Foreign troops head toward troubled East Timor

By Lirio da Fonseca

DILI (Reuters) – Australian commandos were sent to East
Timor on Thursday to secure the capital’s airport ahead of the
deployment of 1,300 troops to help restore law and order in the
tiny nation.

Violence in the capital has left at least six people dead
in recent weeks as the inexperienced and cash-strapped
government of the world’s newest independent nation struggles
to cope with clashes initially sparked by the sacking of around
half the army.

A Reuters witness said there was widespread shooting in the

capital on Thursday and some buildings had been razed.
Foreigners as well as local residents were seen leaving the
city.

Despite a population under a million and a land mass only
slightly bigger than the Bahamas, East Timor has been the scene
of a complex international tug of war and a bloody independence
struggle for 30 years.

This week the government asked for troops from Australia,
New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia to help after a police unit
rebelled and its own forces proved incapable of calming the
situation.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the deployment
of commandos on Thursday had East Timor’s full support.

“These Australian forces will take immediate action to
secure the perimeter of Dili international airport,” Howard
told the Australian Parliament, adding the deployment followed
a “significant” deterioration of security around the capital.

Commercial flights were reportedly continuing in and out of
the airport, but the U.S. state department urged citizens to
make plans to leave and ordered out all non-essential staff.

At their worst, clashes over the past two months have
involved gunbattles and widespread arson, sending thousands to
seek safety in the hills, or on the grounds of embassies,
religious institutions and military installations.

The ostensible reason for the unrest is unhappiness of
sacked soldiers over firings, benefits and discrimination.

However, government officials say opposition groups have
tried to exploit the situation, sparking attacks and resisting
mediation efforts. Fear and panic have been fanned by rumors
spread by handphone text messaging.

SHOW OF FORCE

Government leaders suggest a show of force by foreign
troops might be enough to calm the population and stop the
violence, without the soldiers actually having to engage in
combat.

East Timor is one of the world’s poorest countries but has
potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves that could inject up
to $14.5 billion into its struggling economy.

It is also strategically placed amidst territory belonging
to one-time ruler Indonesia, with Australia its other nearest
neighbor and one that has already been militarily involved.

Australia led a U.N.-backed intervention force in 1999 to
quell violence after East Timorese voted for independence. An
estimated 1,000 people died in that violence, blamed mostly on
pro-Jakarta militia backed by Indonesian military elements.

Despite that rocky history, Indonesia has been trying to
improve trade and political ties with Dili since independence.

“What we hope is to see a Timor Leste (East Timor) which is
peaceful, prosperous and developing,” Desra Percaya, Indonesian
foreign affairs spokesman, said on Thursday.

As for the foreign troop deployment, he said: “We think
that the government of Timor Leste knows best about what is
happening and what kind of steps that need to be taken.”

In New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, acting on
behalf of East Timor’s government, formally requested urgent UN
Security Council approval of the offers of assistance.

But the council put off action for a few days after Russia,
in a contentious closed-door session, argued the 15-nation body
needed more information before it could vote, diplomats said.

When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, and in 1976
declared it an Indonesian province after centuries of
Portuguese control, the UN never recognized Jakarta’s
legitimacy.

That helped encourage a simmering pro-independence
rebellion and a UN feeling of responsibility for making East
Timor a success once it became independent.

Separately Portugal, which had strongly influenced the
culture and educated the elite, remained interested and
involved.

In Lisbon, the Portuguese government said it would send 120
military police to help in the security effort.

UN peacekeepers left a year ago and the UN mission of 130
administrators, police and military advisers was scheduled to
finish in East Timor on May 20, but its term was extended for a
month due to the clashes.

(Additional reporting by James Grubel and Michelle Nichols
in Canberra and Achmad Sukarsono in Jakarta)