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250 People's Security to be posted

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Antara - February 20, 1999

Dili – At least 250 members of the People's Security (Kamra) force who have just completed their training will be posted in six police districts (Polres) in East Timor, a police spokesman said.

East Timor Police spokesman Capt. Widodo DS said here Saturday the Kamra personnel would be distributed district-wise as follows: 100 men in Lautem, 57 in Baucau, 30 in Aileu, 29 in Liquisa, 30 in Ambeno and four in Viqueque.

Graduates of the next Kamra training program would be assigned to seven other police districts in the province, Widodo said.

"The Kamras do not carry fire arms but only handcuffs, a wooden stick, a shield and whistle," he said, adding that they would each receive a salary of Rp200,000 a month.

East Timor's Police were planing to recruit 1,000 people to be trained as civilian guards in four 250-man batches, he said.

"The civilian guards are needed to assist the regular police in performing their public duties which are getting more and more difficult with the increasing demands from the public," Widodo said.

Recently, thousands of people hailing from outside East Timor left East Timor again as tensions between pro-integration and pro-independence groups among the East Timorese people rose following the Habibie government's announcement that it was considering letting East Timor go if its wide autonomy proposal was rejected.

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