Dili – East Timor's military commander said Friday he would not accept the return of 591 soldiers who deserted from the tiny nation's military last month even if the country's president asked him to.

"They have been officially terminated and even if President Xanana Gusmao asked them to return, they will not be accepted," Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak told a ceremony held to dismiss the soldiers.

None of the soldiers, who represent more than one-third of the country's regular armed forces, turned up. The men deserted last month in protest against alleged nepotism and over-zealous surveillance.

They had taken their grievances to Gusmao, a former guerrilla leader and returned to their barracks, but then deserted again shortly afterwards.

About 840 regular soldiers remain in the fledgling East Timorese army, Ruak said. There are also approximately 1,500 reservists. Many of the deserters were former resistance fighters unused to the discipline of a regular military force.

East Timorese guerrilla forces fought against Indonesian troops during their almost 24 years of occupation of the former Portuguese colony. The country became the world's youngest nation in May 2002.