Violent mob forces hasty evacuation of NZ embassy

DILI - Deadly clashes between police and warring soldiers in the battered capital of East Timor forced the evacuation of the New Zealand embassy yesterday as peacekeeping troops struggled to stave off civil war.

Kiwi soldiers braved gunfire as renegade militias burned dozens of homes in the capital Dili, where the death toll has now climbed to 23.

New Zealand ambassador Ruth Nuttall and her staff had to be evacuated to the Australian compound as fresh violence flared after civilian militias armed with guns and machetes rampaged though the capital, torching houses and vehicles.

In fresh developments last night, there were reports the United Nations was preparing to evacuate all staff following fears that if Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri stood down, tens of thousands of his supporters would march on Dili.

Mr Alkatiri told reporters last night, just minutes after Australian soldiers stopped mobs of machete-wielding men from charging a Dili hotel where he was holding a news conference, that he had no plans to stand down.

He still had the support of the major party in government and the violence, he claimed, was part of an attempt to launch a coup against him.

Last night there was chaos at Dili airport as hundreds of people camped out along the side of the road, desperate to be near the arriving Australian and New Zealand troops.

The unrest began in March, when nearly 600 of the Army's original force of 1400 went on strike for better working conditions. They were later sacked.

The rebels have since gone to the hills, from where they have threatened to launch a civil war.

The unrest is the most serious threat to this desperately poor country since independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Despite the presence of 600 foreign troops in Dili and the promise of 700 more on the ground by the end of today, New Zealand's embassy was targeted by thugs with machetes because Ms Nuttall had given refuge to two teenage survivors of Thursday's brutal murder of a mother and five children.

The dead family were killed because they were cousins-in-law of interior minister Rogerio Lobato, an ally of Mr Alkatiri, whose own home and extended family had been targeted in earlier violence.

Last night Ms Nuttall and her staff had returned to the embassy as the immediate threat abated.

Mr Alkatiri's spokesman, Rui Flores, told the Herald on Sunday that the Prime Minister remained in power and in control of the Government, but was working from home because of fears for his safety.

The murdered family and two survivors were found on Thursday by New Zealander Patrick Adam, who works with local Timorese.

Mr Adam told the New Zealand embassy, which sent out Jakarta-based police liaison officer Superintendent Athol Soper and members of the New Zealand defence team, who had been advising and training the now disintegrating Timorese Army.

After the grizzly discovery, the two survivors - a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl - and their aunt and her two children were brought to join other refugees at the embassy.

By midday yesterday the decision had been taken to send the embassy staff to the Australian mission, which was surrounded by more than 1000 terrified people seeking protection.

Above the embassy, Black Hawk helicopters carrying rockets hovered.

Although Colonel John McLeod, normally New Zealand's defence attache in Jakarta, estimated the chance of an attack on the New Zealand embassy at about 20 per cent, the danger was palpable.

A convoy and alternative routes were arranged to give the best chance of protection if the drive turned ugly.

Outside the gates, truckloads of shouting and gesturing men drove past. Lines of women with their possessions on their heads and men pushing large loads of goods walked by, escorted by men with sticks.

Yesterday's renewed crisis, which erupted in the gap between the final breakdown of law and order and the full deployment of Australian troops, was not the first for the New Zealanders.

Former military advisers, Wing Commander Craig Basher and Lieutenant Commander Wayne Burtton, had been held in the hills as a tracer firefight exploded around them on Tuesday.

Later vehicles carrying Ms Nuttall and Colonel McLeod had been attacked as they drove with Australian negotiators to sign the papers allowing the intervention with President Xanana Gusmao.

Mr Gusmao, visibly distressed, cried as he signed.

On Friday it appeared as if the worst had passed, with the arrival of the first Australian troops and a small detachment of Portuguese paramilitary.

But after a golden morning yesterday, opposing gangs of locals collided near the
UN compound, thumping, and hacking each other with sticks, iron bars and machetes. A victim was reported to have been shot in the leg with an arrow.

As Portuguese and Australian troops arrived to rescue victims and separate warring groups, large mobs of armed thugs - their faces covered by shirts - rampaged through houses, looting and setting fire to buildings and vehicles.

Machete-waving youths warned reporters covering the unrest and others away. Explosions ripped through the burning buildings and youths laughed and waved.

In a back alley Soper, Basher, Burtton and others arrived. Their job was to rescue New Zealanders in trouble. They gathered me up and warned: "If they shoot lie down. If they stone the windows, that will give some protection and we'll go straight through.

"If we say move," Soper added, "move. We'll be going and we won't be stopping."

Our escape was halted by 50 or more armed youths who surrounded our 4WD. But they responded with smiles and waves to our greetings.

When we reached the embassy, the convoy was already being planned for embassy staff. As they left it was decided to allow the refugees to stay.

In the streets, foreigners were being targeted. At the airport, the Australians were moving in as black hawk helicopters circled.

For Dili they could not come soon enough.