FED: Police eager for Timor tour of duty

AAP General News (Australia)
04-29-1999
FED: Police eager for Timor tour of duty

By Steve Connolly

CANBERRA, April 29 AAP - Australian Federal Police staff (AFP) are eager to sign up for
duty in East Timor despite warnings about their safety from militia groups on the strife torn
island.

The AFP is expected to make up the bulk of Australia's commitment to a United Nations
civilian police force to help supervise East Timor's August 8 autonomy ballot.

Prime Minister John Howard said Australians would be sent to East Timor despite the
threats, though he would be seeking security guarantees from the UN.

The federal police association said today the Timor posting would be highly sought -
regardless of the risks involved.

"Unlike the military, our peacekeepers are totally volunteers," the association's ACT
branch president Jason Byrnes told AAP.

"At the end of the day you're a copper, and there's always the possibility you could be
shot in Australia.

"Peacekeeping missions are highly sought after because of the nature of the opportunity of
assisting other communities."

Mr Byrnes said the AFP was likely to seek applications for East Timor from tomorrow with
advice on numbers expected to come from the UN and the government late next week.

The AFP presently has 20 officers on peacekeeping duty in Cyprus and two on Bougainville.

In recent years they have served in trouble spots such as Haiti, Mozambique and Cambodia.

There have been only three AFP deaths on peacekeeping assignments, the last in Cyprus in
1974 when an officer drove a Land Rover over a landmine.

Mr Byrnes said the association was expecting between 50 and 100 AFP staff could be required
for East Timor.

Although those selected can expect "danger money" up to 70 per cent above normal weekly
pay, they could also face spartan living conditions and sleep in tents.

"It's not a holiday," Mr Byrnes said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said police may be equipped with sidearms in East Timor.

But Mr Byrnes said on most missions the AFP had been unarmed and the association believed
this had been beneficial.

"It sends a message to the local community that we're not a threat, we're there to try and
help people," he said.

"But that being said, the risk situation over in Haiti was such that our officers carried
sidearms because it was thought to be in their better interests."

Mr Byrnes said AFP peacekeepers would need intensive training in cultural awareness,
language and self-defence before heading to East Timor.

AAP sc/mfh/cjh

KEYWORD: TIMOR AUST POLICE

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