Alleged suspect in deadly violence in Timor-Leste arrested, UN police report

Police in Timor-Leste today arrested a man alleged to have played a part in the violence of May last year, when at least 37 people were killed and 155,000 others, 15 per cent of the population, driven from their homes in the small South-east Asian country that the United Nations helped shepherd to independence from Indonesia in 2002.

Vicente da Conceiçao, alias Railos, was arrested at his home on a warrant issued last month for his alleged role in the events of 24 and 25 May 2006 on charges relating to homicide, the UN Police (UNPOL) reported.

The Security Council beefed up the UN presence in the country following last year’s violence. Since then the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), with more than 1,600 police officers, has helped the authorities keep order.

It helped oversee elections in June and put down violence that broke out when a new government was formed after the polls failed to produce a single outright winner.