East Timor on edge after riots

East Timor fought long and hard to get independence from Indonesia. Since those times, life has not been a bed of roses. The economy is crawling along, and there is a major dispute going on in the armed forces. Recently 600 soldiers out of a total of 1,400 were fired. They subsequently went berserk, attacking property and people in downtown Dili.

Police and ex-soldiers have had daily confrontations, with 4 people killed. Locals are heading to the hills. In places like Indonesia, law and order is rather flimsy. In the case of East Timor they are in a no win situation. If they empower the army / police a tad too much, the country is ripe for a coup, or sections could break away and create havok. Last month, President Xanana Gusmao pleaded on the radio that he was the elected President, and as such, was the ‘commander in chief’. Is anyone listening?

Here in Bali I have not heard anything about East Timor. Sometimes I feel like the rest of the world could fall off the map and people here wouldn’t notice.

Indonesian soldiers have been postioned on the East Timor border to stop violence from spreading to West Timor.