Holbrooke reserves judgment on RI's E. Timor agreement
Holbrooke reserves judgment on RI's E. Timor agreement
AILEU, East Timor (Reuters): Washington's ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday the United States would be watching closely to see if Indonesia honored an agreement over joint patrols near the border between East and West Timor.
Richard Holbrooke was speaking at the end of a brief visit to Timor island, on a day when he met independence leader Xanana Gusmao and was saluted by his Falintil guerrilla fighters.
"We'll see if the Indonesian military honors and implements the border commission agreement yesterday and if the attitude towards the activities of the militia moves in the direction we want it to move," Holbrooke said.
Anti-independence militia backed by the Indonesian military carried out a wave of terror in East Timor in September after voters rejected Indonesian rule in a referendum. On Monday, the military undertook to rein in the militia.
Holbrooke flew into the Falintil cantonment in East Timor to tell the jungle fighters of the refugees' plight in Indonesian West Timor, where hundreds of thousands from the east of the island fled or were forced to go in September.
"We've just come from refugee camps in West Timor where the situation is not so good. Many of your friends, many of your relatives are still trapped in these camps," Holbrooke told the fighters.
"If they could see this scene today they would not be afraid to come home to the peace and freedom that you have achieved."
But Holbrooke later told reporters in Dili he would reserve his judgment on the success of his mission, pending the implementation of the border agreement. But he said Gusmao, widely expected to be East Timor's first president, was satisfied with the deal.
"We discussed at length the crisis among the refugees in West Timor and reported to Mr Gusmao on yesterday's agreement at the border and he expressed satisfaction with that agreement."
The sale of military weapons to Indonesia and the resumption of military training would not resume unless there was an end to the refugee crisis, Holbrooke said.
"Something like a sixth of all the people of this area, East Timor, are living in camps in West Timor under lousy conditions and they should be allowed to either come home or be integrated into Indonesian society right away."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Tuesday that his country will create two new infantry battalions for a period of two years to boost the country's defenses during the East Timor peacekeeping operation.
The move will increase the number of active infantry battalions from four to six and bring the overall size of the army to 26,000 soldiers from 23,000. Air force numbers will increase by 500 to 13,500.
"This increase is required to sustain Australia's involvement in the peacekeeping operation and to maintain acceptable levels of overall defense readiness," Howard told parliament.
Australia currently has 4,400 troops in East Timor, out of a total 9,900 assigned to the multinational force sent there in September to restore order in East Timor.
Australia estimates the extra defense costs from the deployment of forces to East Timor will be some A$3 billion (US$2 billion) over three years.