Peacekeepers due in East Timor as gun battles rage

Fierce gun battles raged in East Timor’s capital today, killing at least three people and wounding more than a dozen, as international troops headed to the tiny nation to help it quell a rebellion by disgruntled ex-soldiers.

A South Korean bystander was shot in the neck, Yonhap news agency said, as dozens of foreigners fled the country on the third day of violence in Dili. The death toll in this week’s unrest stood at five.

“This is tragic, it’s tragic that the East Timorese are fighting each other like this,” said Australian Malcolm Cooler, 40, as he waited with his wife at Dili airport for a flight out. “I’m shocked and sad.”

Firefights between the country’s 800-member army and a band of about 600 dismissed soldiers erupted in several areas around Dili and homes and business were torched.

Black plumes of smoke rose over virtually-deserted streets as residents hid in their homes or with aid workers.

East Timor is the world’s youngest nation and has been plagued by unrest since March when a third of its armed forces were fired after going on strike to protest alleged discrimination in the military.

Some hard-liners fled from the capital last month after participating in deadly riots, bunkering down in surrounding hills and threatening guerrilla warfare if they were not reinstated.

Two former soldiers and an army captain have been killed since late yesterday, said the military and Letnan Gastao Salsinha, a spokesman for the ex-soldiers. Fourteen ex-soldiers were wounded, Salsinha said.

One soldier and of the ex-soldiers died in gun battles on Tuesday.

The fighting – the worst to hit East Timor since the violence surrounding its bloody break with Indonesia in 1999 – has prompted the fledgling nation’s government to ask for international troops.

“We can’t control the situation,” said Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, adding that his country needed help disarming “renegade troops and police rebelling against the state”.

Neighbouring Australia sent helicopters, a C-130 Hercules aircraft and 150 commandos to secure Dili’s airport, and they were expected to arrive late today, said Australian prime minister John Howard.

“These Australian forces will take immediate action to secure the perimeter of Dili International Airport,” he said, amid reports that the main road leading to the airport was briefly cut off by gunfire.

“It’s our expectation that this will ensure that the airport remains open and functioning normally,” he added

Australia, which has said it does not intend to be drawn into any firefights between the two sides in East Timor, has offered up to 1,300 troops, as well as ships, aircraft and armoured personnel carriers.

New Zealand said it was sending 60 police and soldiers. Portugal – the tiny nation’s former coloniser – also agreed to send forces as has Malaysia.

Preparing for the worst, dozens of foreigners were fleeing East Timor. One witness said more than 100 had already left.

“We can’t stay here any longer,” said Cooler, the Australian.

Meanwhile, the commander of the renegade forces – whom East Timor’s top military chief said he wants captured dead or alive – said bringing in peacekeepers was the only way to prevent an outbreak of civil war.

“This is the only solution,” said Maj. Alfredo Reinado, commander of the 600-strong breakaway force.

“There is no other way, or it will be war forever. The government has taken too long. It is not capable of resolving this,” he said.

At the heart of the conflict are the former soldiers’ claims they were being discriminated against because they came from the west of the small country, while the military leadership originated from the east.

Indonesia rued East Timor with an iron fist for 24 years. Human rights groups say as many as 200,000 were killed under its occupation.