Australia should withdraw its peacekeeping forces from East Timor because the tiny island nation no longer faces any threat from its powerful neighbor Indonesia, Australia's foreign minister said yesterday.
Australia and the US have opposed the recommendation last week by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor for another year beyond its scheduled end in May.
East Timor also has said it wants the troops to stay on past the May deadline.
In 1999, Australia sent peacekeeping forces to neighboring East Timor, a former Indonesian province whose people voted for independence, unleashing a brutal wave of killing, looting and burning by pro-Indonesian militia forces.
About 1,400 people died and 300,000 people were displaced in the conflict.
The UN administered the territory for two and a half years, then handed it to the Timorese in May 2002.
A UN mission has remained.
As of last month, Australia had about 110 troops and police on the island, but Canberra wants to significantly reduce that number.
Downer defended Australia's position, saying Indonesia no longer posed a serious threat to East Timor's sovereignty.
"You don't keep a peacekeeping force in a place once peace is firmly established. There is a point when you should leave," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp radio yesterday.
The minister said some UN forces should remain in East Timor, but stressed that "only a relatively small presence" was needed.
Downer denied suggestions that the move was aimed at strengthening Australia's relationship with Indonesia.
"We've put a lot of energy into East Timor in the last few years and it hasn't always helped our relationship with Indonesia," he said.
"The Indonesians haven't approached me about this issue in recent years."
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