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> Aid agency seeks E Timor death toll inquiry. 08/06/2006. ABC News Online
> [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1658121.htm]
> Last Update: Thursday, June 8, 2006. 9:55am (AEST)

> Caritas says anecdotal evidence is mounting to suggest a far higher death toll in East Timor. (Reuters) |

> # Aid agency seeks E Timor death toll inquiry

> By Anne Barker in Dili

> Catholic Church agency Caritas wants an international investigation to determine how many people have died in East Timor since the first riots in April, and who is to blame.

> There are fears many more people have died in the recent violence than official accounts show.

> Officially more than 20 people have died since the April riots that sparked East Timor's cycle of violence.

> Most were police or soldiers caught up in the bitter conflict.

> Others have been victim to the street gangs that continue to terrorise Dili's population.

> Caritas says anecdotal evidence is mounting to suggest a far higher death toll.

> The agency's chief executive Jack de Groot says only an international investigation will find those behind the violence.

> "I think what people really are grappling with is, the stories are out there, they can't get an answer," he said.

> "Their fears about a lack of security in this town and in this country are based on a lack of confidence that justice will be served."

> The United Nations has announced inquiries into the role of East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri in the deaths of more than a dozen people.

> ## Refugees fearful

> Caritas also says it could be another month before the tens of thousands of people living as refugees in Dili begin to leave their temporary camps.

> Aid workers fear an outbreak of disease if people do not return to their homes soon.

> About 70,000 people are living in confined conditions in the many camps around Dili, still fearful of the street gangs who have destroyed much of the city.

> Caritas estimates four to 500 houses alone have been burnt down in the past 10 days by gang members embroiled in fighting.

> The agency says conditions in the camps will only worsen, with fears already of malaria and diseases caused by poor sanitation.

> Two weeks after Australian troops arrived in East Timor, they are yet to restore civil order.

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