Army to use lethal force if attacked
AUSTRALIAN troops in East Timor have "very robust" rules of engagement and sufficient firepower to deal with any threat posed by the warring factions.
Operation Astute has already seen the dispatch of seven naval vessels, C-130 transport planes and four Black Hawk helicopters to Dili, with almost 500 troops on the ground by late yesterday.
"We have gone in there with sufficient combat power to create a stable environment," Australian Defence Force Chief Angus Houston said yesterday. "If someone has a go at us we will respond."
He said the priority for the Australians was to separate the warring army and police groups and see that they returned to barracks or secure areas.
"We want to be the honest broker, somebody that everybody trusts. We will be completely neutral in that endeavour," he said. "It is absolutely imperative that we adopt that approach because if we don't, we won't achieve our mission."
Air Chief Marshal Houston acknowledged the dangers of sending troops into the chaos of Dili, where soldiers shot 12 policemen dead on Thursday.
Rules of engagement for the intervention - hammered out with East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and Defence Minister Taur Mata Ruak late on Thursday night - will allow Australians to respond with lethal force if they come under attack.
The Defence Force Chief said he was confident the Australian-led contingent would calm the unrest in Dili and convince warring army, police and rebel groups to retire to barracks. At least 1800 Defence personnel, including a battalion-size-plus ground force, are now involved in the East Timor operation.
The army's contribution includes commandos from 4RAR and a rifle company group from 3RAR equipped with M113 armoured personnel carriers.
The frigate HMAS Adelaide is in Dili and the supply ship HMAS Success is offshore. The amphibious ship HMAS Kanimbla is due in Dili today with HMAS Manoora and HMAS Tobruk due to arrive within the next two days.
The navy is also sending the landing craft Balikpapan and Tarakan to Dili.
Air Chief Marshal Houston would not be drawn on the duration of the Australian intervention.
He said he hoped UN peacekeepers could replace the Australian-led stabilisation force within a few months.
He also revealed that as the security situation in Dili rapidly deteriorated on Thursday, the RAAF VIP plane carrying Vice-Chief of the Defence Force, Ken Gillespie, and senior Defence and DFAT officials, was turned back en route from Darwin.
General Gillespie's plane later landed in Dili at the same time as special forces troops arrived in Black Hawk helicopters and C-130 Hercules transports.
Air Chief Marshal Houston said the Government's decision earlier this month to position a naval taskforce had allowed for a rapid deployment.
"From the time we got the request to the time we had forces on the ground, we are talking about three to four days," he said.
"You couldn't have had a faster response than what we have had on this occasion."
Map of Dili
The Australian presence in East Timor so far has been characterised by vigorous patrolling into the capital Dili, with the main goal being to lock down the city in order to separate and concentrate the various conflicting forces in East Timor.  Despite the Australian military being provided strong rules of engagement by the East Timorese government, so far no soldiers have fired their weapons or been fired upon, although they might have been fired over by gangs earlier today.  Outside the Hotel Timor today, where East Timorese Prime Minister Alkatiri was about to hold a press conference, an Australian patrol arrested what appeared to be two gangs about to storm the hotel with the help of reinforcements.  The men numbered around 30, carrying machetes, knifes, spears, slingshots, and arrows.  The Prime Minister claimed that the gangs were attempting a coup d'etat.  Civilian gangs, allegedly provided arms by the East Timorese military, have so far been blamed for much of the violence in Dili.

As the rest of the 1300 strong Australian deployment is expected to arrive in East Timor tomorrow, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said that although his government did foresee the current situation in East Timor, military action would have constituted an invasion until mandated through the United Nations' or East Timorese government's request.  "...People say you should have seen it coming. The answer is yes, I did, but until you are asked, it happens to be an invasion." said Mr Howard.  East Timor requested military assistance from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal on May 23, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta explaining that the government "...couldn't control the situation,"; all four nations responded positively to the request.

Despite one newspaper running the headline "We'll stay till job's done, says PM", the Chief of Defence Force, Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston has said that he hopes the Australian military will be able to be replaced within a few months by a UN peacekeepers.  In any case, ACM Houston has said that he is believes the Australian presence will stabilise the situation soon, perhaps aided by the good relations that exist between the ADF and the leader of the rebel group, Major Alfredo Reinado.  MAJ Reinado was trained by the ADF for three months and has openly welcomed the arrival of the peacekeeping force, saying that the deployment is the "only solution" in the face of the government's inability to resolve the conflict.

After praising the speed of the deployment, Washington revealed that the US assisted the transport of Australian troops to position in Townsville and Darwin two weeks earlier.

Indonesia has now closed its border to East Timor, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono saying that "besides security reasons, the closure of the border is to prevent the possibility of issues that may worsen the image of Indonesia."