New Zealand extends East Timor troop deployment to May 2002

December 11, 2000
Web posted at: 1:00 PM HKT (0500 GMT)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Reuters)- - New Zealand will extend its military commitment in East Timor by 12 months until May 2002, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Defence Minister Mark Burton said on Monday.

"New Zealand has agreed to requests to extend its current battalion level of military commitment for a fourth and fifth (six-month) rotation," Clark said in a statement.

New Zealand has 660 troops in East Timor, as part of a force of around 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers.

New Zealand troops have been involved in a number of clashes with militias, one of which resulted in the death of Private Leonard Manning, who was killed while on patrol near the border with Indonesia's West Timor in July.

A Nepali peacekeeper has also been killed in combat, as have a number of militia -- including three shot in exchanges with New Zealand troops.

The militias, who laid waste to East Timor after it voted last year to end Indonesian rule, are now based in West Timor and make regular incursions into East Timor.

New Zealand's third rotation of a battalion group is currently in East Timor and scheduled to stay there until May 2001. The fourth rotation will cover June to November next year and the fifth from December 2001 to May 2002.

Clark and Burton also announced the upcoming signing of a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations covering reimbursement for some of the costs associated with the peacekeeping commitment.

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