A major political crisis in the world's youngest independent nation appeared to ease on Friday when East Timor's Nobel Peace Prize-winning foreign minister was given additional charge of the country's fractured armed forces.
The appointment of Jose Ramos-Horta, who shared the 1996 peace prize with countryman Bishop Carlos Belo, comes after nearly 10 days of arson and looting by gangs loosely allied to factions in Timor's army and police force.
The UN refugee agency said on Friday that it was starting an airlift of shelter and other aid to the tiny nation, where the violence has uprooted an estimated 100,000 people.
There were isolated clashes between the gangs throughout Friday, but nothing like the pitched battles that a 2,500-strong Australian-led peacekeeping force has tried to quell since it first started arriving last week.
Dozens of youths broke into a government supplies warehouse near the United Nations Timor headquarters on Friday and looted tables, chairs and office equipment before they were chased off by peacekeepers.
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