austraLasia 1543
Thousands take refuge in Don Bosco compound in Comoro-Dili
DILI: 29th April 2006 -- While news on the ground from reliable sources is sketchy at this point, austraLasia has learned that there are large numbers of people who have taken refuge in the compound in Comoro - up to 5,000, the source indicates. The President, Xanana Gusmao has made an attempt to address the crowd, but they were not in a mood to listen.
General news sources, including of all agencies, Aljazeera, have reported on the deaths of two people yesterday and injuries to at least some 30 others, some of which are gunshot wounds. The reports do not agree on whether the two who were killed were civilian or police, which indicates a degree of unreliability about the news reports thus far. What seems to be clear is that the crowd could not be contained by the police and that police fired into the crowd, but it is also clear that police were beaten by members of the crowd.
Today, Saturday, the army has been sent into the city to reinforce security and avoid further outbreaks of yesterday's violence.
A large number of ex-soldiers have been the initial cause of the trouble. They are 'ex' because sacked by the Government. They were sacked because they were protesting in the barracks about their working conditions. From what one can piece together, it appears that they were largely soldiers from the western portion of East Timor, who bore the brunt of the fighting at the time of the Indonesian departure, and they are of the opinion that their efforts have not been fully recognised.
As more news comes in from Salesian sources in the midst of all this, in Dili, we will let you know.
For additional information, further comment, go to BoscoWiki austraLasia page.
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml
Thousands take refuge in Don Bosco compound in Comoro-Dili
DILI: 29th April 2006 -- While news on the ground from reliable sources is sketchy at this point, austraLasia has learned that there are large numbers of people who have taken refuge in the compound in Comoro - up to 5,000, the source indicates. The President, Xanana Gusmao has made an attempt to address the crowd, but they were not in a mood to listen.
General news sources, including of all agencies, Aljazeera, have reported on the deaths of two people yesterday and injuries to at least some 30 others, some of which are gunshot wounds. The reports do not agree on whether the two who were killed were civilian or police, which indicates a degree of unreliability about the news reports thus far. What seems to be clear is that the crowd could not be contained by the police and that police fired into the crowd, but it is also clear that police were beaten by members of the crowd.
Today, Saturday, the army has been sent into the city to reinforce security and avoid further outbreaks of yesterday's violence.
A large number of ex-soldiers have been the initial cause of the trouble. They are 'ex' because sacked by the Government. They were sacked because they were protesting in the barracks about their working conditions. From what one can piece together, it appears that they were largely soldiers from the western portion of East Timor, who bore the brunt of the fighting at the time of the Indonesian departure, and they are of the opinion that their efforts have not been fully recognised.
As more news comes in from Salesian sources in the midst of all this, in Dili, we will let you know.
For additional information, further comment, go to BoscoWiki austraLasia page.
__________________________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml
