Asia-Pacific

Australian PM visits troops in East Timor

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-07-18 11:20

Prime Minister John Howard met Australian troops leading a peace-keeping mission in East Timor on Tuesday, part of a trip during which he is also due to hold talks with the nation's new cabinet members.

East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta inspects police's troops during visit police headquarter in Dili on July 13, 2006. Horta, who took over as prime minister on Monday, has pledge to restore security in the tiny, impoverished country after weeks of political crisis and violence. [Reuters]

Howard was met on arrival by East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, who took over last week after Mari Alkatiri resigned following weeks of clashes, looting and arson in which at least 20 people died and 100,000 were displaced.

Flanked by heavy security, Howard went to the port in Dili to visit Australian troops, part of a 2,500-strong international peace keeping force that was brought in to restore a shaky peace to the tiny country.

The violence flared after Alkatiri sacked about 600 members of the 1,400-strong army when they protested against discrimination tied to regional origins.

Howard is due to meet East Timor's new cabinet, which was sworn in on Friday, during his one-day trip.

Nobel laureate Ramos-Horta, previously the foreign minister, has promised to restore security and confidence to East Timor ahead of general elections due next year that may bring in a new government.

Australia's latest peace-keeping mission to East Timor is the second time in recent years Canberra has sent troops to restore order.

East Timor was a Portuguese colony for centuries before a revolution in Lisbon in 1975 gave the territory a brief taste of independence. Indonesian troops invaded a few days later and Jakarta annexed East Timor in 1976.

After a 1999 vote for independence marked by violence blamed largely on pro-Jakarta militia with ties to the Indonesian army, an international peacekeeping force moved into the territory, ushering in a transitional period of U.N. administration. East Timor became a fully-fledged nation in 2002.

Economically East Timor, with a million people, is one of the world's poorest countries and has massive unemployment, although in decades to come it is due to receive billions of dollars from energy resources that are now being developed.