The United Nations has marked the end of its peacekeeping operations on East Timor, celebrating a mission credited with bringing stability to the tiny country following its bloody break with Indonesia in 1999.
But while the last peacekeepers are to head home, a scaled-down UN presence will remain in the impoverished country for another year.
Spurred by concerns about East Timor's stability, the Security Council has delayed a full pullout in favour of reducing staff from the current 900 to about 275 military, police and government advisers.
"Your role throughout these challenging years has been in essence to make peace, keep peace and strengthen peace," East Timor President Xanana Gusmao told about 200 people at a UN compound in Dili following a military parade.
"And in East Timor, you have succeeded admirably." Gusmao invoked the memory of two soldiers – one from New Zealand, one from Nepal – who died in the clashes with pro-Jakarta militiamen who went on spree of killings and destruction backed by elements of the Indonesian military aimed at thwarting the UN-sponsored referendum that ended a quarter-century of Indonesian rule. Gusmao also commemorated other troops who died in accidents.
Sukehiro Hasegawa, the UN special representative in East Timor, said the departure of the troops showed just how far the country had come since it became independent in May 2002.
"The fact that there will be no UN peacekeeping forces in the next mission is recognition by the international community that East Timor is safe and peaceful," Hasegawa said.
"This is a tribute not only to all that has been achieved by the United Nations but also to the enlightened leadership of this young country." East Timor's 800,000 people voted for independence in 1999 in a UN-organised referendum.
The Indonesian military and its proxy militias struck back, unleashing a wave of violence that killed 1,500 people and left 300,000 homeless. The violence eased after Australia dispatched the first peacekeepers in a mission that at one point involved more than 9,000 troops.
The world body administered the territory for two and a half years, then handed it to the Timorese on May 20, 2002, but a UN mission has remained in the country. While democracy has taken hold, the country remains one of the poorest in Asia.
In recommending a year-long extension of the UN mission, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said earlier this year that the country still needed international assistance to control its borders, develop a professional police force, establish judicial and financial institutions, and promote democratic governance and human rights.