It has actually been reasonably quiet in Dili over the last couple of weeks. Any trouble has been out of town in the Ermera, Baucau and Viqueque areas (with Uatulari being particularly bad). Last week there was the Metinaro incident which I saw reported as :<\/p>\n
“TWO people were killed as hundreds of rampaging youths torched dozens of houses and clashed across East Timor”<\/em><\/p>\n Makes it sound like widespread insurrection or the like. While I don’t doubt that the Baucau and Viqueque stuff was politically motivated, the Ermera and Metinaro incidents don’t seem to be “violence … sparked by the appointment of independence hero Xanana Gusmao as Prime Minister<\/em>” as reported in the same article.<\/p>\n Near IDP camps, there have always been tensions between camp residents and local residents. Setting up shops in competition … acquiring land against local wishes … perhaps nicking a wandering dog or pig for culinary purposes. I understand it was one of these sorts of issues (a dispute over a soccer game) which led to a rather over the top response. Burning houses down is a very popular form of retribution. Most of the time, we are talking about small shacks rather than houses as we know them in the west. Often wooden frames with galvanised iron walls and roof or perhaps bamboo slatted walls and a skillfully constructed palm leaf roof. And maybe only 2 or 3 separate rooms covering an area of 30 square metres in all.<\/p>\n The fact is that tensions are higher than normal around IDP camps and people are on the edge. If you were an IDP camp resident and you still didn’t feel like leaving because you didn’t trust the security situation, then I guess you wouldn’t trust the police to sort out a local issue. You sort it yourself.<\/p>\n Everyone would like to see the IDP camps disperse but today I noticed 2 camps flying large new Fretilin flags outside. This may not be the way to reduce tensions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It has actually been reasonably quiet in Dili over the last couple of weeks. Any trouble has been out of town in the Ermera, Baucau and Viqueque areas (with Uatulari being particularly bad). Last week there was the Metinaro incident … Continue reading