E Timor to address former soldiers' claims

A special commission of inquiry set up by the East Timorese Government will today start investigating the claims of almost 600 soldiers who were sacked for going on strike last month over claims of ethnic discrimination.

Dili was returning to normal yesterday after three days of violence which saw hundreds of rioters, many of them uniformed former soldiers, burning scores of houses, cars and buses in an orgy of violence.

It was met with deadly force by their former colleagues still in the military and acting at the behest of the Government.

It remains unclear how many people were killed by security forces, but the official figure is about five.

Many of the rioters are now fugitives in the hills around Dili and there are fears they could form the core of a new insurgency, unless the Government can deal with their claims of discrimination and bring them back into the fold.