Jakarta – Four East Timorese broke into the French embassy here early Tuesday, an embassy source said. Embassy spokesman Dominique Roubert said they entered the embassy early Tuesday morning, but declined to elaborate further.

He did not state whether the four have sought political asylum.

"I confirm that there are four East Timorese at the embassy," Roubert said.

Since September 1993, 115 East Timorese have left for Portugal after seeking sanctuary in foreign embassies here, 72 of them in 1996.

Lisbon automatically grants Portuguese citizenship to any East Timorese applying for it.

The last group, consisting of three East Timorese youths, sought asylum at the French mission here in December.

Indonesia annexed the former Portuguese colony in 1976 in a move that has not been recognized by the United Nations, which still views Lisbon as the administrator of the territory. bs/lis/cmc