CANBERRA - Australia is likely to send up to 50 Australian Federal Police officers to Dili in the next 24 hours to help quell lawlessness on the East Timor capital's streets, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said today.
The police reinforcements will join 15 AFP officers already in Dili, he said.
Dr Nelson said the presence of Australian Army troops, who have been arriving in their hundreds in the nation in recent days, had quelled rebel action to date.
"We've seen an immediate calming in terms of the rogue military elements and the police in the most savage way fighting with one another," Dr Nelson told Network Ten.
"What's now emerging is a basic sense of lawlessness with these marauding young gangs.
"I spoke last night to Justice and Police Minister Chris Ellison and the prime minister now is, I know, considering deployment of Australian Federal Police.
"It is likely we, over the next 24 hours, will send another 45 to 50 AFP officers to Dili to join the 15 that are already there."
He said it was up to Senator Ellison what arms the police would carry.
"They will be armed and carry armaments that are necessary to see that they are able to do their job, and they will work obviously with Brigadier Mick Slater and the Australian Army," Dr Nelson said.
"We would expect that, once we have our policing arrangements in place, and now fully deployed with the Australian Defence Force, that those totally unacceptable scenes that we're seeing, with dreadful behaviour by warring gangs, will be brought under control."
Dr Nelson said Australia would play a significant leadership role in the East Timor crisis.
The final elements of Australia's 1,300 member force plus all armoured vehicles were expected to be in East Timor this morning - providing the military with enough might to enforce disengagement.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said this was an initial response to the relief and medical needs of victims of the current civil unrest.
"Clearly, in many ways, Australia has been and ... will continue to take a lead role," Dr Nelson said.
However Dr Nelson said Australia would also support United Nations troops to help restore law and order in the strife-torn region.
"Again in terms of the governance issues, they're matters that Mr Downer will be discussing with his counterpart Jose Ramos Horta and I will expect that the United Nations ... we'd like to see at least play a significant role in the process.
"Our first priority is to bring peace and security to East Timor and to see that law and order is restored, at the same time work on the governance issues."
Dr Nelson said he had spoken to the chief of defence Air Marshal Angus Houston and to Australian intelligence agencies about what was happening on the ground in East Timor.
"It confirms ... that calm, relatively speaking, has come to Dili overnight," he said.
"That relates to [the fact] that we are now fully deployed on the ground.
"The final amount of equipment will be arriving in the (HMAS) Tobruk as we speak."
With the final arrival of equipment, the forces would have about 30 armoured personnel carriers, greatly enhancing the troops' mobility, Dr Nelson said.
"But also, of course, it's Sunday today, and in a largely Catholic population that brings a degree of stability to the community," he said.
"I've also this morning spoken to our commanding officer, Brigadier Mick Slater, and I've told him that Australians are very, very proud of what his young soldiers are doing."
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