E. Timor rioters fled to RI: Envoy

E. Timor rioters fled to RI: Envoy

UNITED NATIONS: A preliminary inquiry into last week's riots in East Timor has found that some of the people behind the violence fled afterward to neighboring Indonesia, the tiny new nation's UN ambassador said on Tuesday.

Some of those behind the riots "sought refuge in west Timor," a province of Indonesia, Ambassador Jose Luis Guterres told reporters, adding he hoped Indonesia would seek to arrest them once the inquiry was completed.

"The situation is now calm" in the capital Dili, he said.

The violence last Tuesday in Dili -- which killed two people and injured 25 others -- was the worst since East Timor became independent in May and has raised fears that outside investment and foreign aid could dry up just when the struggling new nation most needs help.

Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN high commissioner for human rights, blamed the riots on outside instigators who had infiltrated bands of youths. -- Reuters