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  • East Timor again?

    I see Australian troops have returned to the streets of Dili. Can we see the return of UN and Irish soldiers to the region?


    Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

  • #2
    At the moment, even if there was a desire to send Irish troops, there probably isn't a UN mandate. Isn't the Triple Lock great all the same?

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    • #3
      not a hope.

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      • #4
        Trouble continues, and troops from New Zealand and Portugal are now operating in Dili. The australian commander on the scene expects to regain control once his APCs are landed.


        Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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        • #5
          East Timor

          Update,

          APCs have landed and there are five ships just off Australian waters awaiting orders. The first ships were already in international waters waiting for the call!

          Due to the “political mismanagement” in the country the Australians do expect to be there for a while. High level political talks taking place with the Australians not holding back. They were “concerned“at the 500 military sackings and want assurances! They have publicly stated that they want to see UN intervention here raising questions in Canberra regarding the over commitment of the ADF.

          Will keep you posted on this debate.

          c

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          • #6
            Machete-wielding youths fight in E. Timor
            By ANTHONY DEUTSCH,
            Associated Press Writer
            Yahoo News

            DILI, East Timor - Machete-wielding youths battled in East Timor's capital Wednesday amid burning and looting as more foreign troops bolstered a force struggling to stop the unrest that has destabilized the country.

            More than 100,000 residents of Dili have fled their homes to escape the violence, an aid official said.

            Australia, which has provided the vast bulk of the more than 2,000 international security forces trying to control the city, suggested that a semi-permanent contingent may be needed to help East Timor restore order.

            After a lull in violence Tuesday, street fights broke out in several parts of the smoldering city Wednesday. Roaming bands of youths fired sling shots, threw rocks and hacked rivals with machetes.

            Australian forces spent several tense hours on the main airport road trying unsuccessfully to keep the warring parties apart. Some patrols rolled past scenes of violence and arson without intervening.

            Australian army medics treated a man who suffered head and back wounds after being attacked with a machete. At least eight people were hospitalized with machete wounds, and three of them were in critical condition, a hospital official said.

            More than 100,000 people have fled their homes, said Kym Smithies, a spokeswoman for about 30 private aid groups operating in the country. More than 70,000 were in camps in the capital and another 30,000 had fled the city altogether, she said.

            The violence is the worst in East Timor since its bloody break from Indonesia in 1999, which paved the way for full independence in 2002 after years of U.N. administration. It remains one of the world's poorest countries and is dependent on foreign aid.

            The fighting was triggered by the dismissal in March of 600 soldiers from the 1,400-member army. Sporadic clashes last week between the disgruntled soldiers and government troops spiraled into open street violence in Dili, and at least 27 people have died.

            Much of the antagonism on the streets is between East Timorese from the "east" — perceived to be pro-independence — and those from the "west," believed to be sympathetic to Indonesia.

            Australia has 1,300 front-line troops in East Timor and several hundred military personnel supporting them.

            New Zealand's contingent of almost 200 troops began arriving in force Wednesday, deploying from military cargo planes carrying packs and rifles.

            More than 330 Malaysian troops are in place, and some 120 Portuguese paramilitaries are due by week's end.

            President Xanana Gusmao said late Tuesday he had invoked emergency powers and taken over the government's security role to try to end a political deadlock that has contributed to the rampant lawlessness.

            Foreign troops appeared to be flexing newly given powers to detain suspects, not just disarm them, and parts of the city appeared calm Wednesday.

            Australian troops arrested 10 suspects in one burnt-out neighborhood. Within eyesight of the troops, houses were broken into and set ablaze.

            Defense Minister Brendan Nelson suggested that an international security force might be needed to help ensure "the political, financial, legal and social reconstruction of East Timor over the near and longer term." He said Australia could lead such a force.

            In Canberra, Australia's military chief, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said he expected the peacekeeping mission to last at least six months.

            East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri — whom many blame for the crisis — rejected calls for his resignation.

            "I will be prime minister until the next election," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

            On Wednesday, 15 major aid donors — including Australia, the United States, the EU, the Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — urged the feuding parties to stop.

            U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he hoped residents would heed Gusmao's appeal to turn in weapons to the peacekeepers.

            "It's really sad and tragic that we have to relive this situation again in East Timor," he said.

            Pope Benedict XVI also appealed for an end to the violence in the country, which is predominantly Roman Catholic.

            Rebel leader Maj. Alfredo Reinado said the crisis would not end until Alkatiri — whom the rebels accuse of discrimination — is ousted.

            "The prime minister should go," Reinado told The Associated Press by telephone from a rebel redoubt in the hills surrounding Dili. "Why doesn't he just leave? Do more people need to be killed?"

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            • #7
              Another UN preacekeeping success story then:

              Troops may need to return to East Timor

              14 June 2006 08:30
              The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has said UN peacekeepers will have to return to East Timor to help stabilise the country just a year after they were withdrawn.

              Australia, Portugal, Malaysia and New Zealand sent troops and police to the country last month after several weeks of violence stemming from regional differences and the dismissal of nearly 600 soldiers by the government.

              Mr Annan told reporters the foreign peacekeepers expected to stay in East Timor for the next six months to one year.

              He hoped UN police and troops could join them on the ground in six months and eventually take over the peacekeeping operation.

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              • #8
                What are the chances of Irish Peacekeepers returning there?
                What are you cackling at, fatty? Too much pie, that's your problem.

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                • #9
                  If the UN asks, and it passes the triple lock then we will dicuss it.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Odin_ie
                    What are the chances of Irish Peacekeepers returning there?
                    DF must be nearly at the limit of personnel overseas at the moment so the chances of sending troops there are slim.
                    The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.
                    (George Bernard Shaw, Playwright, 1856 - 1950)

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                    • #11
                      With Kosovo getting bigger, and Liberia now spreading into Sierra Leone, I don't think we can stretch any further. Though Timor in the past only involved an infantry platoon+ strength


                      Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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                      • #12
                        we are at our capacity is right..They could only send 10 to A-Stan,because of it..
                        Last edited by Craghopper; 15 June 2006, 13:29.

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                        • #13
                          Would the wing be an option
                          What are you cackling at, fatty? Too much pie, that's your problem.

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                          • #14
                            They went there first last time round.


                            Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Irish_army01
                              were at our capacity is right..They could only send 10 to A-Stan,because of it..
                              Not bad, that mission started off with three pers.
                              The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.
                              (George Bernard Shaw, Playwright, 1856 - 1950)

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