Posted on: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Pacific Command closes East Timor camp

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

The U.S. military presence on East Timor was all but eliminated on Monday, a little more than half a year after the East Asian island became the world's newest nation on May 20.

Pacific Command at Camp Smith closed down its U.S. Support Group East Timor, set up in the country of 800,000 nearly three years ago to coordinate infrastructure repair and humanitarian assistance, including dental and medical care for tens of thousands of East Timorese.

East Timor students at the East-West Center in Honolulu plan a meeting tonight to thank 25 Army reservists from the 9th Regional Support Command for the help they provided.

The lowering of the U.S. flag by the support group has left the U.S. Embassy with the mission of supporting American interests in East Timor.

A Pacific Command representative at the embassy will serve as a liaison to coordinate future humanitarian missions and manage a military-to-military program with the East Timor Defense Force.

"We have a vested interest in the development and success of (East Timor's) defense force, and our relationship will grow in the coming years," said Brig. Gen. David P. Fridovich, Pacific Command deputy director for operations.

In August of 1999, East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia, which had occupied the island 400 miles north of Australia in 1975 following the collapse of Portugal's overseas empire.

Before and after the vote, the Indonesian military and militias killed nearly 2,000 people and drove 250,000 from their homes. After Indonesia agreed to United Nations peacekeepers the same year, an Australian-led coalition was authorized, and U.S. forces arrived.

Using labor and equipment provided by more than 20 U.S. Navy ships and five Amphibious Ready Group visits, the U.S. support group of between 10 and 30 military members coordinated more than 80 renovation projects including rebuilding and refurbishing schools, medical clinics, orphanages and power plants throughout East Timor.

Jose Ximenes, who is studying at the East-West Center and lost his mother and home in the violence, is among a group of eight East Timorese meeting tonight with Hawai'i reservists.

"We will be very happy to see these people," Ximenes said.

Lt. Col. Lynne Berry Westlake, a civil affairs officer with the 9th Regional Support Command's 322nd Civil Affairs brigade, said providing aid in East Timor was the highlight of her military career.

"To meet and work alongside people who suffered or witnessed unimaginable tortures, who had family members who simply 'disappeared' or were victims of the violence inflicted by the Indonesian Army or militias, was very humbling," Westlake said.