Sydney - The East Timorese independence campaigner, Mr Jose Ramos Horta, said yesterday Australia was directly responsible for the tragedy in East Timor because of its long policy of military co-operation with Jakarta.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate told Australia's SBS Television that millions of dollars spent training Jakarta's elite Kopassus troops had been paid back with insults and threats.
"Don't forget, for many decades it was Australian governments, successive governments, that trained the Kopassus in Australia - the same Kopassus that today threaten Australian nationals, threaten Australian journalists," Mr Ramos Horta told SBS.
The Australian government announced yesterday that it was closing its consulate in Dili and leaving only a skeleton consular staff in the territory.