Posted on 05/26/2006 10:22:42 PM PDT by naturalman1975
* NEARLY 600 heavily-armed soldiers were sacked from East Timor's army, the F-FDTL, at the beginning of this month after going on strike. They took their weapons and set up camp in the hills.
* Most are born in the western areas of Timor. They complain of discrimination at the hands of eastern-born officers. Their probably-justified complaints have largely been ignored by the Timorese Government.
* Riots broke out and law and order deteriorated. The 600 soldiers launched sporadic raids on the capital Dili. They are led by Alfredo Alves Reinado, an officer born on the western side of Timor, who has done some training in Australia.
* The violence takes place amid a period of political uncertainty. East Timor is one of the world's poorest countries and its leaders have been accused of incompetence and corruption.
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has a combative relationship with President and war hero Xanana Gusmao. Reinado says Alkatiri is a "communist".
Prime Minster John Howard yesterday hit out at Mr Alkatiri for his reluctance to quickly call for help when it was obvious the violence was out of control.
* East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a UN-organised referendum in 1999 and anarchy followed the announcement of the result. Australia sent troops to protect locals from Indonesian-backed militias. At the height of the operation, Australian troops numbered 5000.
Nationhood was declared in 2002. The last Australian soldiers left in June 2005, with just a handful left to protect the Australian Embassy.
* On Thursday Operation Astute kicked off when 150 SAS troops landed at Dili airport with top negotiator Lieutenant-General Ken Henry.
* By the end of this weekend 1300 Australian personnel, three warships and a host of Black Hawk helicopters and C130 Hercules planes will have been deployed.
Many thanks for posting this comprehensive list.
I guess we will all be hearing more about East Timor.
Thanks, good post.
No, not really. East Timor is mostly Catholic. There are small numbers of Moslems, and some of those may be causing some problems, taking advantage of the instability, but this started with nearly half the East Timorese Army - and that is nearly all Catholic.
Yeah, I don't think there's any religious issue here. The only religious angle perhaps the fact that Mari Alkatiri is a Muslim prime-minister in a pre-dominantly catholic country .
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