President of East Timor urges end to rebel violence

INDEPENDENCE hero and former guerrilla fighter President Xanana Gusmao yesterday urged warring factions to end the violence ripping through East Timor’s capital.

The plea followed the news that ex-soldiers whose rebellion triggered the broad mayhem offered peace talks.

Mr Gusmao, the most respected figure in East Timor, addressed a crowd of demonstrators outside government offices in Dili where he held emergency meetings with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and his Cabinet to find ways end the crisis.

“Stop fighting ... calm down,” Gusmao told them. “Don’t take up swords. Don’t burn houses. Stop dividing the nation.”

Witnesses reported mobs setting more houses ablaze, though the situation eased since the weekend, when gangs armed with machetes, clubs and spears rampaged through the city in violence that has threatened to tear the young country apart.

Australian forces, after receiving a tougher mandate to deal with troublemakers, were seen handcuffing and detaining armed youths as they tried to torch homes.

Soldiers are still permitted to kill if warranted, said Australian defence chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, but “we do not want to use lethal force unless circumstances absolutely demand it.”

On the burned-out streets, heavily-armed peacekeepers from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia backed by armoured personnel carriers and military helicopters patrolled the city and guarded key facilities.

The peacekeepers started arriving last week to help put down the worst violence since 24 years of occupation by Indonesia ended in a frenzy of bloodletting in 1999.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the 1,300 Australian soldiers now in Timor face more danger than they did seven years ago.

“The fundamental problem in East Timor is that the country has not been well governed,” he said.

Major Agosto De Araujo, a leader of the disgruntled soldiers whose dismissal from the army initiated the unrest, said a rebel envoy on Sunday had delivered a pledge to Mr Gusmao that they were willing to join peace talks.

“We are ready to be called back to the negotiating table at any time,” said Maj De Araujo.