Versão oficial australiana...

Sydney Morning Herald - October 26, 2006
Timor in chaos as leader murdered
Lindsay Murdoch

SECURITY forces in East Timor fear violence will dramatically escalate in Dili after the execution of a leader of one of East Timor's biggest gangs.

The martial arts gang leader was shot in the head on a Dili street, where for weeks rival gangs have fought fiercely.

An Australian soldier was also involved in a shooting incident yesterday (!), the Australian Defence Force says, amid violence in Dili in which at least two people died and dozens were injured.

East Timor's army is also preparing to address the nation declaring its troops should no longer be confined to barracks because of the lawlessness, sources in Dili said last night.

The army's top officers will declare that the forced removal from office of former prime minister Mari Alkatiri amounted to a coup and that those responsible should be investigated by East Timorese, sources said.

The army was expected to make the address last night but state television went off the air, citing technical problems.

If the army goes ahead with the address it would be seen by Dili's political elite as criticism of the President, Xanana Gusmao, who is strongly supported by the Prime Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta. Mr Ramos-Horta is visiting the Pope at the Vatican.

Such provocative comments by the army's top officers would almost certainly wreck efforts to bring an end to months of violence in the country of 1 million people. The army's move follows the release last week of a United Nations report that recommended the army's commander, Taur Matan Ruak, be prosecuted for illegally arming civilians with weapons when violence erupted in the country in April and May.

Since May East Timor's troops have been confined to barracks.

Dili erupted in violence yesterday when Assis Hendrique da Silva, 27, was shot in the head on a street near Dili's airport.

Mr da Silva was a "master" of the Sacred Heart martial arts gang, whose thousands of members have been fighting rival gangs on Dili's streets for weeks.

The killer has been identified as a man from eastern East Timor, a gang social worker told the Herald last night.

A Timorese witness has said he saw the shooting. The killer leaned out from behind a building and shot at da Silva with a pistol, he has been reported as saying.

"It's crazy here tonight," the social worker said. "Members of the gang believe that the killer is hiding out in a refugee camp near the airport ... they want revenge and I don't think anything will stop them getting it."

For 40 minutes late yesterday, Portuguese security forces battled members of the gang as they attended a wake for da Silva. The Portuguese fired rubber bullets and tear gas while gang members pelted them with rocks. Gangs fought running battles at the airport camp most of the day forcing the closure of the airport.

Several sustained attacks by rock-throwing youths were made on Australian and other security forces during the day.

An Australian soldier attempting to quell the violence shot at a gun-wielding East Timorese man near the airport, the Australian Defence Force said.

A Defence spokesman in Canberra said the soldier, whose name has been withheld, fired a number of shots in self-defence after another man approached a military checkpoint.

"Initial reports are that the man had a weapon which he raised in a threatening manner and took a firing position," the spokesman said. "That is when the soldier retaliated in self-defence." The man "fled the scene and it cannot be confirmed whether he was injured in the incident", he said.

A foreign businessman in Dili said by telephone last night that street protagonists suddenly appear to have obtained weapons they have not previously produced. "The guns are out again. It's not as bad as in May but the situation is serious," he said.

About 33 people were killed in April and May and 155,000 forced into refugee camps where most remain.

Shots are believed to have been fired at Australian security forces during one of yesterday's battles. The gang social worker said money appears to have been paid to gang members to cause trouble this week. "There's political money up for grabs all over the place at the moment," he said.

Mr da Silva's murder came after the most violent night in Dili for weeks. Twelve houses were set alight in the nearby Comoro area, witnesses said.

Earlier gang members had vandalised a Ministry of Education building and seriously injured a security guard.

A employee of CHC Helicopters Australia, a company that flies workers to oil and gas rigs in the Timor Sea, was chased and attacked near the airport. He suffered minor injuries.

MPs fled the parliament in Dili yesterday afternoon after hearing rumours the building was about to be attacked. Four people have been killed and 47 wounded in Dili since the weekend when two men were decapitated after being attacked outside a church.

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