East Timor wants UN to retain presence
East Timor wants UN to retain presence
Michelle Nichols, Reuters, Canberra
East Timor appealed to the United Nations on Wednesday not to
desert the world's newest nation by diverting its assistance to
flashpoints like Iraq and Afghanistan.
UN peacekeepers have helped run the tiny country, off the
northern coast of Australia, since East Timor voted in 1999 for
independence from Indonesia and a bloody backlash killed about
1,000 people.
The 1,800-strong peacekeeping force still in East Timor is due
to withdraw in May next year, but Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-
Horta said on Wednesday the United Nations needed to maintain a
smaller presence in the country.
"The UN must stay, engage in East Timor on a smaller scale but
with a robust, credible presence to ensure that the achievements
of the past two or three years will not unravel with a hasty
retreat," he told the National Press Club in Canberra.
He said the nation of 700,000 people, granted independence in
May 2002, wanted the United Nations to maintain a "rapid action"
police force of between 400 and 1,000 to back up East Timor's
police, and civilian advisors to support the government.
Australia, which led the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor,
has committed A$40 million (US$30 million) to help its neighbor
develop and train police over the next four years.
"Nation-building cannot be undertaken with shortcut methods.
It cannot be based on the Security Council wanting to save money
from East Timor and then diverting it to Iraq or Afghanistan or
the Middle East," Ramos-Horta said.
East Timor is one of the world's poorest nations and currently
receives $150 million a year in aid from countries led by
Australia, Japan and the United States, despite having billions
of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves on its doorstep.
Royalties from the resource-rich Timor Sea are likely to
remove East Timor's need for international aid, but first a
maritime border must be agreed with Australia. Official
negotiations between the two nations are due to begin in April.
Australia and East Timor have a temporary revenue-sharing
treaty in place for some oil fields until a maritime boundary is
agreed. That treaty splits revenue 90:10 in favor of East Timor
from a shared 62,000 sq km (24,000 sq miles) region.