DATE=10/3/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=COHEN / PHILIPPINES (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254607
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=MANILA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Philippine government is offering to send one
thousand more troops to join the peacekeeping force trying
to bring order to East Timor. The offer follows a visit to
the Philippines and four other ASEAN member nations by U-S
defense secretary William Cohen. He urged the nations to
support the Australian-led peacekeeping effort with troops
or cash. VOA's Jim Randle reports.
TEXT: About 240 Philippine soldiers are already
deployed in the East Timor peacekeeping force that
will eventually number about eight thousand troops.
Defense Minister Orlando Mercado says that between six
hundred and one thousand more Philippine troops could
be sent to the former Portuguese colony soon.
Mr. Mercado spoke in Manila after meeting with U-S
Defense Secretary William Cohen. He offered to help
Manila by providing airplanes to move troops and their
equipment into place.
Mr. Cohen has been meeting with defense ministers and
other top officials in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand
and Singapore discussing the crisis in East Timor and
other issues.
He is urging the ten members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations to do more to assist the U-N
mandated peacekeeping force in East Timor.
The peacekeepers landed in Dili, the capital of East
Timor, after militia groups attacked and killed
hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who supported
independence for East Timor. The attacks drove
hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes and
followed a vote by 80 percent of the residents of East
Timor to break away from Indonesia.
The U-S secretary of defense and his Philippine
counterpart also discussed a new agreement that allows
American troops and ships to visit the Philippines for
training and possible U-S assistance for modernizing
the Philippine navy and air force. (Signed)
NEB/JR/KL
03-Oct-1999 12:47 PM EDT (03-Oct-1999 1647 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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