Gangs armed with steel darts and machetes clashed in the town of Metinaro in Timor Leste on Thursday. The Metinaro market where the brawl happened was almost completely destroyed while 26 houses were burned down according to local police.

This is the latest spate of violence, which began earlier this month when President Ramos-Horta appointed a coalition led by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to govern. 3 people have been arrested after international and local forces secured the area.

How is this latest round of violence linked to the current political tensions? Loretta Foo put this question to Dr Damien Kingsbury, Associate Professor of International and Political Studies from Deakin University in Australia.

DK: It's hard to say from a distance who the perpetrators are and even close up, it's very difficult to identify them but it does appear that the people involved in the violence represent or are supporters of the Fretilin party on one hand and the CNRT (National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor) and the Democratic Party on the other. The reasons for the conflict at this stage aren't clear but it's likely it's the settling of scores from recent violence where some people decided that they wanted to get retribution for the burning of houses from a couple of weeks ago.

I understand there is a large group of international peace-keepers there, in addition to the security forces of Timor Leste. Are they finding it difficult to control these bouts of violence?

DK: The problem for the international security force is that the violence flares up and then they respond to it so they're usually not there when it starts and by the time they arrive, most of the destruction and violence has been completed. Once they get there, they don't have much difficulty in controlling it. The problem is the timing, how long it takes to get there. In the case of Metinaro, they had to come from Dili so it's about 45 minutes distance in traveling time and by that stage, most of the destruction had already been caused.

As you've mentioned, the sporadic bouts of violence that have been occurring in the capital Dili and its surrounding areas have been linked to the unhappy supporters of the former ruling party, Fretilin. If this is so, why is the party allowing the violence by their supporters to continue?

DK: Senior members of the party claim that they're unable to control it. They say that their supporters are very disappointed, that this is a spontaneous outburst and that they have tried to control it but are not able to do so. Having said that, the leader of the party, Mari Alkatiri has in fact been going around the countryside telling the people to protest against the appointment of the new government so that doesn't seem to be action that's designed to quell the situation, rather it seems to be designed to exacerbate the problem.

Would you say then that this violence will continue sporadically but unabated given that Alkatiri is encouraging it?

DK: Certainly, as long as Mari Alkatiri encourages it, it's likely to continue. Having said that the purpose of the violence seems to be very limited; there's not much point in engaging in conflict when there is no possible outcome to it. It doesn't have a purpose in its own right. And unless there can be some purpose to it, one would have to expect that at some point, it will eventually stop. And I suspect that as the international security force cracks down and starts to arrest people, that would limit the capacity. But that could take some time and I mean really, this is a case of I think the leader of Fretilin, Mari Alkatiri really having to exercise not only some leadership but some responsibility for what is going on and at this stage, he doesn't appear to have adequately done that.

Earlier this year, there was much hope that the elections would ensure the smooth development of the world's youngest democracy. How have the latest rounds of violence affected Timor Leste's growth?

DK: In the political sense, it's just part of the growing pains. To be honest, it could be much worse as it has been in some other countries but given that all parties said that they would abide by the outcome of the elections and play by the rules, this violence really is very disappointing. I think Mari Alkatiri continuing to claim that the current government is both unconstitutional and illegal is unhelpful. I think if anybody reads the constitution they will see that it is not only constitutionally legitimate and commands a majority in the parliament, it's also quite a legal government so I think Mari Alkatiri really needs to limit his rhetoric on this point and start to act a bit more responsibly in the good of the whole nation and not just on the part of his party.