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.