The Jakarta Post, 6/12/2006 4:48:59 PM
East Timor asks for more international help to feed, house
displaced residents
DILI (AP): East Timor pleaded for international help Monday to feed and house some
100,000 people displaced in the capital after fighting erupted among military factions
and rival gangs more than one month ago.
"We need more assistance and if more assistance is provided, then we can control
the situation ... and slowly have people return to their homes," Foreign Minister Jose
Ramos-Horta told reporters. He did not elaborate.
Some 600 striking soldiers were dismissed in March, triggering clashes with loyalist
forces that gave way to gang warfare, with machete-wielding youths fighting in the
streets, setting fires to homes and looting government warehouses.
At least 30 people have been killed, despite the presence of more than 2,000 foreign
troops, and Ramos-Horta said earlier the death toll may be higher.
International aid groups and the United Nations are already helping the estimated
100,000 people who fled their homes for makeshift shelters and camps in and outside
Dili.
"I believe in the next few weeks, as they are more reassured about the security
situation, they will start heading back to their homes, if they have any homes,"
Ramos-Horta said after addressing the tiny nation's Parliament.
"If they don't, the international agencies are ready to provide temporary shelters," he
added.
The United Nations was scheduled to ship an additional 150 tons of relief supplies to
Dili on Monday afternoon. The shipment will provide shelter for 17,000 refugees and
will be the largest amount of relief to arrive, the world body said in a statement.
East Timor, which has a population of around 800,000, won independence from 24
years of Indonesian rule in 1999.
International peacekeeping troops from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and former
colonial master Portugal currently patrol its streets, and in recent days violence has
decreased, but isolated incidents still occur. (***)
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