May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Australia accelerated its deployment
of soldiers to East Timor and New Zealand sent troops, as nine
East Timorese police officers died in the latest violence in the
country's capital, Dili.
About 1,800 Australian soldiers, C130 Hercules and
helicopters will be in East Timor by late today, the Defense
Department said in an e-mailed statement. New Zealand is sending
a 757 aircraft, a Hercules C130 plane and 150 soldiers. Malaysia
and Portugal are also providing service personnel.
``So rapid has been the deterioration in East Timor we
thought we had better begin the process of getting the troops
moving,'' Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today in an
interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. ``The terms
of engagement have been sorted with the East Timor government.''
The unrest in East Timor began last month when former
soldiers rioted over the dismissal of about 600 servicemen for
desertion. East Timorese soldiers killed nine unarmed police
officers and wounded 27 people yesterday in Dili, the United
Nations said. Two UN officers were among those injured.
East Timor, or Timor-Leste, a country of about 1 million
people, voted for independence in a 1999 referendum after a 24-
year occupation by Indonesia, which invaded the territory when it
was a Portuguese colony in 1975. The country, which became
independent in May 2002, lies about 500 kilometers (310 miles)
north of Australia.
Dili Security
A unit of about 150 Australian soldiers arrived yesterday,
securing Dili's airport. The Australian contingent will take over
responsibility for security in Dili, Agence France-Presse cited
East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta as saying today.
``The Australian troops will hold control over the city of
Dili and will move to other districts as needed,'' Ramos-Horta
said, according to AFP.
Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson suggested
Australia, which has 1,320 soldiers in and around Iraq, 540
service personnel in Afghanistan and 400 in the Solomon Islands,
may increase the size of the force being deployed in East Timor.
``We will have a look at the situation in Dili,'' Nelson
told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. ``We still have
significant capacity in our back pocket here in Australia.''
Australia, which leads a multinational peacekeeping force in
the Solomon Islands, had to increase its contingent last month
after rioting in the Pacific nation.
Long Deployment
Australian soldiers won't be in East Timor for the ``long
term,'' Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the defense force chief,
told reporters in Canberra at a briefing.
``I would want to see us try to solve the problems there
fairly quickly and that we can create a stable environment,''
Houston said. ``What happens after that is a matter for the
Timor-Leste government, after consultation with our government,
our partners and probably the UN.''
In yesterday's incident, soldiers fired on policemen being
escorted out of their headquarters in Dili, the UN said. Police
officers agreed to surrender their weapons after UN officials and
military advisers negotiated a cease-fire.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is visiting Thailand,
appointed Ian Martin as a special envoy to East Timor to assess
events in the country, the UN said yesterday. Martin was the UN
envoy to East Timor in 1999.
The Security Council late yesterday appealed to East Timor's
government to ``take all necessary steps'' to prevent further
conflict and stabilize the country. The panel adopted a statement
welcoming commitments by Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and
Malaysia to send troops.
``East Timor remains a very fragile and very poor country
and too often after a major peacekeeping investment we leave too
early,'' Jean-Marie Guehenno, head of UN peacekeeping operations,
said after briefing the Council. ``It is very important to stay
the course. The UN has no more force in Timor, so it cannot play
a military or police role in the maintenance of law and order.''
Guehenno said the events might require a ``revision'' of the
UN mandate in East Timor.