East Timor's president announces measures to restrain disorders

East Timor 's president, a former guerrilla leader and independence hero, on Tuesday announced emergency measures after mobs ransacked the attorney general's office, stealing evidence implicating those who carried out massacres in 1999. The statement by President Xanana Gusmao also represented an attempt to break a political deadlock that has paralyzed his government and possibly triggered some of the unrest.

It followed two days of wrangling with Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, who faces calls for his resignation but is a shrewd negotiator and retains clout as the leader of the tiny country's ruling party. Gusmao, in contrast, has a partly ceremonial role but inspires adulation for his record in the fight against Indonesia 's harsh occupation of his homeland. To some extent, he had retained affection by staying out of the bruising game of daily politics, preferring a loftier role as a symbol of new nationhood. No longer. Seated in his office, Gusmao declared to journalists that he would assume "sole responsibility" for security, taking direct control of the armed forces and key ministries. He urged lawmakers to meet soon to discuss a solution to "a state of grave crisis."

"We need the Parliament to start functioning," said Gusmao, whose government is scarcely operating in any respect. Loyalist soldiers are confined to their barracks, a group of renegade soldiers is ensconced in the hills near Dili, the police force is in disarray, most government offices are closed, and many lawmakers have fled the capital along with one-fifth of the city's population.

Peacekeepers from Australia , New Zealand and Malaysia have seized up to 400 weapons, including high-powered rifles, grenades and machetes. But they have yet to stop the gangs terrorizing the seaside capital, possibly because of limits on how much force they can use under the terms of their agreement with East Timorese authorities.

On Tuesday, a mob ransacked the office of the attorney general. Files on the most prominent Indonesian defendants in the 1999 killings that followed East Timor 's vote for independence were stolen, said Attorney General Longuinhos Monteiro. The missing files include ones on former Gen. Wiranto, Indonesia 's armed forces chief at the time of the massacres, who was indicted by U.N.-backed prosecutors for rights abuses in East Timor , Monteiro said.

Wiranto, a former Indonesian presidential candidate, has consistently denied any wrongdoing. East Timor has sought reconciliation with Indonesia , and efforts to prosecute suspects in the 1999 killings had not appeared imminent. Many pro-Indonesian militiamen who slaughtered civilians and burned down much of Dili in the last days of Indonesian rule fled to West Timor , an Indonesian region adjacent to the half-island nation of East Timor .

Sporadic fighting flared in some parts of Dili on Tuesday, and ambulances ferried wounded people to a hospital. It was not clear how many had been hurt. At least 27 people have died since last week. No violence has been reported outside the capital, though there is tension in other big towns, said Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The prime minister, Alkatiri, is a polarizing figure for many because he is perceived as arrogant and has awarded infrastructure projects to his family and friends. But the roots of violence also lie in East Timor 's legacy of conflict, poverty and faded hopes after independence.

The catalyst for the recent unrest was the dismissal of 600 striking soldiers in the 1,400-member army by commanders with credentials as independence fighters, who had operated from hideouts in the mountainous east of the territory. The fired soldiers, dubbed "westerners" because of their allegedly questionable loyalty to an independent East Timor , rioted and fled to the hills. Later, rival gangs in Dili were labeled as either "west" or "east," even though there was no geographical distinction among the groups in many cases.

In his statement, Gusmao appealed to people to hand over illegal weapons and explosives to foreign peacekeepers, and to cooperate with identification checks and surveillance operations. He said he had chosen not to declare a state of emergency because he did not want to "restrict some liberties."

The Australian military said the overall level of unrest had diminished since last week, when former soldiers clashed with government forces. Still, a humanitarian crisis loomed. At a warehouse used as a food distribution center, Australian troops struggled to keep order as thousands of residents tussled for bags of rice. "The situation is terrible," said Daniel Afonso, who fled his destroyed home with his parents and four children and is staying at a church refugee center. "It is dangerous to go out looking for food and the shops are closed", reports the AP.

N.U.