A cat-and-mouse fight in Dili's streets

A dark spiral of smoke twists into the humid tropical air as another home burns in East Timor's troubled capital, Dili. Popping and groaning under the intense heat, the corrugated iron roof eventually collapses, sending up a blizzard of sparks.

"There's not a lot we can do about that one," says Pvt. Chas Takiwa, one the New Zealand soldiers who came across the fire during a patrol of the hills and valleys on Dili's outskirts.

Without proper firefighting equipment, the New Zealand patrol, and the rest of the 2,500-strong force sent from Australia, Portugal, and Malaysia, are powerless to combat the arson attacks and gang violence which have erupted in East Timor and left up to 30 people dead and many more injured.

The communal hatreds and ethnic tensions which are fueling Dili's violence contrast with the ecstatic welcome the international forces receive everywhere they go in this ramshackle city. But despite Timorese goodwill and predeployment predictions of a rapid return to peace, the soldiers are finding their mission is entailing much more than just showing up.

The military commander of the Australian forces, Brig. Mick Slater, made a tacit admission Monday that his troops were struggling to impose control by calling for them to be replaced by a UN-led multinational police force. The Army, he said, had "achieved as much as we can expect to achieve." But it would take months to assemble a UN force, and for now it is the military that will have to bear the brunt of the crisis.

Monday, Australian and Malaysian soldiers, together with Portuguese police, used helicopters, armored personnel carriers, and tear gas to quell street battles between rival ethnic gangs in the explosive district of Comoro.

In another flashpoint, the suburb of Becora, the 166-strong New Zealand contingent is patrolling on foot and in vehicles from a deserted police station.

"Bon dia [good morning] Kiwi, you are No. 1," locals yelled as the troops from the 2nd/1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, drove through smoldering neighborhoods.

The battalion has confiscated spears, knives, machetes, and lethal homemade darts, along with the cheap disposable lighters that are used by arsonists. But catching arsonists red-handed is proving infuriatingly difficult, as the fires take just a few moments to ignite and the culprits are long gone before the troops arrive.

"As soon as we leave an area the fires start up again," said Lt. Marcus Bunn, one of the New Zealand officers.

A few miles up the road a foot patrol had detained 19 men, a rare victory in the frustrating cat-and-mouse game engaged in by soldiers as they chase looters and arsonists along back alleys and through crowded slums.

The captured men were from the western districts of East Timor and were allegedly intent on torching the homes of people from the east of the country.

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