Security Council authorizes East Timor administration

Security Council authorizes East Timor administration

JAKARTA (JP): The Security Council gave Secretary General Kofi
Annan authority on Monday to set up a UN administration with
extensive powers to rebuild East Timor and run it until
independence.

The UN Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) has a
mandate to "establish an effective administration" in the
territory, which was plunged into anarchy after voting against
Indonesia's wide-ranging autonomy offer on Aug. 30.

UNTAET will include the largest UN peacekeeping contingent in
the world today, comprising 8,950 troops, 200 military observers
and 1,640 police, AFP reported.

The UN troops will replace Interfet, the Australian-led
multinational force which was sent to East Timor with the
approval of the Security Council last month to restore peace and
security.

Security Council Resolution 1272, adopted unanimously by the
15 Council members on Monday, gives UNTAET the power "to exercise
all legislative and executive authority including the
administration of justice".

The establishment of UNTAET marks the return of the United
Nations to peacekeeping on a large scale.

It follows the Council's authorization on Friday of a 6,000-
strong peacekeeping force for Sierra Leone, in West Africa.

The two missions take the total size of UN military operations
from about 10,700 to more than 27,300.

Under the resolution, UNTAET's mandate will initially run
until Jan. 31, 2001, but is renewable.

In Dili, the capital of East Timor, civilian and military
police have discovered another mass grave holding up to 10 bodies
at a site on the outskirts of the town, officials said Monday.

A senior civilian policeman working with the UN said relatives
of the victims had led investigators to the site outside the
capital on Sunday.

"A joint investigation will be done between the military and
civilian police," he said.

Interfet spokesman Col. Mark Kelly said at the weekend that
investigators had examined sites containing a total of 95 bodies
since the force deployed on Sep. 20 after weeks of violence and
destruction in response to an overwhelming vote for independence
from Indonesia.

Reports so far indicated up to 150 bodies would be found but
some investigators refuse to rule out a bigger total when the
estimated 250,000 East Timorese refugees return from West Timor
and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people move
back to their homes and were able to report other possible
atrocities.

In Jakarta, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) said it had found
18 deaths in refugee camps in East Nusa Tenggara as of last week.
They were mostly children and old people who suffered from
digestive problems.

PMI officials admitted, however, the number could be more, as
many deaths remained undetected.

PMI chairman Jusuf Talib said on Monday more humanitarian
assistance would be delivered throughout East Nusa Tenggara in
cooperation with a number of medical service institutions.

In cooperation with the International Commission for the Red
Cross (ICRC), PMI has sent a team to help East Timorese refugee
in East Nusa Tenggara province. They provide non-food supplies
related necessities, including basic necessities, sanitation,
medicines, medical supplies, and 24 hours medical services.

"We feel that the main problem in the refugee camp is not only
food supplies, but also accommodation, sanitation, clean water
supplies and health care", Jusuf said after receiving
humanitarian aid from the Thai Red Cross.

Thai Ambassador to Indonesia Somphand Kokilanon, on behalf of
Thai Red Cross Society, handed in tons of medicines and medical
supplies to Jusuf. (02/33)