UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council voted to send 140 more police officers to Timor-Leste.
Increased violence in the lead-up to presidential elections in April prompted the council Thursday to unanimously extend the mandate of the U.N. Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste for another year and to send another police unit, adding to the 1,445 police officers already in the country. Timorese leaders had asked for the extension and for more police officers, as had U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Timor-Leste -- formerly East Timor -- gained independence from Indonesia in 2002.
The Security Council created UNMIT in August to help restore order after the deadly fighting, attributed to differences between eastern and western regions, broke out and caused the deaths of at least 37 people and forced about 155,000 others, or 15 percent of the population, to flee their homes.
More recently, increased gang violence in the capital Dili led to an operation by more than 100 U.N. police officers, backed by international troops, during which 50 gang members were arrested and homemade firearms, machetes, Molotov cocktails and other weapons were confiscated.
