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)