Portuguese troops return to E. Timor after 25 years

Portuguese troops return to E. Timor after 25 years

DILI (AFP): Portuguese soldiers landed in East Timor on Wednesday morning, returning to the Lisbon former colony for the first time since 1975.

"The first aircraft with 60 Portuguese landed at 10:00 a.m. (9 a.m. Jakarta time)," said Manoel de Alemeida e Silva of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

A total of 250 Portuguese soldiers were to arrive in Dili throughout the day, with 250 more expected on Thursday, de Almeida e Silva said.

The Portuguese contingent will reach battalion strength of 765 soldiers by the end of February, he said.

They will be stationed in central East Timor from Dili as part of the UN peacekeeping force which will replace the International Force in East Timor (Interfet) by Feb. 23.

A Portuguese naval vessel has been stationed off Dili for a number of weeks and sailors have visited the city. But this is the first time large numbers of ground troops have been stationed in East Timor since 1975, the year Portugal withdrew from the territory and Indonesia invaded.

East Timor has been under UN administration since October. A large contingent of Jordanian soldiers also began to arrive in Dili on Wednesday, said Colonel Bruce Armstrong of Interfet.

Armstrong said the first group of Jordanians was immediately flown by helicopter to the enclave of Oecussi where they will be stationed.

About 200 Jordanians were expected to fly in on Wednesday, with close to 500 more expected over the next few days, Armstrong said.

The Jordanians are going to join the UNTAET force to replace Interfet soldiers from the Third Battalion Royal Australian Regiment.

The Australians opened fire on pro-Indonesian militias during at least three incidents last month when militias entered the enclave.