[Kabar-indonesia] UN fears more unrest as Timor marks religious holidays

[Joyo at aol.com]

UN fears more unrest as Timor marks religious holidays

Karen Michelmore And Olivia Rondonuwu

DILI November 1 (AAP) -- The United Nations has warned of
the potential for more violence as East Timor marks two
major religious holidays that remember the dead.

Locals today said they feared visiting cemeteries for the
traditional All Saints holiday today, and Day of the Dead,
or All Souls day tomorrow, which could spark fresh violence
between rival gangs in the capital Dili.

It is estimated about 90 per cent of East Timorese are
Catholic, with most traditionally visiting cemeteries on the
two holy days to clean up their relatives' graves and pray.

UN Police Commissioner Antero Lopes said it was a
potentially volatile time because many of the dead had been
killed in the violence that has plagued East Timor.

"If people especially at the end of the day ... are
intoxicated and they remember their relatives, and some of
them died as a result of acts of violence, we hope that it
will not be transported into revenge activities outside of
the cemeteries," he told AAP.

Authorities were working with village chiefs and local
families as part of a security plan implemented for the
holidays.

"That will hopefully help deter the situation but ...there
is potential for some violence," he said.

He described the security situation as "volatile".

In the current climate, a minor conflict between two people
could easily flare into a large fight among youths, many
affected by drugs and alcohol.

Clashes between rival gangs have killed up to eight people
and injured about 50 in Dili in the past two weeks.

Head of the Australian Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal
Angus Houston, today said some of the recent unrest was
politically motivated.

"In the last few days, the last week, there was some
violence and some of it was in my view politically
motivated," he told a Senate estimates committee in
Canberra.

"Some of the violence has been politically motivated. At
other times we have seen tensions within the society boil
over into the streets. Sometimes we see criminal activity.
There is element of all of that in some of the violence we
have seen in recent times."

Hundreds of Timorese attended church services across the
capital today.
Head of the Immaculada Concecao Catholic Church in Balide,
Father Demetrio Barros Soares, was aware violence could
"spark again".

"But we cannot be afraid. It is our obligation to pray on
that day and we must do it, despite anything," he said.

Judite Dos Santos, 33, visited the graves of her two
children at Santa Cruz cemetery - where more than 270 people
were killed by Indonesian military 15 years ago - yesterday
rather than attend today.

"I already burn candles, so ... I don't have to come again,"
she said.

"Because I'm afraid if the condition go worse. If things
gone wrong, we don't know where to run."

Others, like Bambina Rodriguez, 25, said they were aware of
the "issues" but visited anyway.

"It is the big day for the dead ones, and we have to come,"
Rodriguez said.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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