Troops secure Timor airport amid fighting

By Lirio da Fonseca

DILI (Reuters) – Australian commandos secured the airport
in the East Timor capital on Thursday as local army elements
attacked a police headquarters, killing nine unarmed officers
and wounding 27 other people.

About 150 Australian commandos arrived in East Timor and
secured the Dili airport ahead of the deployment of 1,300
troops to help restore order after weeks of unrest in the
world’s newest independent nation.

The United Nations said army elements attacked the police
headquarters in Dili and after a negotiated ceasefire “as the
unarmed police were being escorted out, army soldiers opened
fire on them, killing nine, and wounding 27 others, including
two U.N. police officers.”

In other incidents, at least three people were killed and
many wounded, Arlindo Marcal, East Timor ambassador in Jakarta,
told Reuters.

East Timor’s inexperienced and cash-strapped government has
been struggling to cope with clashes which were first sparked
by the sacking of about half the army. At least six people had
been killed in Dili before Thursday.

Witnesses reported widespread shooting in the capital on
Thursday and some buildings had been razed.

“… we are now hiding,” one resident told Reuters. “(There
are) no people walking around in Dili except the military and
also the police.”

FOREIGNERS EVACUATED

“It’s quite clear the situation in Dili has deteriorated
(today),” Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters
in Canberra. “There are widespread reports of a very chaotic
situation.”

East Timor asked for troops from Australia, New Zealand,
Portugal and Malaysia after a military police unit rebelled and
Dili’s own forces failed to calm the situation.

One of the tasks of the multinational force will be to
evacuate up to 800 Australians in East Timor, along with
hundreds of other foreigners, the Australian Associated Press
said.

The first evacuees — about 55 foreign nationals — were
flown to Darwin in northern Australia on Thursday night.

“I think probably in reality what we are really looking for
now is the deployment being able to spread out, particularly
around the Dili area,” Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told
ABC Television.

The Australian soldiers would provide stability so that
“the security forces loyal to the government will be able to
regroup and that the rebels, too, will be able to concentrate
themselves in one area or another, presumably outside of Dili,”
he said.

“In the end, what the East Timorese government has to do is
set up and get under way a serious negotiating process to try
to resolve those differences,” Downer added.

A leader of the rebel military faction, Major Alfredo
Reinaldo, who was trained in Australia, said he would cooperate
with Australian troops but distrusted the East Timor
government.

The ostensible reason for the unrest is the unhappiness of
sacked soldiers over firings, benefits and discrimination.
Reinaldo said fighting was being driven by loyalties to eastern
and western parts of the country.

Officials say opposition groups have exploited the
situation, sparking attacks and resisting mediation.

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL DEBATE

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement on
Thursday in Hanoi, where he was visiting, that he was sending a
special envoy to Dili to assess the situation.

Annan had requested urgent U.N. Security Council approval
for international military assistance, but the council put off
action after Russia argued more information was needed,
diplomats said.

Malaysia has postponed its deployment of 500 military and
police personnel. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said it was
seeking clarification about the mission.

Australia led a U.N.-backed force in 1999 to quell violence
after East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia. An
estimated 1,000 people died in that violence, blamed mostly on
pro-Jakarta militia backed by Indonesian military elements.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 after centuries of
Portuguese control, and in 1976 declared it an Indonesian
province.

East Timor is one of the world’s poorest countries but has
potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves.

(Additional reporting by James Grubel and Michelle Nichols
in Canberra; Achmad Sukarsono, Muklis Ali and Telly Nathalia in
Jakarta; Grant McCool in Hanoi; and Jalil Hamid in Kuala
Lumpur)