International security forces joined East Timorese officers in a massive hunt for 57 inmates who escaped from a prison during visiting hours, allegedly by walking out of the front gate in full view of guards.
Rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado and others arrested for involvement in recent violence that wracked the tiny nation were among those who escaped from Becora jail near the capital on Wednesday, leading to fears of fresh instability in the country after weeks of relative calm. The escaped inmates were assumed to be armed, officials said.
Brigadier Mick Slater, the head of Australian troops in East Timor, said the prisoners walked out the jail's front gate during visiting hours. The ease of the escape will raise concerns over the fragile security situation in the former Portuguese colony.
Joao Domingos, head of Becora jail's administration, said grass cutters were used to intimidate guards during the escape.
"All Alfredo's men escaped along with others who were involved in ordinary crimes. We are confident the ones who were involved in ordinary crimes will surrender," he told reporters.
He said he was not aware whether guards aided in the escape in which he said 57 got away with 148 still in confinement.
"They threatened us with grass shears. They said `open the doors or you will die.' We opened the doors and 57 got away," Domingos said.
The UN agreed last week on a new mission to East Timor, comprising 1,608 police, despite a dispute over whether Australian-led international troops already there should remain independent or be part of a UN force.
"The United Nations and the international security forces have agreed to work closely together and coordinate efforts on recapturing all the prisoners who escaped," the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste said in a statement. Timor Leste is the official name for East Timor.
Slater described the mass breakout as disappointing and said it was likely the escapees were now armed, although Dili remained quiet and calm.
"We have sealed off the city. We did that within about 15 minutes of the escape yesterday," Slater told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio yesterday.
He said the escape appeared organized and that the prisoners had broken into smaller groups, but most were still in Dili.
"It is a matter now of trying to find them in parts of the city that are really very dense rabbit warrens of suburbs," Slater said.
East Timor suffered a series of protests that evolved into widespread violence in May after 600 members of the former Portuguese colony's 1,400-strong army were sacked.
In late May, former military police commander Reinado led his followers into the mountains behind Dili and refused to give up weapons until then prime minister Mari Alkatiri resigned.
An estimated 100,000 people were displaced and at least 20 killed in the violence, which led to deployment of a 2,500-strong international peacekeeping force.
The revolt stemmed from divisions between troops from the east and those from the west of the country, which was ruled by Jakarta from 1976 until an independence referendum in 1999.
That election was marked by violence blamed largely on pro-Jakarta militia with ties to the Indonesian army. An international peacekeeping force was sent to the territory, ushering in a transitional period of UN administration. East Timor became a fully fledged nation in 2002.
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