UNMIT PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY At 16.00pm

Dili, February 11, 2008 – A shooting has taken place at the house ofPresident Jose Ramos-Horta in Dili. Several injuries were sustainedand the President is currently receiving medial attention.

The United Nations Integrated Mission regrets that such incidents havetaken place.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is safely in his office and is currentlycoordinating with UNMIT and international forces.

The United Nations Police (UNPol) is on a high state of alert and iscoordinating with the International Security Forces (ISF). A Press Conference will be held at the Obrigado Barracks conferenceroom at 4pm.

UNMIT MEDIA ALERT

UNMIT invites all media to attend its Weekly Press Briefing tomorrow: Thursday 7th February 2008 at 11.30am in Conference Room C at Obrigado Barracks. Journalists will hear from SRSG Atul Khare and Dr Nafis Sadik, UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific. For more information, please call Allison Cooper on +670 723 0453 or Hipolito Gama on +670 7311839

Disaster Operations Centre, Press Conference

The Disaster Operations Centre will be holding a inter-ministerial press conference at 2pm tomorrow, Thursday 7th of February 2008 at the Ministry of Social Solidarity's Conference Room.

This press conference will provide an update on the;

Present situation with District emergencies;
Locust in Timor-Leste and West Timor;
Early warning on high wind and rainfall forecasted for the next two weeks with risks for wind damage, flooding and landslides;
And the outlook for La Nina

Please contact us if you have any needs for further information.

In service for;Disaster Operations CentrePhone: 112 Police National Operation CentrePhone: 729 14 65 Tetum/Bahasa Indonesia 24/7Phone: 733 66 12 English 24/7E-mail: doc.ndmd@gmail.comNational Disaster Management DirectorateMinistry of Social SolidarityDemocratic Republic of Timor-Leste

Media Alert

President of Timor Leste, Dr. Ramos-Horta has conducted an official visit to Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil since 18 January 2008.

According to the plan, the head of State who also accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Zacarias Albano da Costa, will return to the country on Sunday, February, 3, 2008.

After arriving at the Prezidente Nicolao Lobato International Airport, Ramos-Horta will conduct a Press Conference to inform to the media about this visit.

Therefore, we would like to invite all journalists from various media to participate on this press conference that will be held on the President Nicolao Lobato International Airport’s conference room at around 12.30 pm

For more information please contact Ana Mota and Joel Maria PereiraInformation/Media officer Phone : 670 723 0160

Case of Abused Journalist Under Investigation

CJITL - A PNTL member of the Transition Unit who beat and used his pistol to threaten an AFP journalist, Nelson da Cruz, is under investigation. The United Nations Police Spokesperson, Benjamin Osuji, stated in a press conference held on 31 Jan, said that the case was under investigation. (STL 1/Feb/08)

RETRACTION- No offer of money from UNDP to TLPC

The story printed yesterday claiming that the Untied Nations Development Program (UNDP) was to provide USD800,000 worth of funding for a project to purchase newspapers from the Timor-Leste Press Club (TLPC) has been retracted due to serious errors in the article. The Coordinator of Timor-Leste Media Independent Development Initiative Project, Miguel Caldera, has corrected the story stating that no such arrangement has been made between TLPC and UNDP. During the meeting between TLPC and UNDP, from which the erroneous article was based upon, discussions were had over possible UNDP support for all media in the nation. No specific finances were discussed. (Timor Post 31/01/08)