East Timor's parliament extended by 30 days a state of emergency that was imposed after attacks by suspected rebels on the country's two top leaders.
The state of emergency, which bans rallies and imposes a nighttime curfew, was originally due to end yesterday. After a request by the acting president, lawmakers voted 34 to 12 on Friday to extend it by 30 days.
"Criminal groups still walk free and are a serious threat to the organs of the state and to the people as a whole," the government said in statement after requesting the extension.
PARADE
Also on Friday, more than 1,000 police and soldiers paraded in the capital, Dili, in an apparent show of force following the Feb. 11 attacks that critically wounded East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
A group of dismissed soldiers is suspected in the strikes.
"Wherever they are hiding, in rat holes or under stones, we will chase them" East Timorese army commander Brigadier General Matan Ruak said. "Our operations will also be against their supporters."
Assailants shot at Ramos-Horta close to his home. His guards opened fire, fatally shooting a wanted rebel leader. An hour later, attackers fired on a motorcade carrying Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who escaped unhurt.
Ramos-Horta is recovering from bullet wounds to his upper body at a hospital in nearby Australia.
A day after the two attacks, the country declared a state of emergency.
The attacks were apparently a sudden escalation in a bitter dispute between the government and several hundred ex-soldiers who were fired in 2006 after going on strike to protest alleged discrimination.
NO OFFER
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman from the Irish embassy in Singapore said that Ireland did not make an offer in a Feb. 24 meeting with acting East Timorese president Fernando de Araujo to resettle any of the soldiers.
Araujo had said after meeting Ireland's Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern that the country was willing to take in some of the so-called petitioners for two to three years. But the embassy spokeswoman said she had consulted the Irish foreign ministry's press office, "who advised that during the meeting acting president de Araujo raised the issue of temporary resettlement to Ireland of soldiers.
"Minister Ahern stated that this would not be an option as it would lead to a `brain drain' from Timor Leste," the spokeswoman said, referring to East Timor by its official name.
The country has been calm since the attacks on the leaders, despite fears of more unrest.
East Timor, formerly occupied by Indonesia, has struggled with political turmoil and violence since it gained independence in 2002. Most of its 1 million people live in poverty.
About 1,000 Australian police and soldiers and a separate UN police force are stationed in the country.
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