This is just a heads-up re. the international press reports of increasing violence in Dili. Bairo Pite has been the main area for trouble for some months. It has quietened down and has flared up again.

According to locals from the area, the trouble has never really stopped. It just heats up and cools down. When questioned, I am told that nothing much is different at all. We are just in a heated up phase.

The area has been under intense security force attention for some time and the trouble is pretty much restricted to a small area of Bairo Pite. There are not a lot of expats who live in this area. The Bairo Pite clinic is at the eastern end of Bairo Pite and is not in the worst part, despite being regularly hammered with rocks earlier in the year. It benefits from being quite close to the heliport where the OZ troops have a base. Most of the trouble is more on the western and southern sides of the heliport.

The well-known aid organisation Care is quite close to the trouble and would have a better idea of what’s going on.

The UN police are not reporting these events in great detail so residents may not even know whats going on. There was definitely increased chopper and APC activity over the weekend and this did cause people to ask if anyone knew why. No-one including me seemed to know.
As for the rest of Dili, it is pretty much business as usual. I was out on the bike this afternoon and had absolutely no trouble at all. I guess after a while, it all just drops off the conversation list.

I believe I did forget to mention that the Padang restaurant near the Harbour View cafe ceased operating a couple of weeks back.