AUSTRALIA now has 1300 troops in East Timor, and the Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has said that overnight gang and ethnic violence has eased. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, John Howard has said that restoring stability in East Timor will be a "quite challenging" process. Mr Howard said the presence of Australian and coalition forces had helped to diminish the violence considerably in East Timor. "It has begun to quiet things down, it's a trickier operation than some people think," Mr Howard said on ABC TV's The Insiders. You have a lot of gang activity, so nobody should assume that it's just a simple walk-in-the-park military operation – it's quite challenging. I've no doubt as the days go by, I think it will further stabilise the situation and then of course, there'll be a very heavy responsibility on the political leadership of the country to try and heal the wounds that have brought about this situation."
Mr Howard said he would not rule out a regional assistance body, similar to that which currently operates in the Solomon Islands, to help East Timor's military and police forces in the future. "I don't rule anything out but I don't want to presumptuously declare that that's going to happen, or ought to happen, without the matter being discussed with the East Timorese," he said.