Australia refuses UN leadership in Timor Leste
The Australian government is refusing to place its peacekeeping troops under UN command in East Timor, despite calls for the move by the UN, the Timor Leste Government and civil society groups. The UN has passed a resolution that will allow for the formation of a peacekeeping force to stay into the nation to help keep the country stabilized ahead of next years’ election. But Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has ruled out placing them under UN command. Meanwhile, there continues to be some level of unrest in the capital, with a number of the Australian troops present being on the receiving end. One of the civil society groups behind the integration of international forces in Timor is the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network and its National Coordinator John Miller spoke a short time ago.