CANBERRA -- An Australian policewoman has been named as head of the United Nations civilian police force in East Timor, the government announced Saturday.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Sandra Peisley would replace Canadian Peter Miller as the East Timor police commissioner later this month, AFP reported.

Her duties are to provide interim law enforcement and public security in East Timor and to assist in the development of a professional national police service, he said.

"Ms Peisley is a senior Australian police officer with a strong history of achievement in policing and strategic leadership with the Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth's Protective Security Coordination Center," Downer said in a statement. Peisley has already served with the United Nations in Cyprus.

A UN mission took over East Timor in October 1999 to prepare the territory for independence from Indonesia in May 2002. A UN support mission which now includes 3,800 peacekeeping troops is due to leave at the end of May next year.