• Twenty Malaysia military interpreters assisted the ROK battalion to facilitate coordination between PKF and Indonesian forces along the border.
• The spring 2002 dispatch of a 690-person Japan Ground Self-Defense Force engineering battalion to central and western East Timor and in Occussi enclave was the largest Japanese peacekeeping operation of its kind.
Post Independence — UN Mission of Support in East Timor
The UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) replaced UNTAET for a two-year period on 20 May 2002. UNMISET will assist administrative structures critical to East Timor’s political stability, provide interim law enforcement and public security, assist in developing the East Timor Police Service, and contribute to maintaining the country’s external and internal security.
Kamalesh Sharma, formerly India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, succeeded UNTAET Administrator de Mello as head of the new UNMISET.
UNMISET force Commander, Royal Thai Army Lt. Gen. Winai Phattiyakul (former UNTAET-PKF commander), commands up to 5,000 troops (reduced from an initial UNTAET force of over 8,000), including 120 military observers. Asia-Pacific nations contributing military personnel include Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.
While the challenges are daunting for this new nation, the people of East Timor are moving forward. And the world will long remember the peacekeepers from the Asia-Pacific region who provided the people of East Timor with a safe environment and a fresh start for independence.
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A Bangladesh
Army military engineer and a U.S. Navy civil engineer test a ground
water sample near a water treatment plant to improve water quality
for East Timor citizens. |
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U.S. Navy
Seabee engineers build the support pedestals for a new water treatment
plant at Bemos, East Timor. |
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U.S. Air
Force dental specialists provide dental treatment for East Timor
citizens as part of the effort to improve health conditions. |
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