About 101 suspects accused of involvement in deadly riots in East Timor last week are being detained after 25 more arrests were made, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
Thirteen of those held were among nearly 600 soldiers, or a third of the tiny nation’s armed forces, who deserted the army in February complaining of discrimination and were sacked in March, the ministry said.
“The ombudsman will have unrestricted access to all detainees,” it said in a statement.
The dismissal of the soldiers prompted protests last week which degenerated into violence on Friday, leading to the deaths of four people and prompting thousands to flee their homes.
The ministry said life in Dili and its surroundings was returning to normal “with only a few isolated minor incidents which were dealt [with] peacefully by police”.
Police and military police together toured Dili and its suburbs on Monday to meet people and assure them that the situation was under control, the ministry said.
But while people returned to work on Tuesday after a long weekend, traffic was not at its full level, it said.
“Unfortunately there are still too many unfounded rumours and this, despite the best efforts of the government and law enforcement authorities to reassure the public in general that all is under control, has led some residents to leave Dili,” it said, without giving numbers.
But police had also said that “a good influx” were returning. A policeman badly injured in the unrest was transferred to the Australian city of Darwin for treatment, the ministry said.
It also said that the government was waiting for the names of representatives of the Catholic Church, non-government organisations and the judiciary before announcing the full make-up of a commission that will investigate the soldiers’ complaints.
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, in a statement repeatedly broadcast on national television and radio on Sunday and Monday, said the state would investigate the complaints of the sacked soldiers.
The violence was the worst to rock East Timor since its vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999. Local militias, backed by the Indonesian military, killed about 1 400 people before and after the vote and caused huge property damage.
East Timor became the world’s youngest nation in May 2002. – AFP