E. Timor needs two more years of UN help, says Annan

E. Timor needs two more years of UN help, says Annan

Agencies, United Nations/Wellington

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended on
Tuesday a scaled-back UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor for
another two years after the territory becomes a nation on May 20,
to assure its continued stability and security.

The United Nations has been administering East Timor since
late 1999, a few months after Timorese voted for independence
from Indonesia, which invaded the territory in 1975 after
colonial ruler Portugal pulled out.

In a report to the 15-nation Security Council, Annan said the
successor mission to the current UN transitional administration
in East Timor, known as UNTAET, should start out at about 5,000
peacekeeping troops and 1,250 police, about the same as it now
has.

But the new mission should be gradually phased out over the
next two years as the East Timorese assume more and more of the
responsibilities of self-government, he said.

May 20 will mark the final step in East Timor's long and
bloody road to nationhood. Xanana Gusmao, independence hero and
former guerrilla leader, won nearly 83 percent of the vote in
April 14 presidential elections.

As the date draws near, Annan said, "East Timor is at peace,
fundamental government structures are in place and the
independence that it has struggled for over so many years is very
close.

"However, all of these are at risk if they are not reinforced
through a continued international presence and commitment," Annan
said.

Separately, New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark said on
Wednesday that a small contingent of peacekeepers from her
country will replace the present battalion in East Timor by
year's end, .

Her comments follow a plea from the territory's new president,
Gusmao, for the United Nations' peacekeeping mission to his
country to be extended by two years to protect East Timor's
border with Indonesia.

Clark said her government's decision not to send another
battalion had been discussed with the United Nations, which is
"hugely downsizing" its operations in East Timor. The situation
there was now "pretty stable," Clark said.

"People realize New Zealand's put in an extraordinary
contribution for its size. We'll probably be continuing to help
in some small way but it won't be at battalion level," she said.
It could be similar to New Zealand's contribution in Bosnia,
where 27 peacekeepers are still stationed.

"The reality is the army now needs a period where it can get
back to some basic training," she said.

New Zealand's commitment of more than 4,000 personnel to East
Timor over the past three years has been the country's biggest
since the Korean War in the 1950s.

International peacekeepers have been in the territory since
September 1999, when pro-Indonesian militias rampaged through the
territory after a referendum for independence, killing, looting
and destroying.

Clark plans to go to East Timor for independence day
celebrations on May 20.