The Australian-led military intervention in East Timor is considered one of the most successful peacekeeping missions in history.

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

Dili – East Timor's political and military leaders unanimously criticized Thursday the UN Security Council's decision to ignore Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation that the ne

David Nason, New York – The Security Council has extended the UN presence in East Timor by implementing the mandate of the United Nations Office in Timor-Leste, which will operate until

Seth Mydans – Withdrawing in humiliation in 1999 from the land they had occupied for 24 years, Indonesian soldiers scrawled angry graffiti that warned of poverty and hunger ahead.

Paulo Gorjao – In April 2004, in his progress report regarding the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET), the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, reco

The United Nations will stay in East Timor (Timor Leste) for another year under a new political mission that will significantly reduce the UN troop presence there.

Sian Powell, Dili – Pigs nose about in the flooded playground of Rumpia primary school in Caecoli, a poor suburb of Dili.

After 25 years of repression and persecution, the tiny country of East Timor is racked with poverty and in desperate need of rebuilding.

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-frag

Irwin Arieff, United Nations – The Security Council extended the life of a UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor for a final six months on Tuesday after Secretary-General Kofi Annan arg

Reporter: Anne Barker

Jonathan Head, East Timor – Five years ago the people of East Timor had their first opportunity to choose their own future and a staggering 98% of registered voters turned out to cast t

It's been five years since the referendum in East Timor which lead to its independence.

Dili – Five years after his tiny nation voted in a UN referendum to end 24 years of Indonesian occupation, East Timor's president warned on Monday that the poverty-stricken country stil

East Timor urged the United Nations not to be hasty in withdrawing its peacekeeping forces from the fledgling nation, after the world body said it was considering further cutting back t

Jakarta – East Timor urged the United Nations on Wednesday not to be hasty in withdrawing its peacekeeping forces from the fledgling nation, after the world body said it was considering

New York – Although East Timor continues to make progress towards self-sufficiency, it still requires international assistance for the foreseeable future, a senior United Nations offici

New York – As the United Nations readies next year's withdrawal of its mission to East Timor, Dili is making significant progress towards running its own affairs, UN Secretary- General

Alex Chadwick, host: This is Day to Day. I'm Alex Chadwick.

Dili – Peacekeepers marked their withdrawal from Timor Leste yesterday, winding down a nearly five-year mission that ended Indonesia's brutal occupation and oversaw the birth of the wor

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin – Officially it was a day of celebration, but there was an undertone of pessimism at ceremonies in Dili last Thursday marking East Timor's second independence anni

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Backs straight, arms swinging, faces set: the East Timorese troops and police officers marched slowly past the assembled dignitaries at this week's independence c

Matthew Moore, Dili and Craig Skehan – Five years after more than 14,000 United Nations troops and police restored order to a devastated East Timor, and on the eve of the second anniver

Dili – East Timor celebrated its second anniversary Thursday while its leaders called for patience in the face of a sputtering economy and a declining UN presence in Asia's poorest nati

Peter Kammerer – East Timor remains among the world's poorest and least developed nations on the second anniversary of independence, but observers are not as gloomy about its future as

John McBeth, Dili – When the clock strikes midnight on May 19, genuine independence will remain elusive for East Timor.

United Nations – The UN Security Council voted to keep a drastically scaled back UN mission in East Timor to support the legal, law enforcement and security institutions that the govern

The UN Security Council is set to renew the mandate of the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) for a further six months, the United Nations said yesterday.

Canberra – Australia will leave around 100 peacekeeping troops in East Timor if the United Nations extends its mission in the world's newest country for another year as expected, the go

A reduced number of Australian troops and police are set to stay in East Timor after United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today proposed that the UN extend its mission in the fle

Viseu, Portugal – Economic difficulties in the world's newest nation, East Timor, are a potential source of violence, President Xanana Gusmao has warned.

A proposal to extend a peacekeeping presence in East Timor has received widespread support from the United Nations Security Council, and strong support from East Timor itself.

Rodney Dalton/New York, Sian Powell/Jakarta – Australia is trying to convince a divided UN Security Council that peacekeepers in East Timor should be replaced by police under a new mand

Dili – East Timorese officials Thursday welcomed a proposal by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to extend the UN support mission in the new nation for one more year.

Dili – United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan has recommended that the UN's peacekeeping mission in East Timor continues after its planned May withdrawal, but with a significant r

United Nations – Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the withdrawal of almost all UN peacekeepers in East Timor and a shift in the UN's focus to helping the newly independent countr

Thalif Deen, New York – The United Nations plans to withdraw its 3,500 peacekeepers from East Timor in May, despite calls from the government in Dili and civil-society groups that the b

Dili – The UN Security Council will "probably" opt for a continued civilian and security presence in East Timor following the end of its current UNMISET mission in May, Foreign Minister

A political dissident in East Timor says he is preparing to challenge the government when the United Nations mission to the country ends on May 20.

Brussels – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan assured East Timor Thursday that the UN would likely maintain a presence in the country after the end in May of its current securi

A UN assessment team returns to New York this week from East Timor amid speculation there may be an extension of its presence there.

Dili – Foreign Minister Josi Ramos Horta said Thursday he was "convinced" the United Nations would extend its engagement with East Timor beyond the end of its current mission.

By May, the last United Nations troops stationed in East Timor are due to hand over responsibility for security to the local army and police.

Dili – East Timor called on the United Nations Monday to extend its mandate in the country as the leader of a UN team arrived to assess whether the tiny nation was strong enough to go i

Australia has made a huge investment in East Timor for which the nation can be proud, but now is not the time to give up on it.

Patrick Walters – From the rocky, tree-shaded summit of "Mount Everest", 1980m up in the cool, moist highlands of the Bobinaro ranges in East Timor, Lieutenant-Colonel Glen Babington su

Patrick Walters – East Timor is calling for the United Nations to deploy a 400-strong paramilitary force at least until 2006 to bolster its tiny security forces.

Australia will leave some 50 to 60 troops to assist with training of the East Timorese military once the peacekeeping force comes home, defence chief General Peter Cosgrove said today.

Michelle Nichols, Canberra – East Timor appealed to the United Nations Wednesday not to desert the world's newest nation by diverting its assistance to flashpoints like Iraq and Afghani