The United Nations established a new mission in East Timor on Friday but left Australian-led troops in place following a dispute over whether they should remain independent or be part of a U.N. force, Reuters reported. The 15-member U.N. Security Council approved unanimously a Japanese-drafted resolution creating the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste, known as UNMIT, for at least six months. That operation would include 1,608 police and up to 35 military liaison officers, but no troops. Australia sent troops and police to East Timor after a wave of looting and arson attacks erupted in May. The violence occurred after then-Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri dismissed 600 soldiers in an army of 1,400 when they protested over suspected discrimination against soldiers from the west of the country. Friday's resolution did not settle a dispute over whether Australian-led troops should be part of the U.N. operation. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to review arrangements by Oct. 25, thereby leaving the multinational force in place until at least then, the resolution says. East Timor has asked for a U.N. peacekeeping force and Annan earlier this month recommended 2,000 U.N. troops. The United States, Britain and Japan, who would carry a large part of the cost, have opposed abolishing the independent force, especially since Australia has volunteered to pay for its own troops. Australia has some 1,500 troops and 200 police in the force of some 2,300, which includes contingents from Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal. Some of the police contingents are expected to be moved to the new U.N. mission. Malaysia and Portugal also prefer the force to be under U.N. control and France, Argentina, Russia and China, among other members, have agreed. A former Portuguese colony, East Timor, some 1,300 miles (2,100 km) east of Jakarta, was occupied by Indonesia at the end of 1975. It became independent in 2002 after being run by the United Nations for two-and-half years following a referendum in August 1999. Wide-scale violence, backed by segments of the Indonesian army, broke out after the independence referendum and Australia sent in troops. The United Nations then set up a peacekeeping force of 7,500, but gradually reduced it after independence. In May, the Security Council shut down the remainder of the U.N. force, leaving a political mission in the country before reconsidering how to bolster the force again.
