Dili – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has offered the disgruntled former ruling party Fretilin several seats in his cabinet, in an apparently conciliatory gesture, a report said Thursday.

Fretilin has been disputing the legality of the government formed in the wake of inconclusive June elections that saw it win the most votes but not the absolute majority required to govern.

A coalition headed by Gusmao and holding 37 of the 65 parliamentary seats was instead installed by the president earlier this month, triggering sporadic violence and escalating tensions in the impoverished nation.

"There will be Fretilin people sitting in the government cabinet," Gusmao said according to the Timor Post newspaper, without elaborating on which posts were to be filled.

Deputy prime minister Jose Luis Guterres said that Gusmao was lobbying an unnamed Fretilin leader in a bid to get party members into the cabinet.

"I know that Prime Minister Xanana Gumsao has sent several letters to a Fretilin leader to ask whether several (party members) can come into this government," Guterres told the daily.

Fretilin deputy chairman Arsenio Bano told AFP he had no information about any offers and that it was unlikely the party would accept them.

"Fretilin's position is that this government is illegal and unconstitutional. Fretilin will not cooperate and Fretilin has no one to work with in this government," Bano said.

Fretilin lawmakers initially boycotted parliament in a protest over the formation of the government but have since begun turning up for work.

Thousands of international peacekeepers and UN police remain on patrol in restive East Timor. The forces arrived in the wake of violence between local security force factions on Dili's streets in April and May last year that left at least 37 people dead.