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Australian troops in East Timor arrest top rebel

Australian soldiers arrested a rebel leader in East Timor who deserted the army in May with hundreds of other troops, triggering violence that led to the downfall of former prime minister Mari Alkatiri, officials said yesterday.

Major Alfredo Reinado was among 22 people detained on Tuesday night for illegal possession of weapons, Australian Army Brigadier Gus Gilmore told reporters in Canberra.

The troops seized 11 handguns and a "significant amount of ammunition" from the men, he said.

Reinado will appear in court within 72 hours, Prosecutor General Longuinhos Monteiro said.

The arrest of the rebel leader -- who turned some weapons over to Australian peacekeepers in mountains near Dili last month -- came the day after the expiration of a gun amnesty designed to contain the recent violence.

"The treatment that Major Reinado and his group receives from the multinational force will be exactly the same as any other group in Dili with unauthorized weapons," Gilmore said.

Reinado was the most senior of some 600 soldiers dismissed from the army after they went on strike complaining of discrimination. He and others left the force without handing in their weapons.

He fled to the hills in April after fierce gunbattles with loyalist forces in Dili.

The fighting between soldiers ballooned into widespread street violence that killed at least 30 people and drove 150,000 from their homes before Australian, Portuguese, Malaysian and New Zealand forces were invited into East Timor by the government to restore peace.

Reinado was a vocal critic of Alkatiri, who stepped down last month to take responsibility for the violence.

Authorities have not tried to arrest him since he deserted the army and President Xanana Gusmao has always refused to criticize his actions, leading some to question whether his rebellion was part of wider moves to get rid of Alkatiri. Both Gusmao and Alkatiri's replacement, Jose Ramos-Horta, also demanded that Alkatiri step down.

Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday that Canberra wants to withdraw its troops from East Timor as soon as possible but the timing depends on the UN's plans to set up a mission in the nation.

Downer said the situation in East Timor had stabilized and Australia would soon reduce the 1,300 to 1,400 soldiers it has there.

"But pulling them out altogether is going to depend very much on the situation on the ground," Downer told Malaysian television ahead of a meeting today with his ASEAN counterparts in Kuala Lumpur.

"You can't expect us to be there holding their hands indefinitely but we will for a little while yet I suspect," he said.

"It's going to depend a bit on the United Nations too. The sort of new mission that the United Nations set up in East Timor will influence us I suppose," he said.

Ramos-Horta said earlier this month he believed Australian forces should stay at least until the year's end but suggested they could then come under the UN umbrella as a peacekeeping force.
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