Word: fretelin
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Fighting between the Timorese Democratic Union (U.D.T.) and the radical Fretelin party broke out three weeks ago when the U.D.T. staged a coup. Since then Fretelin, seeking to unseat the U.D.T., has reportedly gained control of the capital of Dili. Refugees fleeing the island told chilling stories of heavy casualties and numerous atrocities. The captain of the MacDili, a freighter that has been ferrying refugees to Darwin, described the fighting as "bloody carnage." Estimates of the death toll ranged from several hundred to 2,000. An Australian engineer who fled to Darwin last week said: "Children are being picked...
...Dili. Other reports told of barrages of mortar shells and a continuous small-arms crossfire. Fighting broke out when the Timorese Democratic Union (U.D.T.) seized power two weeks ago to forestall what it said was a coup attempt by the radical Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretelin). At least 100 persons died in the initial outburst, and the toll was expected to go much higher. Lisbon was said to be sending a commission to the island, perhaps to speed up decolonization (Timor had been scheduled to become independent in 1978). At the same time, some 1,400 refugees...
...instigator of the coup was the Timor Democratic Union (U.D.T.) which had always advocated a gradual approach to independence and a continuing association with Portugal. One possible explanation for the U.D.T.'s action was that it had joined forces with another independence party, Fretelin, to crush a third party that advocates eventual union with Indonesia...
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