DILI — International police and troops in East Timor were searching on Thursday for rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado after a mass jailbreak raised serious concern about fragile security in the fledgling nation.
Reinado, one of the figureheads of a revolt that plunged the former Portuguese colony into chaos in May, was among more than 50 prisoners who walked out of the Becora jail near the capital Dili on Wednesday.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will fly to Dili on Sunday for meetings with Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda, as well as East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta and President Xanana Gusmao.
"It's obviously a matter of deep regret that this has happened," Downer told reporters in Sydney.
"It is going to be an important visit and in the light of the escape of these 56 prisoners, which is of very great concern to us, an opportunity for us to reinforce our support to the East Timorese," he said.
Brigadier Mick Slater, the head of Australian troops in East Timor, said the prisoners walked out the jail's front gate during visiting hours.
Joao Domingos, head of Becora jail's administration, said grass cutters were used to intimidate guards during the breakout, in which he said all of Alfredo's men being held had escaped.
He said he was not aware whether guards helped in the escape. Another 148 prisoners remain in confinement.
"They threatened us with grass shears. They said 'open the doors or you will die'. We opened the doors and 57 got away," Domingos said.
The United Nations agreed last week on a new mission to East Timor, comprising 1,608 police, despite a dispute over whether Australian-led international troops already there should remain independent or be part of a U.N. force.
Downer said the implementation of the new U.N. mission would be discussed at the trilateral talks, to be held on Monday.
City Sealed Off
Slater said it was likely the escapees were now armed, although Dili remained quiet and calm after his troops quickly sealed off the city.
He said the escape appeared organised and that the prisoners had broken into smaller groups, but most were still in Dili.
"It is a matter now of trying to find them in parts of the city that are really very dense rabbit warrens of suburbs," Slater told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Bickering broke out on Thursday over who was responsible for the escape. An aide to Ramos-Horta complained that New Zealand troops were only patrolling around the jail every three hours but New Zealand said it was not to blame.
"New Zealand and the multinational force are not, and have never been, responsible for running the prisons in Timor Leste or for maintaining security within them. That is solely the responsibility of the Timor Leste Ministry of Justice," Defence Minister Phil Goff said.
Dili suffered a series of protests that evolved into widespread violence in May after 600 members of East Timor's 1,400-strong army were sacked.
In late May, former military police commander Reinado led his followers into the mountains behind Dili and refused to give up weapons until then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri resigned.
An estimated 100,000 people were displaced and at least 20 killed in the violence, which led to deployment of a 2,500-strong international peacekeeping force.
The revolt stemmed from divisions between troops from the east and those from the west of the country, which was ruled by Jakarta from 1976 until an independence referendum in 1999.
Feeds