Things in Dili, East Timor have been in chaotic the last 3 weeks.

Reading the Jakarta Post in comfort in Bali, this a basic rundown of events.

The prime minister Alkatiri fired 600 of the countries 1,400 troops who were on strike. They were protesting discrimination they felt was directed at them by the government because they are from the western section of East Timor. Some people felt they had some connections to the Indonesian military that went beserk after the independence vote in 1999. Could be, who knows?

Politics aside, it was not a clearly thought out strategic move by Mr. Alkatiri who now had 600 unemployed unhappy soldiers with guns mucking about.

Things got out of hand and there was a lot of protests, riots, and general thuggery by opportunists who tried to use the unrest for a chance to steal and settle old scores. I think it was around the 24th of May that the jobless soldiers ambushed a bunch of policemen comming out of a meeting and killed 7 of them. 4 died at the scene and 3 died later on. A good many Timorese left the city of Dili and headed to the hills from whence they came. Most of them have seen hard times before and wanted no part of it.

That left a lot of unoccupied homes to be ransacked and trashed in general. And they were. The Australian troops and some Malaysian troops came to the rescue to attempt to install a semblence of law and order. They are getting things under control slowly. Today the 17th of June the rebel soldiers turned in a number of weapons to the Australians in Maubisse, East Timor.

They are still demanding that Alkatiri step down. The president Xanana Gusmao is treading lightly and not pointing any fingers at Alkatiri or anyone else and is emphasizing the need to move forward. He was a leader in the resistance movement against Indonesia and is very popular with the people of East Timor.

The land border between East and West Timor has been closed in part to stem the flood of refugees believed to be well over 100,000 and up to 130,000. The government of Indonesia has indicated they will partially open the borders to allow humanitarian aid into the east. Supplies in East Timor are believed to be running low.

There is a big group of refugees settled in at the airport and under bright yellow tarps across from the ferry office.