursday night and promised to meet him in person soon to discuss the crisis.
Reinado and his group of around 30 troops agreed to turn in their weapons after a written order from Gusmao was delivered by the president's envoy.
Reinado argues that only the president, a critic of Alkatiri, has power under the Constitution to fire him.
Government officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
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