Kiwi peacekeepers set the cornerstone for a nation

SUAI - At the hilltop station of Tilomar just east of the border with Indonesian West Timor it's business as usual for New Zealand's Alpha Company.

Despite the looming withdrawal from the region, a group of Kiwi peacekeepers are readying themselves for yet another patrol into East Timor's harsh mountain country, sweeping for any signs of militia activity.

It's hot, dirty work. Temperatures swell to more than 50C in the dry season and troops must carry their supplies into the rugged terrain.

In a worst-case scenario, movement through the thick bush is as slow as 70m an hour and visibility can be down to 5m-10m.

Although there have been no militia sightings since November last year, there is no room for complacency.

After all, this is the area where Private Leonard Manning was killed - his memorial in the grounds of the former Portuguese colonial station serves as a constant reminder of that fact.

"Our brief on this tour has been to maintain security in the region. The wind-down and packing up of gear linked to leaving East Timor is just an extra task we have had to fit in," says Lieutenant Guy Bransby, platoon commander of Alpha Company.

With the demise of the militia the focus has turned to monitoring criminal activity - theft, illegal border trade and extortion of locals by groups upset at being left out of the new Timorese Administration.

New Zealand peacekeepers were involved in a highly publicised scuffle with members of the issue-motivated Combat Association 75 in July, following which a cordon and search operation rounded up many members of the group.

Such incidents have led to calls for New Zealand to extend its peacekeeping operations, now into their sixth half-year rotation, for another term.

The first Kiwi peacekeepers arrived back in New Zealand last Saturday and the balance of the sixth battalion will be home by Christmas Eve.

About 22 New Zealand peacekeepers will stay on, including several personnel at the United Nations headquarters in Dili, a handful of UN military officers, and a small training team working with East Timor's new defence force, the FDTL.

Colonel Gordon Millward, senior national officer and head of the Kiwi joint force operations, says the question of how long New Zealand should stay in East Timor is like asking "how long is a ball of string?"

"From a sustainability point of view it's time to leave," he says.

In the past three years 4500 personnel have served in East Timor - equivalent to the entire strength of the regular force of the New Zealand Army. It is one of the longest and largest deployments by New Zealand defence forces since World War II.

Of the 660 troops deployed with the sixth battalion to East Timor, 27 per cent were on their second six-month tour and for 1 per cent it was their third visit.

To sustain a longer stay would require a bigger defence force, Colonel Millward says.

"With a just-in-time force with just enough resources, the longer you stay it really puts the squeeze on."

A Thai Defence Force battalion and a Singapore Air Force helicopter squad were set to take over New Zealand's peacekeeping headquarters in Suai, in the Cova Lima district, yesterday.

Lieutenant Colonel Dean Baigent, commanding officer of the Suai battalion, says it is time to go.

"While we could continue with this security role indefinitely, the major external threat has been dealt with."

He says it is important for the peacekeeping forces to gradually withdraw, to allow the East Timorese Government to develop. "On a small scale, in terms of markets along the [border], local government and schools, this is starting to occur."

The extraction process is no small task. In all, Colonel Baigent says, about half a million pieces of equipment have been cleaned in preparation for their return to New Zealand - an arduous process, especially in 50C-plus heat.

However, New Zealand's peacekeeping efforts won't disappear without trace following the handover.

Since the first troops were deployed in October 1999 the New Zealanders have rebuilt schools and hospitals, built water wells, playgrounds and community noticeboards, and set up a local newspaper in the Cova Lima district - one of East Timor's poorest and most isolated regions.

They also pioneered Operation Apito (Maori for embrace), where NZ troops spent up to a month living in local villages, sleeping in huts and working in the fields with villagers, role modelling peaceful behaviour.

The true test of the success of the mission, however, will be in how well East Timor copes when all UN peacekeeping activities cease in 2004.

"The ultimate aim of the mission is to be irrelevant, to be able to just walk away at the end of it and leave the East Timorese to cope on their own," says Lieutenant Colonel Antony Hayward, commanding officer of the fifth battalion.

"Hopefully we have bedded in a secure, safe environment that will continue once all the troops have gone."

- NZPA

* Rachel Boddy travelled to East Timor on an Asia 2000 scholarship.(Rachel Boddy travelled to East Timor on an Asia 2000 scholarship)

Further reading
Feature: Indonesia and East Timor

Related links