Australia yesterday started pulling its last peacekeeping troops out of East Timor, marking the end of a six-year mission that accompanied the turbulent birth of the world's youngest nation.
The Australian flag was lowered and replaced with that of East Timor in a ceremony in Moleana, a remote border town with Indonesia, East Timor's former ruler which reacted with fury when the half-island chose independence in 1999.
Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri thanked the departing Australian soldiers for bringing "hope and friendship" and "peace and stability" to the territory after Jakarta-backed militias ransacked it.
"The country is now facing a new challenge," Alkatiri said. "Today's ceremony is very important because now Timor Leste has the capability to maintain the security of its own country."
The full withdrawal of Australian troops was expected to be completed by June 24 with the departure of 45 personnel from Dili.
Two dozen defense personnel were to stay to continue training local troops and work with a scaled-down UN presence.
Australia dispatched its military to East Timor in September 1999 amid the violent chaos that surrounded a UN-backed vote in favor of separating from Indonesia, which occupied the former Portuguese colony in the mid-1970s.
More than 1,400 people were believed to have died and entire towns were razed as Indonesian troops and their local militia proxies rampaged until the arrival of peacekeepers led by up to 5,000 Australians.
Australian army land commander Major General Ken Gillespie hailed the great progress he had seen since the "trauma and the destruction" of that time, the Australian Associated Press reported.
He praised the "brave East Timorese fighters ... who typified those people who had struggled hard, made great sacrifices and who wanted nothing more than a normal, peaceful life with a family".
Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said in a statement yesterday that "the progress we see today could not have been possible without the concurrent efforts of the [East Timorese] people and their government."
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