EAST TIMOR: Gangs loosely allied to feuding factions of East Timor's armed forces defied international peacekeepers yesterday and went on a rampage of arson and looting as the president took charge of national security.
Xanana Gusmao told a news conference that he had taken sole responsibility for the nation's security, including information and intelligence services, after a week of violence sparked by a split in the army. He said he had made the decision in close collaboration with prime minister Mari Alkatiri, who many accuse of sparking the crisis by dismissing a group of protesting soldiers last month.
Mr Gusmao also said he alone would liaise with a 2,500-strong Australian-led peacekeeping force that East Timor asked for last week to help put down violence which has claimed at least 20 lives.
But as he spoke, smoke still billowed above several neighbourhoods in Dili as the gangs - the product of massive unemployment and a desperately poor economy in the world's newest nation - eluded the peacekeepers from Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand.
At least 20 people have been killed, thousands displaced and dozens of homes and businesses burnt in the violence, sparked by the sacking of about 600 soldiers after they protested against discrimination in the 1,400-strong army.
"The emergency measures announced shall not prejudice the president of the republic from declaring [ in the future] a state of siege, in accordance with due constitutional norms," Mr Gusmao said. He read from a prepared statement and took no questions.
The violence and request for foreign help are major embarrassments for the government, which was handed the keys to the country by the UN in 2002 after the world body ran the nation following a bloody referendum for independence from Indonesia.
The head of the peacekeeping force, Brig Mick Slater, told reporters that more than half the Timorese army had already surrendered their weapons and were accounted for. But he admitted the police, some of whom also allied themselves with army factions, had been more reluctant to come forward. "They are a little more wary," he said.
Nine policemen were gunned down by Timorese soldiers last week when they were sent to disarm them. That sparked the violence across the capital.