East Timor dumped its defense minister today and the government showed signs of further unravelling, as desperate residents scuffled over scarce food in the capital and looters ransacked the prosecutor’s office of vast numbers of files.

East Timor’s government showed signs of unravelling today, as desperate residents scuffled over scarce food in the capital and looters defied foreign peacekeepers sent to restore order.

A mob armed with machetes looted East Timor’s attorney general’s office today, including an area where evidence of 1999 massacres linked to the country’s breakaway from Indonesia were kept.