Takahashi to join mission

Takahashi to join mission

UNITED NATIONS (Agencies): A Japanese diplomat was named on Tuesday as the deputy special representative for the UN mission in East Timor that will run the territory until independence, the United Nations announced.

Akira Takahashi, an expert in development assistance, was appointed to the post by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the eve of his official visit to Japan. The Japanese envoy is expected to arrive in East Timor in early December.

Takahashi will serve as deputy to Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Brazilian UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who will be in East Timor about Nov. 16.

Takahashi will be in charge of humanitarian assistance and emergency rehabilitation, having served for 35 years with Japan's International Cooperation Agency, in charge of overseas development aid programs. He currently serves as a special advisor to the agency.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that Indonesia invaded in 1975, was engulfed in an orgy of killing and violence by militias after nearly 80 percent of voters in an Aug. 30 election opted for independence from Jakarta.

An Australian-led force was hurriedly deployed on Sept. 20 to keep order on an interim basis until UN peacekeepers take over. At the same time the United Nations is setting up an administration, led by Vieira de Mello, during a transitional stage to independence, expected to last two to three years.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Ariane Quentier said on Wednesday her organization has initiated an information campaign "to explain to the refugees that they can go back, that Interfet is not eating babies upon their arrival, all this sort of thing."

Interfet is the acronym for the international peacekeeping force which was sent to East Timor to quell the violence following the announcement of the Aug. 30 independence vote.

Pro-Indonesia militias forced more than 200,000 East Timorese to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighboring West Timor. Now, many of the refugees are trying to return home. But the militias are hampering the efforts of international relief organizations to repatriate them.

Meanwhile, German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping was scheduled to meet his Australian counterpart, John Moore, in Berlin on Wednesday for discussions centering on German military participation in the Australian-led international force in East Timor.