Thousands flee gang violence in east Timor
Tens of thousands of East Timorese fled their burning capital, Dili, or sought refuge in churches, embassies and at the airport today as gangs terrorised neighbourhoods virtually at will. Foreign peacekeepers dispersed some militants, who quickly regrouped.
The United Nations evacuated hundreds of employees, while its special representative in Dili said more international peacekeepers may be needed to restore order in the capital.
The violence engulfing the nation that proudly declared itself independent in 2002, three years after a referendum that triggered widespread violence by militias linked to the Indonesian military, resembles the upheaval that convulsed East Timor in 1999.
Rival gangs torched homes and battled with machetes for a third straight day, today. Around the clock fires across the city filled the sky with dark clouds of smoke.
Australian troops rumbled toward the sound of gunfire in armoured personnel carriers, but seemed to only briefly scatter combatants.
A Cabinet meeting was scheduled for Monday amid speculation that the government may soon collapse or that parliament will be dissolved – Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has called the violence an organised plot to overthrow him.
The UN special representative to East Timor, Sukehiro Hasegawa, said goodbye to around 300 staff members being evacuated to Australia, while cautioning that more peacekeepers may be needed to end the lawlessness. He appealed to leaders not to fan the flames of hatred.
“They have a difference of views in how to manage the country and the (situation) is very, very fragile in their state,” he told reporters.
Japan joined Australia and the US and other nations in pulling out non-emergency staff, as nearly 200 Chinese nationals sought shelter at the country’s embassy.
More than 60 Filipinos were also evacuated today on a Philippine air force plane. China said it would send a charter plane on Monday to evacuate its nationals.
A week of bloodshed has killed at least 27 people, probably more, raising concerns that one of the world’s youngest nations is plunging into a civil war, seven years after its traumatic break for independence from Indonesia’s iron fisted rule.
At midnight tonight, the city was still burning as Black Hawk helicopters roared overhead and armoured personnel carriers rumbled through town. Fires triggered gas explosions and roads were strewn with charred, smouldering debris.
About 27,000 East Timorese have sought refuge at shelters, said Robert Ashe, regional representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. But conditions at the tent camps were dire, with almost no sanitation. Children splashed in puddles polluted by human waste and many didn’t have access to food and drinking water.
Among those on the run was Aquilino Soares Torres, 34, who fled to the airport with his wife, relatives and eight children. He complained that the foreign troops were failing to end the conflict.
“The don’t move into the neighbourhoods where the violence is taking place,” he said, holding a baby in one arm. “I think the situation will get worse. I am ready to leave the country with just the shirt on my back.”
The unrest was triggered by the March firing of 600 disgruntled soldiers - nearly half the 1,400-member army – and is the most serious crisis East Timor has faced.
After staging deadly riots last month, the sacked troops fled the seaside capital, setting up positions in the surrounding hills and threatening guerrilla war if they were not reinstated.
What began as a break within the armed forces has spilled over to the general population, which is dividing down geographical lines of east and west, or those perceived to have been pro-Indonesian against those who wanted independence.
Four people were killed today, one of them burned to death while he was trying to defend his home and the others shot, witnesses and hospital officials said.
A group severely beat a man they accused of hiding guns. His life was spared after foreign reporters intervened and he was rushed bleeding to the hospital by aid workers.
Australia said it will send up to 50 federal police officers to help contain marauding gangs and around 2,000 Australian troops were either on the ground or in transit to East Timor, the defence department said.
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