Peacekeepers fail to curb East Timor unrest

GANGS continued to attack homes in East Timor’s capital yesterday despite patrols by foreign peacekeepers and a pledge that parliament would meet this week to address the unrest.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said parliament will address the worst wave of unrest since East Timor’s independence from Indonesian rule in 1999.

The meeting is an attempt to revive a government that has been virtually paralysed by factional rifts and security concerns in the capital Dili.

Mr Alkatiri is facing calls for his resignation after he dismissed 600 soldiers from the 1,400-member army in March. The soldiers had gone on strike, claiming they were being discriminated against, and their dismissal appeared to be the catalyst for the recent violence.

At least 30 people have died and an estimated 100,000 have fled their homes in Dili, taking refuge in squalid camps or with relatives out of town.

Though much of Dili was peaceful yesterday, assailants burned buildings near the airport.

Violence has dwindled somewhat since 2,000 troops from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia arrived more than a week ago to try to restore order.

About 120 Portuguese paramilitary police arrived late yesterday to bolster the peacekeeping force.

The forces belong to the Republican National Guard, a unit that previously served in East Timor under UN authority and has a fearsome reputation among East Timorese.

However, the latest attacks exposed the limits on what the peacekeepers can do to curb the unrest.

Malaysian soldiers kicked down doors in the search for suspects who tried to burn a building. Minutes after the troops left, a gang set fire to an adjacent row of houses.

“If they come, it’s OK,” resident Zeca Godinho said of the peacekeepers as a building burned nearby. “But then they leave, and it starts again.”