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Timor-Leste: UN police help stop gang fighting that forces airport to close

Timor-Leste: UN police help stop gang fighting that forces airport to close

UN police in Timor-Leste
The United Nations police force in Timor-Leste has intervened to stop fighting between gangs and internally displaced persons (IDPs) that forced the closing of the airport in the small South-East Asian nation, shaken earlier this year by violence attributed to differences between eastern and western regions.

“At the moment it is calm,” the chief of the Police Unit of the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) Antero Lopes told UN radio, adding that two people were killed yesterday in the fighting between youth gangs.

“Some youth groups were attacking the IDP camp and the IDP population were retaliating and the United Nations police was an interposition force trying to prevent both groups from attacking each other,” he said. “The violence was contained after several hours of rock throwing and exchange of darts.”

No injuries were reported amongst UN police officers and it was hoped that the airport would re-open tomorrow, he added.

“We have been talking to the government who have to take that decision. Policewise, security conditions are met. It all depends on how the situation evolves,” Acting Commissioner Lopes said. “We have a permanent police presence at the airport and in the IDP camp which is in the vicinity of the airport and also in the main access road. Should this situation of stability continue, the airport can reopen its normal operations.”

The Security Council created the expanded UNMIT in August to help restore order in the country that it shepherded to independence from Indonesia just four years ago, after a crisis erupted in April with the firing of 600 striking soldiers, a third of the armed forces.

Ensuing violence claimed at least 37 lives and drove 155,000 people, 15 per cent of the total population, from their homes.

UNMIT currently has just over 460 police officers on the ground, out of a total mandated complement of 1,608. It is also fielding military observers and is supported by 102 international civilians, 222 local civilian and 34 UN Volunteers.