The Wire

Prime Minister John Howard has announced that 150 troops will arrive in East Timor this afternoon in response to the escalation of violence and increasing lawlessness in the nation’s capital. The Department of Foreign Affairs has described the situation in East Timor as unstable. The unrest stems from an incident late last month in which five people were killed when a group of sacked East Timorese Military personnel clashed with Government troops. The issue is deep-seeded in ethnic tensions and perceived injustices. Rob Wesley-Smith is the spokesperson for Australians for a free East Timor and has been following developments in East Timor closely and spoke to The Wire today. He says that East Timor, although free from occupation, is still trapped in endemic poverty and that the cause of unrest in the nation’s capital this week can be traced back along the road the country has taken since declaring its independence.