East Timor parliament in attempt to quell violence
04/06/2006 - 17:27:36Parliament will meet this week to address East Timor’s turmoil, the prime minister said today, as gangs burned houses and threw rocks in some parts of the capital despite patrols by foreign peacekeepers.
The announcement by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, who faces calls for his resignation, was an attempt to revive the workings of a government that has been virtually paralysed by factional rifts and security concerns in the capital, Dili.
“Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we will have the parliament working in plenary session,” Alkatiri said at a news conference.
Parliament will analyse “the current situation in the country and make some decisions,” he said.
“This institution is going to re-start its work.”$< Some fearful MPs are believed to have fled the capital, and Alkatiri acknowledged that all might not show up for work.
Though much of Dili was peaceful, assailants burned buildings near the airport as about 120 Portuguese paramilitary police arrived to bolster an international peacekeeping force.
Violence has dwindled ince foreign soldiers arrived in East Timor more than a week ago to restore order, but the latest attacks exposed the limits on what the 2,000 troops from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia can do to curb the unrest.
Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson urged Asian and Pacific countries not to allow East Timor to become a failed state, warning it could turn into a haven for terrorists and criminals.
“It’s in all of our interests to see that we do not have failed states in our region,” Nelson said at a regional security conference in Singapore.
“We cannot afford to have Timor-Leste become one of those, and in doing so become a haven, perhaps, for transnational crime, for terrorism, and indeed humanitarian disasters and injustice.”
In East Timor, Malaysian soldiers kicked down doors in the search for suspects who tried to set fire to a building. Minutes after the troops left, a gang set fire to an adjacent row of houses. Fire spread to power lines and a tree, and armoured personnel carriers rumbled back.
Men smashed the door and windows of a house with rocks and clubs as an Australian military vehicle stopped a few yards away, a soldier perched in the turret. No arrests were made.
Young men, some with their heads shrouded in clothes to hide their identities, fought with slingshots and pelted passing vehicles with rocks.
Peacekeepers have confiscated hundreds of weapons, and have temporarily detained gang members whose battles have forced tens of thousands of civilians to take shelter in squalid camps in Dili or with relatives in other towns.
Yet they have refrained from firing their weapons and have often driven by scenes of looting or vandalism. While the restraint might avoid inflaming anger on the streets, it is a source of frustration for East Timorese who desperately need an effective police force to crack down on the crime.
Portuguese police drove into Dili in a convoy of buses late on Sunday, and some residents greeted them with cheers and flowers.
The forces belong to the Republican National Guard, a unit that previously served in East Timor under UN authority and has a fearsome reputation among East Timorese.
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