Australia said on Saturday it would contribute up to 130 police to a new UN mission in East Timor, in addition to troops sent to restore order after a wave of violence in the fledgling nation three months ago.
The United Nations established the new mission, comprising 1,608 police, on Friday despite a dispute over whether Australian-led international troops already there should remain independent or be part of a UN force.
"Australia, as a long-term and steadfast friend of East Timor, will continue to make a major contribution to the efforts of the international community, including through the UN, to ensure the conditions necessary for a stable and prosperous future for the Timorese people," Downer said in a statement. Downer insisted that Australian troops already in East Timor would remain independent of the new UN mission and would still be in charge of military security.
"The Australian troops will remain independent of the UN, but support the UN operation there and of course support the East Timorese," Downer later told reporters in Sydney.
The new United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) will be in place for at least six months and will include up to 35 military liaison officers after the 15-member UN Security Council unanimously approved a Japanese-drafted resolution. Australia sent troops and police to East Timor after looting and arson broke out in the capital, Dili, in May.
The violence began after then-prime minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed 600 soldiers in an army of 1,400 when they protested over suspected discrimination against soldiers from the west of the country. Australia has about 1,500 troops and 200 police in the existing force of some 2,300, which includes contingents from Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal.
The establishment of the new force did not settle the dispute over whether those troops should be part of the UN operation. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to review arrangements by October 25, thereby leaving the multinational force in place until at least then, Friday's resolution says. East Timor has asked for a UN peacekeeping force and Annan earlier this month recommended 2,000 UN troops.
The United States, Britain and Japan, who would bear a large part of the cost, have opposed abolishing the independent force, especially since Australia has volunteered to pay for its own troops. A former Portuguese colony, East Timor was occupied by Indonesia in 1975. It became independent in 2002 after being run by the United Nations for two-and-half years following a referendum in August 1999 that was marred by widespread violence. Violence still erupts sporadically in East Timor but Downer said the new UN presence would help bring that under control.