The first contingent of 24 Japanese military engineers arrived in East Timor yesterday amid protests over Japan's brutal occupation of the island in World War II. The battalion, which will ...

Around 700 Japanese peacekeepers will eventually be based in East Timor in what will be Japan's largest peacekeeping effort. The rest of the contingent will arrive in the next three to four weeks.

Gusmao spent much of occupation either in jail or on the run, often hiding with guerrilla fighters in East Timor's mountainous terrain, while Ramos-Horta lived in exile, campaigning for independence.