[East Timor is quiet today after mob violence in the capital Dili, left at least two dead, scores injured, and key buildings burnt to the ground. The unrest began a few days ago with the arrest of a student at Dili University, and exploded after the killing of another student during protests outside UN police headquarters. What concerns many who witnessed events is the role played not by students, but other political leaders wishing to capitalise on general discontent with the government of Mari Alkatiri. That, coupled with the apparent lack of UN action during the rampage, has posed many questions about nature of this week's violence.]
Transcript:
Keady: As East Timor settles down after three days of unrest, the question now being asked on the streets of Dili is how peaceful student protests led to such an outbreak of violence.
The scenes of the last few days which include rioting, the burning of Western shops and the destruction of the Prime Minister's house have shocked East Timorese.
Gil Guterres is from the weekly new magazine Tali Takum and was one of those watching events unfold. He says nationalist and opposition political leaders were participants in the protest.
Guterres: Yes ... personally attacking Mari. So it was the fault of those parties, the rival party of Fretilin, the rival party of Mari, the aim of the protest is to bring Mari down from power.
Keady: Some of these same people have been linked to protests throughout the year, as well as the violence early last week, which saw police headquarters in Bacau, attacked.
Many are asking how did mob violence emerge in a country which still has a substantial UN police presence and why security forces were so slow to react.
Carolyn Robinson is a journalist who was in the centre of events yesterday.
Robinson: We drove around town in the early afternoon and we saw several fires raging, and we saw students running from place to place. We also saw vehicles of armed peacekeepers in full riot gear. But there was not really an attempt to stop the students that we saw running from place to place. And nor was there any attempt to put the fires out. For the United Nations to be here, there are a lot of troops. And they surely would have been able to be in several more parts of town than they were. It's a question that none of us have figured out the answer to at the moment.
Keady: The Prime Minister's office has blamed the UN for allowing things to spiral out of control. But UN spokesperson Brenon Jones, says proper procedure was followed.
Jones: Early in the morning, or mid-morning, the SRSG, the special representative of the Secretary General said the UN was prepared to exercise its mandate role of helping to maintain security. At that point, he called for the peacekeepers to come out. They were out well before noon. It may have taken a while to deploy throughout the entire city.
Keady: But if you're looking at the looting of the Prime Minister's house which occured late in the day, well after the UN had been asked to intervene, clearly this suggests that the UN and security forces are unable to control what's happening in the city.
Jones: What Xanana Gusmao, President Gusmao, said yesterday afternoon was that it seems there were forces with alternative motives and that there were alternative demonstrations that unfolded rather rapidly throughout the city. It will take an inquiry to figure out all that happened yesterday. So I really can't make any further comments than that.
Keady: Opposition parties have used this weeks events to highlight what they say is widespread disaffection with the Alkatiri government, and the plight of people affected by unemployment and drought and accuse the government of nepotism, corruption and a lack of transparency and have been calling for the creation of a 'national unity government' that would include non-Fretlin members.
Joao Goncalves is from the Social Democratic Party.
Goncalves: I think this government should realise that they cannot go alone now. They either step down or think of a possibility of going in a government of unity involving other political parties and organising policies of the national interest, not policies that are in the interest of Fretilin or those that support Fretilin. I think this is what we have to consider, you know.