In position: 1RAR soldiers are inserted in the eastern districts of Timor-Leste.
Photos by AB Kade Rogers
Strife on the streets: Cpl Steve Guiliani, Cpl Craig Keogh and a New Zealand soldier conduct a security patrol following outbreaks of violence in Dili in which some buildings were burned.
Australian troops serving with the International Stabilisation Force and UN police officers take measures to restore calm.
AUSTRALIAN and New Zealand troops deployed in Timor-Leste are maintaining a strong presence to assist international police and the Timor-Leste police and military to stabilise the country following an outbreak of violence over the past two weeks.
The International Stabilisation Force (ISF) rapidly deployed troops in response to the unrest around Dili and in Timor-Leste’s east after the announcement of the new government which occurred on August 6.
The ISF troops are working closely with the UN Police (UNPOL) to conduct combined patrols and vehicle checkpoints to control movements of people and arms.
Commander ISF Brig John Hutcheson said the tension was primarily in the country’s east, but also in the displaced persons’ camps dotted around Dili.
“The tension was expressed in a number of instances of house burnings, rock throwing and the firing of darts at UNPOL officers,” Brig Hutcheson said.
“The ISF troops have been conducting intensive patrolling in order to get information of what’s happening on the ground. They assisted UNPOL in stemming the violence and clearing the rubbish that resulted from the burning of houses and tyres to block roads.”
When trouble flared in the east, the ISF’s Quick Reaction Force from the Anzac Battle Group deployed on a request from UNPOL within one hour. Extra troops deployed within another six hours to other key centres including Baucau, Viqueque and Los Palos.
The troops were inserted in a series of air mobile operations using the ISF’s Australian Army Black Hawks and New Zealand Air Force Iroquois. They were provided with aerial observation support from the force’s Kiowas.
“The rapid deployment immediately stabilised the situation. Once the troops were on the ground, there were very few incidents and those that did occur happened in more remote localities,” Brig Hutcheson said.
He praised the flexibility of the troops, particularly the way they moved from conducting largely urban operations in Dili to conducting operations in a rural environment.
“The troops went from patrolling tightly congested streets within a city to the more open areas in a village in a matter of hours, and adapted quickly to this changed environment,” he said.
“I also sent smaller detachments of troops and the Kiowa to the more remote localities to give me situational awareness about what was going on and to monitor traffic along the main arterials.”
While a large number of troops have deployed across the country’s east, the majority remain in Dili and the surrounding districts. Brig Hutcheson said the troops would remain in the east for some time.
