Australia, East Timor ink counterterror pact
Australia, East Timor ink counterterror pact
Agencies, Adelaide, Australia
Australia and East Timor signed a counterterrorism pact and Indonesia promise better security cooperation with Canberra during three-way talks on Monday.
East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta signed the agreement pact with Australian counterpart Alexander Downer during annual ministerial talks with their Indonesian colleague Hassan Wirayuda in the southern city of Adelaide.
Ramos Horta said "serious deficiencies" in his fledgling nation's police and judicial systems hampered security and stability on the tiny half-island state.
Pledging A$40 million (US$26 million) over four years to help train its police force, Downer said East Timor was not a weak link in regional counterterrorism but cooperation was needed with Australia.
"We will be able to help the East Timorese to make sure they've got their bases covered on counter-terrorism," he said after he and Ramos-Horta signed a memorandum of understanding on terrorism.
"Australia will continue to stand by East Timor and help build its capacity, in partnership with its neighbors, to deal with traditional and non-traditional security challenges," the minister said.
The pact enabled information sharing and counterterrorism training and education.
Downer said Australia particularly wanted to ensure offshore oil rigs in the Timor Sea were protected. The two countries have signed revenue sharing agreements for the oil which will be one of East Timor's major income sources over the next 20 years.
"The maintenance of law and order will be critical for East Timor's stability and prosperity, particularly in the period following the departure of the international peacekeeping force," he said.
Australia led an international peacekeeping force into East Timor to stop a brutal rampage by pro-Indonesia militias after the East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence from Jakarta in a 1999 referendum.
Downer said about 1,000 Australian troops there would be cut back to 470 by year end. Most of the remaining troops would leave by mid-2004, but Canberra believed a United Nations presence, supported by other countries, would be needed beyond then.
The peacekeeping mission strained ties between Canberra and Jakarta, but the two governments put aside differences after last October's Bali bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Wirayuda said Indonesia wanted to strengthen its own security pact with Australia, inked after the Bali attack.
"In this part of the world we need to be very cautious and make sure all of our countries cooperate to the fullest extent possible in the war against terrorism," he said.
Wirayuda and Downer have announced plans to co-host a regional ministerial conference on counterterrorism early next year at a date and location to be announced.