E. Timor diarrhea kills 24 children

E. Timor diarrhea kills 24 children

LISBON (AFP): A diarrhea epidemic in an isolated East Timor enclave is said to have killed 24 children, most of them under the age of three years, the Lusa news agency reported on Tuesday.

The epidemic is reported to have struck in the coastal enclave of Oecussi, surrounded on three sides by West Timor, part of Indonesia, and on the fourth side by the sea.

East Timor's health minister Joao Soares Martins confirmed during a visit to Oecussi that six children admitted to hospital there had died as a result of the epidemic, but did not confirm the higher death toll.

The enclave was a prime target for militias who went on a rampage of destruction in East Timor after the territory's people voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Indonesia in August 1999.