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.