Jakarta – Five youths from the troubled Indonesian territory of East Timor spent the night in the French embassy here today after jumping the gate and demanding to be allowed to leave for Portugal, sources said.

The French embassy confirmed that "five youths were found in the embassy" but refused to make any comment on the incident, the seventh time in two years that asylum-seekers entered the embassy.

Sources said the youths jumped over the embassy's iron gate at 5am local time today (0900 AEDT).

Following standard procedures, the East Timorese would be able to leave as they have requested for Lisbon although no exact date was fixed for their departure.

It was the first instance of East Timorese entering a foreign mission here this year to seek asylum or demand to leave for Portugal, which does not have diplomatic relations with Indonesia.

East Timor is a former Portuguese colony seized by Indonesia in the mid-1970s amid international condemnation. The United Nations still recognises Portugal as the legitimate administrator of the territory, where Indonesian troops are accused of human rights abuses.

The last batch of East Timorese to break into embassies were six people including two children who entered the Austrian embassy in September.

The six asked to leave for Portugal but were still believed to be at the mission since Jakarta has refused to allow two of them to leave the country, saying they were involved in terrorism.

Since September 1993, more than 130 other East Timorese have sought refuge in various embassies in the Indonesian capital before leaving for Portugal, via the Netherlands.

They are normally taken to Portugal after a few days following procedures under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Lisbon, former colonial master of East Timor, considers the East Timorese as citizens and grants them identity cards and a passport.