Timor poll peace call

EAST Timorese independence hero Xanana Gusmao is calling on supporters not to be provoked after campaigning for elections last week was marred by violence.

Mr Gusmao’s National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction party said 18 of its supporters in Vikeke district were injured over the weekend in an attack by members of rival faction Fretilin.

The parliamentary elections on Saturday are the second in less than a year for East Timor after the Fretilin-led minority government collapsed in January.