ABSTRACT
Between May 1999 and August 2006, six overlapping and interrelated peace operations were sanctioned by the UN in the turbulent eastern half of the Southeast Asian island of Timor (see Table 9.1) (while East Timor is officially referred to in Portuguese (Timor-Leste) it will be referred to throughout in the English form). This chapter focuses on one of these operations – INTERFET, a major peace enforcement operation commissioned by the UN under Australian command in September 1999. From well-documented dilemmas concerning consent, impartiality, and resource constraints to specific concerns posed by the transition between operations and establishing a workable division of labor between and among the UN and pivotal states, this profile of INTERFET provides an instructive baseline for the evaluation of future peace enforcement actions.
