Fed: East Timor would like Aust troops to stay on: Ramos Horta

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-2000
Fed: East Timor would like Aust troops to stay on: Ramos Horta

CANBERRA, Aug 30 AAP - East Timor plans to ask Australian troops to stay and help protect
the troubled territory even after full independence as part of a continued United Nations
peacekeeping presence.

Nobel peace laureate and independence leader Jose Ramos-Horta said Indonesian West
Timor still posed a security risk and foreign troops would help deter further violence.

"We have been thinking about this for a while that even after independence we should
have a few battalions here for a period of years until the threat coming from West Timor
totally disappears," he told the ABC.

"I hope the Australian people will support that."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will today visit East Timor as part of celebrations
for the first anniversary of their vote to end Indonesia's often brutal rule.

Australian soldiers form part of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET),
which is preparing East Timor for its first elections, possibly in one year.

AAP kmh/gmw/

KEYWORD: TIMOR HORTA

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