East Timor ex-minister jailed for arming civilians

DILI, March 7 (Reuters) A court in East Timor today sentenced a former interior minister to seven and a half years in jail for giving weapons to civilians to kill government opponents during a wave of violence last year.

A panel of three judges found Rogerio Lobato guilty on manslaughter and firearms charges.

Prosecutors said Lobato had distributed police uniforms, weapons and ammunition to a group of civilians led by renegade army major Alfredo Reinado.

A lawyer for Lobato, Paulo Remexio, said he would appeal.

''We don't accept the sentence,'' he told reporters.

Violence broke out in the impoverished tiny country last May after the government sacked 600 mutinous members of East Timor's 1,400-strong army.

The chaos led to the deployment of an international peacekeeping force.

Prosecutors dropped similar charges against former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri because of lack of evidence.

Alkatiri attended today's court session.

A report released last October by a UN-appointed Independent Special Commission of Inquiry called for further investigation to determine whether Alkatiri should face criminal charges for fomenting the violence.

At the request of East Timor's government, Australian soldiers have mounted a major operation to capture Reinado, who escaped from a prison in the capital, Dili, last August along with more than 50 inmates.

He was facing charges for murder during last year's violence when he escaped.

The hunt, which left five of Reinado's followers dead, triggered street protests by his supporters.

The standoff between Reinado and the troops has raised fears of violence ahead of East Timor's April presidential election.

Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the United States have issued new travel warnings for citizens currently in East Timor or thinking of going there.

Sixteen Australians were evacuated from Dili today on a chartered flight to Australia's tropical city of Darwin, local media said.

Richard Neves, who worked with the Ministry of Planning and Finance in Dili, said the security situation for foreigners was worse than it was during unrest in May 2006.

''I personally never felt threatened then,'' Neves told Australian radio in Darwin.

''This situation is markedly different in the sense that now you can sense that it's more aimed at foreigners and that's why we've taken the decision to pull out of Dili in the short term, just while this tension's at a certain level.'' The government issued orders to arrest Reinado after allegations that he had led a raid on a police post last month and made off with 25 automatic weapons and ammunition.

East Timor voted in a 1999 referendum for independence from Indonesia, which annexed it after Portugal ended its colonial rule in 1975. The country became fully independent in 2002 after a period of UN administration.

REUTERS PA PM1713