Print this page Dili burns as gangs run riot By IAN McPHEDRAN and AAP reports in Dili 28may06 DILI was burning right under the noses of a powerful Australian military taskforce yesterday as entire neighbourhoods descended into gang warfare. Angry locals called for Australia to accelerate its deployment to quell the capital city's violence. "Where are the Australians?" asked one worried man, who identified himself only as Constantine. "They promised to save us." Thousands of terrified refugees flooded the airport, the UN compound, convents and seminaries, and even gathered outside the Australian and other embassies, begging for protection. "Please send the troops now," was a common refrain. Late yesterday the crowds at the embassies dispersed as many people decided to leave Dili for the safety of surrounding villages. The commander of the 3rd Battalion, Lt-Col Mick Mumford, said the city would be stabilised within 48 hours. "Obviously, you can't put a soldier on every street corner," he said. Standing just a few hundred metres from a burning house, he claimed Dili was reasonably stable. He said 900 soldiers were on the ground and several hundred more were due to arrive within 48 hours. Australian soldiers have already saved lives, stopping mobs of machete-wielding men from charging a Dili hotel where East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was about to hold a news conference. Just before sunset the troops, who had to call in reinforcements, disarmed what appeared to be two gangs. No one was hurt in the incident and the Australians took control of the situation without firing a shot. The troops aggressively shouted at the 30 or so men and ordered them to sit on the ground with their hands on their heads in the park in front of the Hotel Timor. Large numbers of machetes, knives, spiked poles, slingshots and arrows were confiscated. Mr Alkatiri claimed that yesterday's gang violence that terrorised Dili was part of a coup attempt. "What is in motion is an attempt to stage a coup d'etat. However, I am confident that the President of the republic, with whom I am keeping permanent contact, will not cease to respect the constitution of the democratic republic of Timor Leste," he said. Mr Alkatiri said the violence was politically, not ethnically, motivated. A political struggle between President Xanana Gusmao and Mr Alkatiri has helped fuel tensions within the country as well as its bitterly divided security forces and communal groups. A spokesman for Mr Alkatiri said the Prime Minister was working with the President to solve the crisis. Australian reinforcements were moving quickly into Dili late yesterday afternoon and HMAS Tobruk and Manoora were due in Dili this morning. Australian troops came under fire as they kept rival armed ethnic gangs apart in hours of terror that sent thousands of East Timorese fleeing through Dili's smoke-filled streets. The heavily armed Australians did not open fire. It was the first time the Australians had seen gunfire since their peacekeeping mission started on Thursday. Old scores were settled, factional battles were fought or just plain anarchy took over. Dozens of homes were torched and mobs of young men roamed the streets armed with sticks, machetes, knives, pipes, slingshots and lumps of wood – whatever they could get their hands on. Payback was the order of the day as neighbour turned on neighbour. Foreigners continued to flee and 800 UN staff were ordered to prepare for evacuation. In pockets throughout the city, heavily armed East Timorese troops and police opened fire to remind people that sticks were no match for assault rifles. Much of the violence was triggered by the savage murder of six relatives of Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato, who is in charge of police, in a torched house. The wider war between eastern and western factions began more than a month ago when western Timorese attacked a military post at Tasitolo, just west of Dili. As Australian troops were ordered into the capital to guard government buildings, almost everyone in the ravaged city wanted to know what was keeping the Diggers from moving into the streets. In one case an entire platoon drove past an outbreak of violence to get to the government offices, where it took up position on a wide stucco veranda overlooking the harbour. Meanwhile, a few blocks away houses burned and locals were hacked or speared by rampaging mobs. The UN was yesterday preparing to pull out its workers because of the violence.
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