East Timor wants the United Nations to extend its mission here for at least another year after its current mandate expires next May in order to strengthen the nascent state's still-fragile security institutions, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Friday.

Speaking at a meeting hosted by the UN Mission of Support in East Timor, Ramos-Horta said another new UNMISET mandate should be extended for a year beyond May 2005.

"Whether it is accepted or not by the [UN] Security Council, I think there should be a new mission in order to completely consolidate the progress that has been made," he said. He said government institutions, including the police and defense forces, "are still very fragile."

The Security Council, having reduced the size of UNIMSET last May, decided on November 16 to extend its mandate for what it said would be "a final period of six months" until May 20, 2005.

UNMISET was initially established by the council in May 2002, when East Timor became independent, to assist core administrative structures critical to the viability and political stability in East Timor, and to contribute to the maintenance of the external and internal security.

It initially had 1,250 civilian police and 5,000 troops, including 120 military observers, but the number of UN police has been scaled down to 150 and troops to 450, with 42 military advisers. The mission also includes 263 international civilians.

Ramos-Horta said East Timor does not seek to have the UN mission, currently headed by Japan's Sukehiro Hasegawa with a Malaysian commander in charge of the troops, to continue to deploy troops after May.

"We will not need a continued presence of combat troops...but we will need civilian advisers," he said, adding that East Timor would like at least some 58 civilian advisers, 40 UN Police training advisors as well as 20-30 military observers to remain.