58 The primary area of operations was Dili, the capital, and the battery predominantly deployed there in 1999 but spent a small amount of time in the western border towards the end of the first rotation. INTERFET was a multi-nation effort, primarily consisting of Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. Other countries involved included Brazil, Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the United States and more. Operating under the United Nations umbrella was a challenging endeavour and at times frustrating. The Battery’s CML was at one point even criticised for being too active in its role when the expectation was that since they were military they should stay in their lane. This of course was not the Battery’s style whatsoever. Matt Anderson and his CML party discovered valuable intelligence in terms of the East Timorese Society and Political Structures which informed the wider Battalion’s operations. The 103 CML worked with the UN Food Programme to revise the fundamentals of how food aid was provided and were favourably given the lead to distribute a month’s worth of food aid to civilians in a 24 hour period. This freed the members up to conduct traditional security tasks and to enjoy some down time, which was hard to come by. The tempo in Timor was incredibly high and the demands of the operation were taxing on all members involved. The battery across all levels from BC down were subjected to many disconcerting things throughout their stay. This included acts of vigilante violence as well as interactions with victims who had been accused of working with the milita. Many members of the public had been subjected to violence behind closed doors for a variety of reasons including taking advantage of the political situation to settle old scores. This occurrence of violence is what made the stadium in Dili a noteworthy landmark, which had been converted to become a refugee camp to house those displaced by the unrest. A stadium however is not designed to house people and reportedly had
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