Violence broke out in East Timor after residents voted late last month for independence from Indonesia, which invaded the territory in 1975. Pro-Jakarta militias and the Indonesian military have been blamed for most of the violence since the election results were announced. Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas has denied those charges. The multinational force is expected to include up to eight-thousand troops from about 15 nations. About half the troops will be Australian.
Deployment is scheduled to begin within the next few days.
Indonesia initially objected to Australian involvement in the force, saying it has supported East Timor's independence movement and therefore would not be neutral. Pro-independence groups in East Timor have criticized the United Nations for not moving faster to stop the violence in the territory. But diplomats are defending the U-N response, saying it has acted more quickly to stop the violence in East Timor than it did when faced with similar unrest in Rwanda and Kosovo.