Foreign troops heading towards troubled East Timor

CANBERRA, May 25 (Reuters) Foreign troops could be in East Timor later today after the tiny nation asked for help from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia to quell deadly clashes between sacked military police and government troops.

Two Australian navy ships are already heading towards East Timor and Australia's Vice Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, will visit the East Timorese capital Dili this morning to finalise details of the deployment.

''Assuming they are able to negotiate all of that satisfactorily then we will be able to move straight away,'' Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian television today.

''In terms of the bulk of our troops arriving there they will probably be able to get there in around 48 hours from the moment we authorise them to leave, but it might be possible to get some small numbers there in advance.'' Downer said the Australian embassy in Dili had reported sounds of gun fire and people fleeing the city today. He said he hoped the foreign troops would be able to stabilise the situation to allow the government and rebel troops to negotiate.

Australia has pre-deployed a battalion of between 1,000 and 1,300 troops. In Lisbon, Portugal has said it will send 120 military police to help in the security effort.

Five people were killed and hundreds fled their homes when the sacked East Timorese military policemen and government troops clashed in the streets of the capital Dili late last month. A sixth person was killed on Tuesday when the violence reignited.

Australia led a U N-backed intervention force to East Timor in 1999 to quell violence by pro-Indonesian militias after East Timorese voted for independence from Jakarta. An estimated 1,000 people died in the violence.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and declared it an indonesian province in 1976, following centuries of Portuguese control.

U N peacekeepers left a year ago and the U N mission of 130 administrators, police and military advisers was scheduled to finish in East Timor on May 20, but was extended for a month after the recent riots.

An East Timor government statement yesterday said it had also appealed to the U N ''to support this intervention at a multilateral-level action. That was due to the need to fasten the effectiveness of the response.'' East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta told the U.N.

Security Council earlier this month that with elections due by May 2007, international police were needed to ensure the security situation goes under control.

Australia's 1999 military deployment to East Timor soured relations with Indonesia for several years.

REUTERS DH RN0445