East Timor PM wants foreign troops to stay
Source: Reuters
JAKARTA, Nov 9 (Reuters) - East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said on Thursday the worst period of violence in his country was over, but asked Australian and New Zealand troops to stay to keep peace. Australia led a force of 3,200 foreign peacekeepers to East Timor in late May after the tiny country descended into chaos following the sacking of 600 mutinous soldiers. Fighting that pitted East Timor's police and military against one another spiralled into rioting and looting in the streets of the capital, Dili, leaving about 30 people dead and 150,000 displaced. There are currently about 1,000 Australian troops in East Timor. "The worst moments have passed and police authorities are now better equipped," Ramos Horta said in a speech marking 100 days of his premiership. But he said the presence of foreign troops was in the best interest of East Timor because they were already familiar with the country and people. "The Australian and New Zealand military forces are going to continue in Timor-Leste to collaborate with the UNPOL (United Nations police) operations," he said. The United Nations has agreed to send 1,600 international police to East Timor and proposed a military force of 350 troops under its command. The prime minister said he acknowledged concerns in parliament about the command arrangements between international troops and U.N. police. "We are negotiating a trilateral accord with the United Nations and Australia, its intention to regulate the functions of the military forces and establish a high level coordination mechanism in which all parties are represented," he said. Sporadic violence has continued in East Timor and last month fighting flared in Dili between armed youths, killing up to four people and briefly shutting down the main airport. The territory of around a million people voted in a 1999 referendum for independence from Indonesia, which annexed it after Portugal ended its colonial rule in 1975. East Timor became fully independent in 2002 after a period of U.N. administration.
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