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Troops secure Timor airport amid fighting

Posted on: Thursday, 25 May 2006, 16:27 CDT

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)

Source: REUTERS

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