using launchers against the Riot in E. timor
sayariza - 29.05.2006 15:02
"They were using grenade launchers against the riot," he says. "I can't believe it." But Reinado's decision took the fighting to a new and bloodier level. Some 20,000 residents fled Dili, fearing a repeat of the carnage that left 1,500 dead following East Timor's vote for independence seven years ago.
By May 24, security had collapsed so completely that Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta went on Australian TV, asking for troops "to prevent the country sliding into further chaos." Australia began to land forces by the end of last week. The fresh need for foreign troops just a year after the departure of the last international peacekeepers raises doubts about the long-term prospects of the world's youngest nation. East Timor suffers not just from ethnic violence but from chronic crime, severe poverty and unemployment. "The way in which the country has been governed in the last few years has left a lot to be desired," said Australian Prime Minister John Howard. "They got their independence perhaps earlier than they were ready."
The split within the army and police deepened on May 22, when rebel soldiers in the hills above Dili were joined by the head of the military police Lieutenant Commander Alfredo Reinado and 28 of his men. Reinado told TIME that he had been disgusted by the deadly force employed in quelling the April protests. "They were using grenade launchers against the riot," he says. "I can't believe it."
Facts:
20,000 residents fled
some people were killed
Times 5 juni 2006
 E-Mail: sayariza3@yahoo.com
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