UN officials, equipment arrive for East Timor polls
BAUCAU, East Timor (JP): A United Nations plane carrying 25 tons of communication tools with a team of nine officials, and a vessel flying the UN flag with 25 vehicles and a heavy load of helicopter parts on board, arrived safely on Monday in East Timor.
The UN equipment and the officials will help monitor and facilitate the Aug. 7 Independence-or-Integration vote for East Timorese.
Before being taken out from the bodies of the plane and vessel, the cargo was first examined by local immigration staff and customs and excise offices, witnessed by local and international media.
Several UN officials, who arrived in Dili a few days ago, were on hand to welcome their colleagues and inspect the freight.
The Russian-made transport plane, Ilyushin IL-76 TD, landed at 8:23 a.m. at Baucau Air Force base, some 130 kilometers from Dili.
Personnel from the Air Force Special Unit and members of the police Mobile Brigade unit were put on alert in the vicinity of the base.
After taking a short break, the nine-member team were flown by an Indonesian Air Force helicopter to Dili.
The container loads of communication devices and tools for directly monitoring the ballot, bearing the UN logo, were later transported to the East Timor capital of Dili in 11 trucks.
Unlike the low key arrival of the Russian Ilyushin at Baucau, the berthing of Arktis Atlantic, a vessel that has the routine route of Darwin-Bintulu-Singapore and Bonete Bay, at Dili Port at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, was greeted by thousands of East Timorese.
Locals clapped their hands enthusiastically and repeatedly shouted hurrah to welcome the vessel, although they were not allowed to approach the cargo.
According to staff at the port, the ship left Darwin at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday.
The cars, mostly long-bodied jeeps such as Toyota Landcruisers, are to transport UN officials during their work for a free, transparent and peaceful vote.
Disembarkation of the cargo started at 10 a.m., after a team of UN officials based in Dili visited the vessel.
Shortly after the announcement of the disembarkation, dozens of Dili port dock workers began off-loading the freight.
From the port, the vehicles were escorted under heavy police guard to nearby warehouses.
The Aug. 7 vote, which will be conducted under the high- profile direct supervision of UN officials, is aimed at allowing the 800,000 East Timorese to choose between remaining a part of Indonesia with autonomy provisions or to be an independent country.
All UN staff to be deployed in East Timor in preparation for the ballot should be in place by mid-June.
They will comprise 600 international UN staff, including 400 voter registration and polling officials, 15 to 18 political and civilian advisers, various logistics, communications and information personnel and other staff.
Last week, a team of 15 from Japan arrived in Dili at the same time as an Australian team of seven to separately observe the situation in the territory before the beginning of the UN- supervised direct ballot. (33/bsr)