Medical team stays in Dili

 

Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence Mal Brough, right, shares a joke with members of the Aeromedical Staging Facility, from left, SQNLDR Sharon Sykes, SQNLDR Dave Leaf, FLTLT Sharon Cooper, FLGOFF Sharon Higgins and CPL Maria Brown, on a recent visit to East Timor.

THE Air Force will maintain a small presence in East Timor for another year.

A team of five members of the Aeromedical Staging Facility (ASF) in Dili will continue to provide a service until May 2005, along with an Air Force liaison officer who will be attached to the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force.

This follows a United Nations Security Council resolution to renew the mandate of the UN Mission of Support in East Timor for 12 months.

The ADF will reduce its contribution from 440 personnel to about 100 by the end of June during the transition to the new mission, to be known as Operation Spire.

There are currently 11 Air Force personnel in East Timor.

OIC ASF Squadron Leader Sharon Sykes said most of these members were expected to return to Australia by the end of the month.

SQNLDR Sykes said there would be two further six-month rotations of the aeromedical team.

The ASF, which operates UNresourced helicopters, will soon relocate from Dili heliport to Dili airport.

“We’ll continue to operate an aeromedical service for the UN, also for sick and injured local people. And we’ll undertake training of military and civilian medical personnel if required,” SQNLDR Sykes said.

Meanwhile, Army’s 5th Aviation Regiment, whose primary role had been aeromedical evacuation support to Australian forces, returned to RAAF Base Townsville on May 27.

The regiment had provided almost five years of continuous service.

Defence Minister Robert Hill said the ADF had a “proud record of service in East Timor and the 100 personnel making up part of the follow-on mission will continue to make a significant contribution to the future development and security of the world’s newest nation.”

 

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