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Timor-Leste steps off on own

UNITED NATIONS, May 20 (UPI) -- A new U.N. political office has opened in Timor-Leste to help the fledgling nation formerly known as East Timor in another step to self-reliance.

It comes at the close Friday of the U.N. Mission of Support in Timor-Leste and accompanying peacekeeping operation. From now on it will be the police in charge of security.

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There was a ceremony and parade Thursday in the capital of Dili to mark the occasion.

President Xanana Gusmao and the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Sukehiro Hasegawa paid farewell to the peacekeepers who have been on the ground since 1999 when East Timor won independence from Indonesia in a special ballot that touched off bloody rioting by Indonesian militias.

Hasegawa said the peacekeepers' departure showed the world's recognition of Timor-Leste as a safe and peaceful country, which was able to assume responsibility for its own security.

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