austraLasia
#1775
Situation tense in East
Timor; Salesian work affected by violence and food shortage
DILI: 1st March 2007 -- News reports
coming directly from Salesian sources in East Timor, but also reflected daily in
the Australian press. Australia and New Zealand have put together a
International Security Force (ISF) which has been in East Timor since they were
invited last April-May amidst serious rioting which led to a number of deaths
and more than 155,000 internally displaced persons. Thousands took refuge
at Don Bosco Comoro in Dili at that time, and several thousand are still
there.
Violence in the capital has continued. A
little more than a week ago, an Australian soldier fatally shot a Timorese youth
near another refugee camp close to Dili airport. The shooting was in
self-defense. A number of Salesians have had their vehicles stoned while
moving about the city - these events are not necessarily aimed at particular
persons, but mirror the instability in the nation and especially the capital in
the lead-up to April's general elections. A serious point of dissension is the
rebel former chief of police who has been holed up in an area south of
Dili. He is now surrounded by the ISF who are using tanks and Black Hawk
helicopters in the effort to arrest him. Major Alfredo Reinado has led a
group of dissident police and other supporters since last April. He vows
to fight till the death.
Rice supplies in East Timor have
been severely affected by the failure of rice crops elsewhere, especially in
Vietnam. This has led to rocketing prices in the already strife-torn
island of East Timor.
The instability, high food prices,
have meant the Salesians cannot maintian, for the moment, their boarding
operations in places like Los Palos, Fuiloro, Venilale, Comoro. It is not
a question of money - food is simply not available, and continuing rioting in
the capital has meant that many supplies have been stolen from shops and
government store houses.
Several meetings, including the
proposed Provincial Chapter this month (for the Timor part of ITM) may have to
be relocated or postponed, the Salesian reports
indicate.
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