East Timor in the Vice of Gang Violence

Just after its 4 years of independency, East Timor was the scene of so called ethnic violence in May and June 2006. Fights with machetes and arrows were real however sporadic in the streets of Dili. The situation required an International Armed Force under Australian command, and the return of the UN Peace Keeping Force. The unrest forced 155 000 people to refugee camps and 37 people died in these months. The youth gangs created a terror in the little country, and if the Presidential elections happened under better circumstances than first expected, Timor is still extremely volatile, and some fear the worse for the Parliamentary elections scheduled for the next 30th of June.

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Dili from Black… House burned by… a man in front … a man shouting … a woman watches… Freitilin Head … refugee camp of… refugee camp of… refugee camp of… Australian troo… Easterners of H… youth gang hidd… Malaysian soldi… CRNT (Xanana Gu… Australian troo… Presidential ca… International F… Xanana Gusmao, …

Keywords timor leste east violence elections gang youth unrest burn fire fight refugee un force keeping peace chaos xanana gusmao ramos horta nobel prize prime minister freitilin falaintil refugees president arrows stone