Dili – East Timor will ask the United Nations Security Council to extend its peacekeeping mission in the fledgling nation, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Tuesday.

Ramos-Horta said he would convey the request to a council meeting in New York next Monday. "I have received an instruction from President [Xanana Gusmao] and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to request at the Security Council meeting to extend the PKF [peacekeeping force] mission in East Timor," he told journalists.

Ramos-Horta said East Timor would settle for the presence of military observers and police and public administration advisers should the council reject the request.

Last November the Security Council extended its mission for what it called a final six months. The council unanimously adopted a resolution prolonging the mandate until May 20 and asking the mission to focus on an "exit strategy" so that Timorese can take over after it departs.

East Timor gained independence in May 2002 after more than two years of UN administration following 24 years of often-brutal occupation by Indonesia.

Pro-Jakarta militias organised by the Indonesian army killed an estimated 1,400 people before and after East Timorese voted in August 1999 for independence.

There are 477 UN military personnel in the peacekeeping mission, which had more than 10,000 when it was first established in 1999. Civilian advisers are also part of the UN presence.