EAST TIMOR: Australian and New Zealand troops will arrive soon in East Timor to maintain order in the country, racked by violence in past weeks, the tiny nation's foreign minister said yesterday.
"We have asked help from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia. Australia and New Zealand will come soon," José Ramos-Horta told reporters after meeting foreign diplomats.
Australia's acting prime minister Peter Costello said troops would be sent under "appropriate conditions".
Shooting between a group of rebel military policemen led by an Australian-trained major, Alfredo Reinaldo, and loyal government troops killed at least one person and wounded six on Tuesday.
There was fresh fighting yesterday. The government blamed "breakaway, renegade elements".
Australia was capable of sending up to 1,300 troops within 48 hours, foreign minister Alexander Downer said. Portugal said it was sending 120 military police to help in the security effort.
Australia led a UN-backed intervention force to East Timor in 1999 to quell violence by pro-Indonesian militias after the East Timorese voted for independence from Jakarta. An estimated 1,000 people died in the violence.
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and declared it an Indonesian province in 1976, following centuries of Portuguese control.
UN peacekeepers left a year ago and the UN mission of 130 administrators, police and military advisers was scheduled to finish there on May 20th, but was extended for a month after the recent riots.
Reinaldo and his men left their station last month to support more than 500 soldiers sacked by the cash-strapped East Timor government earlier in April.
Five people were killed and thousands fled their homes when protests by the disgruntled soldiers initially turned violent late last month.