Troops will disarm all Timorese: commander

The commander of the Australian troops deployed in East Timor says the soldiers are focused on disarming warring gangs in the capital, Dili.

A total of 1,300 Australian soldiers are on the ground in East Timor, while two supply ships will reach the tiny nation today.

Brigadier Mick Slater says the soldiers have fanned out across Dili, which has been the scene of fights between gangs from the east and west of the country.

“The soldiers have reached and gone slightly beyond the outskirts of Dili,” he said.

“But the area we must focus on is Dili.”

He says the soldiers have began confiscating weapons, including machetes, knives and guns, from the gang members.

“We will detain anyone who is suspected of having undertaken or participated in a fight,” he said.

“We will be disarming everybody in Dili.

“The only people in Dili carrying weapons when we are finished will be [proper security forces].”

Brigadier Slater says it is not difficult for the troops to persuade militia members to give up their weapons.

“They want to do this, they want to resolve the problems that they’ve got,” he said.

Refugees urged home

Hundreds of people have fled their homes, gathering in large numbers at the airport and the Australian embassy.

Brigadier Slater says it would be easier for the soldiers to restore calm if those people returned home.

He says the gatherings force soldiers to focus on crowd control rather than security.

“The message for the Timorese people is we are going as hard an fast as we can to make their homes safe,” he said.

The Brigadier says his team, which he describes as professional and keen to get on with the job, is up to the task of restoring order.

“We have enough soldiers here now to do what we need to do,” he said.

Police deployed

Brigadier Slater’s soldiers will be joined by 50 members of the Australian Federal Police [AFP].

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says the East Timorese police force no longer operates effectively.

“The Foreign Minister of East Timor [Jose] Ramos-Horta told me yesterday that the East Timorese police just don’t exist any more, they’ve become completely dysfunctional,” he said.

Prime Minister John Howard says the police will leave in the next 24 hours.

“We need a police capacity as well as an Army capacity, some of the guards of jails have gone and there are some fundamental policing tasks that must be fulfilled,” he said.

Medical evacuations

Emergency flights are evacuating seriously injured people out of East Timor and bringing them to Darwin.

The Northern Territory Health Department says a private flight with two or possibly three seriously injured people is expected to reach Darwin this afternoon.

A second flight with up to a dozen injured people on board is due in late this afternoon.

Hospitals in Darwin spent much of last week preparing to care for casualties from East Timor.

Darwin’s private hospital says a United Nations policeman shot in East Timor last week is making good progress and should be ready to leave by Friday.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1649239.htm