Timor update - Bro. Adriano hit by stone-throwing mob
DILI: 31st May 2006 -- With more than 1,500 troops now in
Dili, Australia is keeping a close eye on the very difficult situation
theres (things are calmer elsewhere in the isalnd); the Don Bosco
Centre at Comoro has been the setting for a little too much of the
action, and the Salesian Sisters too, have been dealing with large
numbers of refugees. Two Australian news outlets, one Catholic
the other national radio, have been following events. One of
these events highlights the quite dangerous circumstances our community
has found itself in as it responds heroically to the needs of thousands
of ordinary people.
Monday was a bad day. The Chief Executive of
World Vision is an Australian Baptist minister, Rev. Tim
Costello. He reports: "Our staff here have been under fire. Their
compound had to be
evacuated. The very work of getting food and water into some 25,000
refugees in three camps - the Don Bosco camp is one we're going to, and
two convents - would be at risk if we had to evacuate, and we now have
to make that decision because of the security situation".
And in fact, not only because World Vision had to
evacuate but also because an Australian contingent of troops were
ordered elsewhere at a critical moment, things took a turn for the
worse. From Cathnews reporting the Sydney Morning Herald: "
The head of Don Bosco
mission in East Timor has been attacked by a
stone-throwing mob as he drove victims of a gunfight to hospital while
Australian troops struggle to restore order in the divided capital
Dili. The Sydney Morning Herald
reports that just minutes after Australian peacekeepers departed from
the Catholic mission of Don Bosco, a gunfight broke out. Two men were
shot and wounded, one in the leg and the other in the abdomen. The
head of the mission, Br Adriano de Jesus, said a squad of troops had
been guarding the mission but pulled out when they were ordered to go
elsewhere. "We asked them not to leave," Br de Jesus said. "But they
said they had to go. Straight away the fighting broke out again and
[the two men] were shot."
As he drove the victims to hospital,
the vehicle was attacked by a mob throwing stones, and Br De Jesus was
hit on the head. "The fighting is getting worse and the Australian
troops are only watching the Timorese kill each other." On the
main road between the airport and the city, pitched battles raged all
day. At one point Australians soldiers drove by at great speed in their
armoured personnel carriers as a man was dragged from his car and
beaten.
That was Monday. Reports suggest that the
situation has improved in the past 24 hours - the Australian contingent
was operating under strict rules of engagement which have hampered
their ability to deal with situations. The President Xanana
Gusmao has now assumed direct control of the local armed forces and
police and is the immediate liaison with the foreign troops he has
invited in to help. That in itself has been a calming
situation. With improved security the urgent need now is for food
to continue to be distributed to residents and refugees and for
sanitation to be improved, especially where refugees are gathered in
their thousands.
The Australian Defence Ministry indicates that their
current plan for troops in East Timor is a six month deployment.
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