Saturday, May 27, 2006
GOING GETS TOUGH, UN GETS OUT
Many dead in chaotic East Timor, where Australian forces are seeking to halt the bloodshed. Their aid hasn’t come quickly enough for some:
Among the crowd near the American compound, one man complained there were not enough Australian troops on the streets.
“Where are the Australians?” asked the man, who identified himself only as Constantine. “They promised to save us.”
Maybe we should colonise the place. In fact, Australian troops will be at their peak number shortly:
Vice chief of the defence force Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie said the full forces of 1300 troops would be in place by early tomorrow morning.
They’ll be joined by New Zealand troops, finally deployed following days of Clarkish dithering:
The soldiers have been on stand-by to go for more than a week, but were only given notice of the trip last night.
Forces from Malaysia and Portugal are also soon to arrive. As for the United Nations ...
The UN is planning to evacuate the majority of its 300 to 400 staff in East Timor, possibly from today.