Australian Troops Arrive in East Timor

More than 100 Australian commandoes arrived in the troubled capital of East Timor today in an attempt to calm a mutiny that has seen almost half the army fighting their former colleagues.

The troops secured Dili airport ahead of a further deployment of 1,300 Australian troops on its way by sea. A force of 50 Malaysian riot policemen is also expected to arrive later today, followed by further contingents expected from Portugal and New Zealand.

East Timor has been in a state of crisis for the past month after discontent over pay and ethnic rivalries within the 1,400-strong army spilled over into rioting and a rebellion by 600 troops.

Five people have been killed in fighting over the past week, and there were gun battles today on the streets of Dili, where shots were exchanged close to the office of the country's president ,Xanana Gusmao, and near the UN compound where dozens of foreign residents were sheltering.

Streets were described as deserted, with smoke plumes rising above the skyline from buildings looted and burned during the fighting.

The US has ordered out all non-essential diplomats and recommended that US nationals leave the country, while the Australian embassy sent home 40 diplomats and their families. Singapore also advised its citizens to leave.

East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, welcomed the intervention of foreign troops.

"Their support will contribute to restore the confidence of the people and to put at ease the generalised panic, enabling the return of the country to its normal life, as soon as possible," he said.

The unrest is the most serious violence to affect the world's youngest country since the fighting that surrounded its move to independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Its origins lie in pay complaints from East Timorese soldiers since the start of the year, compounded by tensions between troops from the underdeveloped west of the country and officers from the east and the capital Dili.

East Timor is one of the poorest nations on earth, and troops receive a basic salary of just $120 (£64) a month.

The rebel troops are well-trained and armed, and have established themselves in some of the same mountain redoubts that formed the power base of the East Timorese insurgency against Indonesian occupation between 1975 and 1999.

An Australian-trained officer commanding one faction of the breakaway force, Major Alfredo Reinado, told the BBC that his men had no alternative but to mutiny.

"This is the only solution," he said. "There is no other way, or it will be war forever. The government has taken too long. It is not capable of resolving this."

Talks between Mr Gusmao and the Reinado faction broke down earlier this week.

The tensions have also revealed cracks in the coalition of former independence fighters who make up the Fretilin party that dominates Timor's government.

Reports suggested that Mr Alkatiri was facing challenges to his authority from the foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta, and the interior minister, Rogerio Lobato. A Fretilin party meeting this week saw him retain control of the party, after facing a challenge from East Timor's ambassador in Wsahington, Jose Luis Guterres.

Australian newspapers reported that Mr Guterres's bid had been supported by Mr Horta, and that Mr Lobato had connections with Lieutenant Gasto Salsinha, the most intransigent of the rebel faction leaders.

Australia's defence minister, Brendan Nelson, told ABC radio that his country's troops would not get involved in East Timor's domestic political troubles.

"Our job is not to take sides, if you like. Our job is to see that the democratic will of the East Timorese people is supported, in the sense that peace and security exist in Dili and throughout the country.

"We will, basically, do everything we reasonably can ... to create peace and to keep peace," he said.