East Timor Sparks Again - SAF sending soldiers?
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I heard yesterday that East Timor has requested for foreign help to keep the peace in the country. This was due in part to the Army going on strike or something. Today, we know that many countries such as Aust, Malaysia, portugal have committed trrops.
Just now, I heard on the radio that things have really started sparking off today.
SAF sending troops or not? -
Australia sending.
We either not invited or invited but refused. -
My view is that SAF should send some troops. full timers not NSF. and get some combat experience.
this time go back sure will fight. -
sending any NSmen? i haven kena recalled for years...
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DILI : Crack Australian troops landed in East Timor as new fighting between the military and rebel soldiers forced thousands to flee the worst violence since independence four years ago.
Gun battles in the capital Dili and elsewhere left two people dead as Asia's poorest nation slipped closer to chaos, and Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said the troops would help restore order.
"Their support will ... restore the confidence of the people, enabling the return of the country to its normal life as soon as possible," he said in a statement.
The violence first erupted last month when 600 of East Timor's 1,400 troops were dismissed after they deserted, complaining of alleged discrimination because they came from the western part of the country.
The leader of the rebels, Major Alfredo Reinado, was quoted saying he did not want to topple the government but insisted that foreign troops were the only way to prevent civil war.
"This is the only solution," he told the BBC. "There is no other way, or it will be war forever. The government has taken too long. It is not capable of resolving this."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the first wave of commandos, who arrived in mid-afternoon, would secure Dili's airport and help try to stabilise the tiny nation, with 1,300 troops expected in all.
"It's our expectation that this will ensure the airport remains open and functioning normally," Howard said.
Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta on Wednesday asked Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal to send in forces.
Portugal, the former colonial power, pledged to send paramilitary police, while Malaysian defence officials said that troops and police would be deployed. There was no immediate decision from New Zealand.
Alkatiri said a group of 50 anti-riot Malaysian policemen were due in Dili later Thursday, and that advance groups of military and police from New Zealand and Portugal should arrive in the next few days.
An AFP reporter said fighting subsided in the centre of Dili but was continuing in the suburbs. One gang of youths was seen armed with knives and daggers, and intermittent gunfights could be heard on Dili's outskirts.
The Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency said a report on the UN radio communications network had spoken of 20 injured police and "many dead," but the report could not be independently confirmed.
The report said "a lot of ambulances" were needed.
AAP said the first contingent of Australian troops fanned out to secure the perimeter of the airport but it was not clear how many had arrived.
A Timorese statement put the figure at 100, while AAP said it was 50.
Accompanying the first group was vice chief of the Australian defence force Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie, who was to negotiate the rules of engagement in talks with East Timor government officials.
An official in the office of President Xanana Gusmao said an army captain had been killed in the town of Liquica, west of Dili. A police officer was killed but it was not immediately known where.
"His body was riddled with bullets," said a doctor from Valaders state hospital. Two people had been killed earlier in the week.
A South Korean caught in the crossfire was shot in the neck and was to undergo surgery, Seoul's ambassador here said.
The United Nations said it had set up a camp for around 1,000 refugees in the capital.
As the Australian troops headed in, refugees were headed out, telling of running battles in and around Dili, using everything from rifles to slingshots and machetes.
"They are absolutely petrified, scared and apprehensive in the extreme that there's going to be some sort of civil war," Margaret Gray, who fled the country on Wednesday, told Australian radio.
Ramos-Horta, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 while helping to lead the movement for independence from Indonesia, said "tens of thousands" of people had taken shelter in and around Dili.
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was invaded in 1975 by Indonesia, which held the territory until 1999, when a vote for independence descended into brutal violence by Indonesia troops and pro-Jakarta militias.
Australia led a UN-backed intervention force to stop the bloodshed, and the territory was run by the United Nations until independence in 2002.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/210270/1/.html -
will ADF be going there
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standing by only....unlikely to go
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I dont think Singapore will be sending ADF there.
Maybe support and medical team. We can only do Peace Keeping roles and cannot afford to lose any military guy under such circumstances. -
I dun think SAF will risk our soldier's life and send them there now. Most probably once everything calm down, no more shooting between troops and rebels, SAF will send ADF there. Just imagine if the moment ADF lands in ET, a couple of our young sons kana KIA, wat will be the reactions of the families of the KIA. I notice the Aussie troopers r using M4 assault rifles wif dessert camo color patterns.
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nah .... never ..... not until everything's died down and all that's left to do is to round up missing cows and children and for medics to treat people's toothaches and fevers ..... the SAF top brass is too risk adverse .... all they'll do during their tenure is to implement more and more anal "safety schemes", give out awards for WITS suggestions, and generally have a peaceful tour before they retire and get re-deployed to some stats board somewhere ...
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they should send regulars for real combat experience...
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In simple terms, they are there to wayang once the dust has settle down
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I agree.Originally posted by BrUtUs:they should send regulars for real combat experience... -
Seriously, I know of people who would volunteer for humanitarian work at times like this in East timor. They should allow the ADF commanders to decide if they want to go in and help out as much as they can. Why would armed men, be more afraid than unarmed people who dare to go in to distribute food and supplies to the needy there?
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it's not the grunts on the ground that are afraid bro ....Originally posted by Shotgun:Seriously, I know of people who would volunteer for humanitarian work at times like this in East timor. They should allow the ADF commanders to decide if they want to go in and help out as much as they can. Why would armed men, be more afraid than unarmed people who dare to go in to distribute food and supplies to the needy there?
it's the brass ....
they don't want to be left holding some warm turd in their hands if one of the chaps get killed .... may spoil their chances of becoming BG or an MP eh .... -
Makes a lot of sense there.Originally posted by Fatum:it's not the grunts on the ground that are afraid bro ....
it's the brass ....
they don't want to be left holding some warm turd in their hands if one of the chaps get killed .... may spoil their chances of becoming BG or an MP eh ....
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I think should ask for volunteers to be drawn from amongst Regulars and NSFs.
NSFs, whilst on tour, to be paid on par with regulars.
I bet there will be many NSFs who will snap at the opportunity. Right now, NSFs are not being utilized fully. Fittest time of their lives and all they do is guard duty and area cleaning. -
send people for exercises for wat? all looking forward to RnR anyway send them for the real thing
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CB lah , I didn't Volunteer for NS anyway we were Compulsory sent to NS!
Only regulars who love their jobs should need to present themselves to such activities and risks coz they love risky well paid jobs. -
Heh, NSFs who don't mind volunteering for this kinda missions would probably have signed on long ago. BUT... perhaps there are some with a serious deathwish who might really want to go for it.
Perhaps Mindef should really consider getting a pool of volunteers. -
Precisely! Singapore will only perform Peace Keeping roles, and send in medics, peace keepers, etc....but never combat roles....Originally posted by ahtansh:I dont think Singapore will be sending ADF there.
Maybe support and medical team. We can only do Peace Keeping roles and cannot afford to lose any military guy under such circumstances.
It is Not Singapore to send in combat people to fight....which is good...cuz i think fighting is wrong....and the reason why Singapore has been prospering is due to the good karma...that is, we always help and not kill...this good rationale has tide us through many storms....such as good economy despite bear market in the 97s, 2001s, etc, bad weather, tsunami, hurricanes, etc... -
The difference is that when you tell people in ADF to go, they are under a duty to do so. Volunteers have a choice.Originally posted by Shotgun:Heh, NSFs who don't mind volunteering for this kinda missions would probably have signed on long ago. BUT... perhaps there are some with a serious deathwish who might really want to go for it.
Perhaps Mindef should really consider getting a pool of volunteers. But then, if ADF is not for this kinda deployments den wad is it for? -
My memory poor, what is ADF ??
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I do not agree that we deploy troops to Timor as yet...
The situation is suspicious. I suspect, Australia's imperium for oil and gas resources are at play. The USA, British and Australia are flock of the same feathers.
The rebel's leader was Australian Trained and were able to broadcast live. Why was he not singled out for military snatch ?
Russia wanted more information before commiting UN military assistance.. Malaysia has the same view.....
Why would we want to put our troops in harms way for the benefit for others. If it's true that this situation is manufactured, it would mean a long deployment, and violent incidents would occur to faciliate coalition involvement.
Remember ... The Bali blast has indication of Australian thumbprint involvement in it.... -
We have our interests there as well, especially the development of their corporate and industrial infrastructure.
We should send a message that we care too.Australian engagement is neccessary, and if Horta's government invited the 4RAR and 3RAR in, it's their call.