Abstract
AbstractIn this chapter, we will examine the Self-Defense Forces’ (SDF’s) participation in the UN missions in East Timor, or Timor-Leste in Portuguese. Here we pay special heed to the Japanese peacekeepers’ activities in the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor and the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor from the early to mid-2000s. These United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKOs) aimed to support independence and statebuilding in East Timor by combining peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Similar to the case of Cambodia, the Japanese delegation put the greatest emphasis on engineering, which was a good fit with the goals of these UNPKOs. In East Timor, the Japan Engineering Groups engaged in civil engineering works, not only to support the UN missions but also as direct bilateral assistance to local residents in close collaboration with Japan’s ODA (the “All Japan” approach). Meanwhile, the strict constraints in the Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) Act were highlighted again, especially in terms of the protection of Japanese nationals, when the SDF rescued Japanese citizens during a 2002 riot. In addition to military deployment, civilian police personnel also contributed to the United Nations Mission in East Timor in preparation for the referendum on independence in 1999. Similar contributions were made to resume statebuilding assistance to the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste after the recurrence of violence in 2006.
Highlights
Even after de facto annexation, FRETILIN continued its armed struggle, but international society paid only limited attention to this issue until the late 1990s
Indonesian forces secretly supported a pro-Indonesia militia in East Timor, which represented the pro-integration faction preferring to remain under Indonesian control
2.1 Achieving State Construction In June 1999, UNSCR 1246 authorized the establishment of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) to support the independence referendum scheduled on August 31 that year
Summary
East Timor comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, which is situated between Australia and Indonesia. Following the 1974 Carnation Revolution, Portugal promised the East Timorese that it would hold an election and allow independence in four years While waiting for these promises to be fulfilled, a pro-independence communist force known as the “Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor” (FRETILIN) unilaterally declared independence in 1975. This declaration invited a military incursion from Indonesia, a regional power that owned the adjacent West Timor and was determined to stop the communist expansion into its territory. In the context of the Cold War, the US and its allies ignored this pressure because they did not favor the creation of another communist country This tacit approval allowed Indonesia to carry out the annexation as a fait accompli.
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