DILI, May 25: Australian commandos arrived in chaotic East Timor on Thursday as gun battles in the capital, Dili, killed at least three people and forced residents to huddle in their homes.
About 150 commandos quickly secured the airport in Dili before the deployment of 1,300 troops to help restore order after weeks of unrest.
At least three people were killed and many wounded, Arlindo Marcal, East Timor ambassador in Jakarta, said. He said the fighting stopped after the commandos landed.
The inexperienced and cash-strapped government of the world’s newest independent nation has been struggling to cope with clashes initially sparked by the sacking of around half the army. Six people had been killed in Dili before Thursday.
Witnesses reported widespread shooting in the capital and some buildings had been razed.
“... we are now hiding,” one resident said. “(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 800 Australians in East Timor, along with hundreds of other foreigners.
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.
SERIOUS NEGOTIATIONS: “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,” Mr Downer added.
Clashes over the past two months have involved gun battles and widespread arson, sending thousands to seek safety in the hills, or at embassies, religious institutions and military posts.—Reuters
