President urges calm as rebels prepare to talk peace

Independence hero and former guerrilla fighter President Xanana Gusmao today urged warring factions to end violence ripping through East Timor’s capital, while ex-soldiers whose rebellion triggered the broad mayhem offered peace talks.

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 that was quelled by an Australian-led intervention.

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

“You’re dealing with a whole lot of disparate, uncontrolled gangs,” Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “The fundamental problem in East Timor is that the country has not been well governed.”

Maj 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 Gusmao that they were willing to join peace talks.

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

Alkatiri has become a figure of blame for the crisis, which started last week with sporadic clashes between the former soldiers and government troops.

Alkatiri was accompanied by Australian military guards to crisis meetings with his Cabinet in government offices in the capital. Dozens of protesters gathered outside demanding his resignation

Gusmao, who holds a largely ceremonial role, emerged from the meetings to address a crowd of anti-Alkatiri protesters, telling them to go home.

“We all are Timorese, there should not be this notion of ’west or east’ among us. Work with the young people in the neighbourhoods to end the destruction.”

He promised a resolution to the political problems by tomorrow. “If you trust me, please go home,” he pleaded.

The violence has spiralled into a communal conflict pitting citizens from the country’s east, generally considered to have favoured independence before the break with Jakarta, with those from the west, who are seen to have more strongly supported continued Indonesian occupation.

At least 27 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in the past week.

Alkatiri has said the violence is a plot to overthrow him.