Thousands flee unrest rumours
Unease since riots on April 28 which were sparked by protests from sacked soldiers and their apparent supporters has prompted some embassies to issue warnings, although authorities here insist there is no threat to peace.
The soldiers had deserted their barracks, complaining of discrimination, in February and were later sacked.
Roads were filled with cars, trucks and motorbikes packed with household goods, witnesses said. Dili has a usual population of about 167,000.
“At this point the number of people leaving the city of Dili is around 20,000, or 5,000 families,” Minister for Social Welfare Arsenio Paixao Bano told AFP.
Just over 1,000 people had also left by boat to the nearby island of Atauro, Bano said.
Aderito de Jesus Soares, a human rights lawyer living in Dili, said that in his neighbourhood every second family had left.
“People are really traumatised, so seeing people with guns running around reminds them of 1999,” he told AFP, referring to the year East Timor voted for independence following more than two decades of Indonesian rule.
Some 1,400 people were killed by Indonesian-backed militias in the ensuing bloodshed. Last Friday’s violence was the worst to hit Asia’s poorest nation since then.
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri’s office issued a statement saying the exodus, which had slowed Friday compared to Thursday, was based on “unsubstantiated rumours that said that the former militaries would attack town”.
The government swore in a committee yesterday tasked with probing the soldiers’ complaints, it said.
“We are demonstrating our commitment to investigate the core issues raised by the former soldiers. We will not just concentrate on the events of April 28”, Alkatiri said.
