Foreign Minister Downer Visits Timor Leste

Fighting between rival armed neighbourhood gangs and with looting rife on the island, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer arrived made a quick trip for talks with East Timor’s leaders after weeks of violent clashes between numerous rival factions.

Although a dynamic foreign Minister with a bit of savvy, it is only the Timorese themselves that can ultimately settle the disputes and before leaving Australia, Mr Downer said his talks would focus on getting the country’s rival factions to lay down their weapons. Australia wants the United Nations to provide a police force for East Timor that will eventually take away responsibility for security from the mostly military peacekeeping force deployed last week.

Dozens of homes and businesses have been destroyed in the past two weeks by youth gangs loosely allied to feuding factions of east Timor's armed forces. The split erupted when Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri sacked around 600 of the 1,400 strong army for mutiny when they protested about alleged discrimination against soldiers from the east of the country.

The country's police force virtually disintegrated ten days ago when seven officers were shot dead after they were sent to disarm some of the soldiers and since then the gangs have run amok.

Will peace ever reign in this fledgling nation?.