East Timor4s chief minister, Mari Alkatiri, has expressed concern over mounting domestic violence against women, urging his people to put an end to such practices as part of the territory4s larger efforts at reconciliation.

"I have been informed with preoccupation that cases of domestic violence are increasing and that many of us consider the beating of women to be a private affair that should not broached in public", Alkatiri said in a statement issued at the weekend.

He added that his government was "preoccupied" with the "process of reconciliation" between the territory4s pro-independence majority and those who had defended integration into Indonesia, stressing that reconciliation should begin at home, "inside the family".

The government, Alkatiri said, sought to create a "culture or peace and respect for human rights", underlining that "our women and girls should enjoy these freedoms without violence".

Alkatiri's statement was issued to mark the recent celebration of the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women.