The UN ends its peacekeeping mission in East Timor Monday after 13 years in Asia’s youngest nation following a bloody transition to independence as the country faces the challenge of tackling rampant poverty.

UN forces first entered the territory around the vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999 that gave way to political unrest and bloodshed, and around 1,500 peacekeepers were based there since.

The final batch of troops and logistics staff left in the morning as the mission prepared to take down its flag, departing from a country struggling with widespread malnutrition and maternal mortality rates among the world’s worst.