DILI, Timor-Leste, March 7 (UPI) -- Police in Timor-Leste increased patrols on the streets of Dili following the conviction of former interior minister Rogerio Lobato.
He was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment on four counts of manslaughter and use of firearms for arming civilians in the deadly violence that rocked the small Southeast Asian nation last year.
The area around the Court of Appeal and across Dili remained stable Tuesday, but there were two attacks on warehouses Wednesday, both brought under control by the U.N.'s Malaysian and Portuguese formed police units, the U.N. Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste said. There were no injuries and minimal looting.
In minor scattered incidents Tuesday rocks were thrown at the Bebor and Bebonuk warehouses in Dili, but U.N. police responded quickly to bring the situation under control and seven people were arrested.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Atul Khare has called on the people of Timor-Leste, the former East Timor, to maintain peace and calm and cooperate fully with authorities.
The U.N. Security Council created UNMIT in August to help restore order after deadly violence, attributed to differences between eastern and western regions, broke out in April and May in the country the United Nations shepherded to independence from Indonesia nearly five years ago.
At least 37 people were killed and 155,000 others, 15 per cent of the population, forced to flee their homes. An independent special commission of inquiry, set up to investigate the violence, found that both police and defense force weapons were distributed to civilians and that there was an absence of systematic control over weapons and ammunition within the security sector, particularly the police.
