UN on track to finish East Timor mission

UN on track to finish East Timor mission

Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press, United Nations

The United Nations is on track to wrap up its peacekeeping mission in East Timor in mid-2004 following the country's successful transition from UN administration to independence, the Security Council said on Tuesday.

Nearly three months after the former Indonesian territory became the world's newest nation, the council said East Timor has taken steps to assume responsibility for its own security and establish itself in the international community.

"The East Timor Defense Force is taking over operational responsibilities from UN peacekeepers as planned, and East Timor's civilian police units are replacing United Nations civilian police units in a timely fashion," the council said in a statement.

The council issued the statement after a briefing from Assistant Secretary-General Hedi Annabi on developments since East Timor's independence on May 20 after centuries of Portuguese rule and 24 years of often brutal occupation by Indonesia.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, the current council president who read the statement, said members got "good news" from Annabi on the UN mission's work "and the mission is due to be completed in mid-2004."

The United Nations took over administration of the tiny Southeast Asian territory after its people voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored referendum on Aug. 30, 1999. The ballot touched off a rampage by Indonesian military and pro-Jakarta militiamen who killed hundreds of people and destroyed much of the territory.

The fighting was stopped when international peacekeepers arrived a month later, and the United Nations later took over the peacekeeping operation.

In May, the Security Council approved a UN mission of 5,000 UN troops, 1,250 international police, and 100 civilians to help the fledgling nation build a democratic government and maintain security.

The resolution authorizing the scaled-down mission envisioned that over a period of two years, the United Nations would fully hand over "all operational responsibilities to the East Timorese authorities."