For Australian peacekeeping, East Timor is a return - with a twist - to where it all began. In September 1999, Australian peacekeepers moved into East Timor, as part of a multinational force sponsored by the United Nations, to assist East Timor's transition to independence from Indonesia. Since the 1970s, Australia's contributions to peacekeeping operations have increased in size and scope. Today the media can fill a similar role, but military observers with a peacekeeping operation are more impartial and can use their military training to assess a situation more accurately. Key points: ADF personnel will train Fijian peacekeepers in the Golan Heights Observer missions help create stability, but do not necessarily help end the conflicts which they are observing. The operation continues today, without a resolution of the conflict in sight. The observers' training for the mission was limited to a brief meeting with the Secretary of the Department of External Affairs. A UN operation - the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) - was established to organize and conduct the vote, which was held at the end of August 1999 and resulted in an overwhelming vote in favour of independence. Australia has been at the forefront of international support for Timor-Leste since independence in 2002 and remains Timor-Leste’s largest development and security partner. In 1999, we sent over 5,500 peacekeepers to East Timor. In Indonesia, information from UN military observers ultimately helped the Indonesian republicans win their independence from the Dutch. Multinational peacekeeping was in its very infancy, and it was in Indonesia that some of the first steps were taken in working out how to make it effective. The Portuguese colony of East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975. The International Forces East Timor (INTERFET) coalition began deploying to East Timor on 20 September 1999, as a non-UN force operating in accordance with UN Resolutions. A free country, a scorched earth: East Timor, January-September 1999 145 4. By a stange irony (in view of current events), Australia's representative, Charles Eaton, had just come from a position as Australian representative in Dili. After almost a quarter-century of bloodshed in the territory, a new Indonesian government under President Habibie agreed to allow the East Timorese to vote on their future. Australia, which had contributed police to UNAMET, organized and led the International Force East Timor (Interfet), a non-UN force operating in accordance with UN resolutions. Habibie is willing to give East Timor autonomy within the Indonesian state. It has been the largest Australian commitment to a peacekeeping operation to date. Since 1964, Australian police have served in Cyprus, an island wracked by conflict between its Greek and Turkish communities. In this section, "peacekeeping" and "peacekeeping operation" are used as blanket terms to cover all impartial, multinational, military-based interventions into areas of conflict. Six multinational operations have been commanded by Australians: In the early years, Australia's peacekeepers were generally unarmed military observers, promoting peace indirectly by ensuring that neither side in a conflict could violate a ceasefire or commit atrocities without the United Nations and the world community knowing about it. Come and see why. 2000 – Ongoing. Since 1997, however, Australians have also served on Bougainville, where a settlement at last appears possible in the long-running conflict between the Papua New Guinea government and the separatist Bougainville Revolutionary Army. For a period in 1993, Australia had over 2,000 peacekeepers in the field, with large contingents in Cambodia and Somalia. Major General Peter Cosgrove commanded the International Force East Timor (Interfet) from 1999 to 2000. Our collection contains a wealth of material to help you research and find your connection with the wartime experiences of the brave men and women who served in Australia’s military forces. 1999 – 2000. The hand-over of command of military operations from Interfet to UNTAET was completed on 28 February 2000. Australia has had peacekeepers in the field with the United Nations since 1947. Here, too, there is no sign of an end to the conflict, but the police help minimise its effects and build bridges between the communities. The East Timor crisis has shaken an alreadyunstable Indonesian political elite and deeply soured relationswith Australia. In that decade, and again in the 1980s, RAAF helicopters operated in the Sinai, as Egypt and Israel ended three decades of hostilities. We recognise their continuing connection to land, sea and, Died after accidental discharge of weapon, Lieutenant General Robert Nimmo was Chief Military Observer in Kashmir with the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, from 1950 to 1966, Lieutenant General John Sanderson was Force Commander with the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia, 1992 to 1993, Major General David Ferguson was Force Commander with the Multinational Force and Observers (in the Sinai) from 1994 to 1997, Richard Butler led the UN Special Commission (in Iraq) from 1997 to 1999, Major General Timothy Ford was Chief of Staff with the UN Truce Supervision Organisation from 1998 to 2000. The Australian contribution to the resulting UN operation included the force commander and the operation's communications component. A United Nations peacekeeping mission to the Indonesian province of East Timor, ... and a begrudging invitation from Indonesia to organise and lead a multinational peacekeeping mission to East Timor. The tool would be the UN's Consular Commission. Note the blood stains on the footpath in front of the building. 10 am to 5 pm daily (except Christmas Day), Get your ticket to visit: awm.gov.au/visit. 841, p. 101-139 A year later, Australians were in Rwanda, another country to fall victim to genocidal civil violence. In Somalia, where the international effort resulted largely in failure, a battalion-level Australian contingent was nevertheless successful in allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid in the Baidoa area. Interfet, with the role of restoring peace and security, protecting and supporting UNAMET, and facilitating humanitarian assistance operations, began arriving on 12 September 1999. On 19 October 1999, Indonesia formally recognised the result of the referendum. 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