UN tells E. Timorese their vote is secret
UN tells E. Timorese their vote is secret
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters): Secretary-General Kofi Annan assured the people of East Timor on Wednesday that their vote on Aug. 8 to decide the future of the territory would be secret and that the United Nations, which is organizing the balloting, was entirely impartial.
"First of all, the United Nations will conduct the consultation process in a completely impartial manner," Annan said in a video message to the population of the former Portuguese colony integrated into Indonesia in 1976.
"The United Nations is not in favor of, or against, any result. Our task is to make it possible for you -- the people of East Timor -- to make your own choice," he said.
The balloting, being held under a May 5 agreement between Indonesia and Portugal, is to decide whether East Timor should have wide-ranging autonomy under continued Indonesian rule or, if that is rejected, begin moving towards independence.
"No one will know, or ever find out, what choice you make," Annan said. "When the votes are counted, no one will know how any particular village or district has voted."
Over the next few weeks, personnel of the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), set up by the Security Council to organize the voting, would help the East Timorese to understand the consultation process, as the balloting is referred to.
Annan said some 900 international personnel from UNAMET would be sent to all parts of the territory, including electoral and information staff, civilian police who would advise the Indonesian police and military liaison officers who would maintain contact with their Indonesian counterparts.
"The popular consultation is not about winning or losing a competition," he declared.
"It is your chance to settle the question of East Timor peacefully. It is your opportunity to launch a new era of reconciliation. Peace is a prize that all East Timorese can share," Annan said.
His personal representative for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker of Pakistan, briefed the Security Council on Wednesday before leaving for the territory on Thursday.
Later, council president Baboucarr-Blaise Jagne of Gambia said in a statement that members were "pleased to hear of the good cooperation so far by all the parties, and appreciate the measures taken by Indonesia to ensure a stable security situation for the ballot."
Security has been a prime concern since scores of people were killed earlier this year, mainly by anti-independence militias, after Indonesian President B.J. Habibie announced his government's willingness to reverse the integration of the territory if the East Timorese rejected autonomy.
Jagne added that members "noted with concern ambassador Marker's assessment that much work remains to be done to allow a credible and fair consultation."
The United Nations also announced on Wednesday that a senior Australian police official, Alan James Mills, has been appointed civilian police commissioner of UNAMET.
Mills, 57, who is already in the East Timor capital, Dili, has served with the Australian police since 1962. He was recently assistant commissioner and special advisory member to the Australian federal police commissioner.
He served with the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus between 1989 and 1991.
The first contingent of 39 UN police, including 15 members of the Australian Federal Police, are due to arrive in Dili on Saturday from the northern Australian city of Darwin, where the United Nations has established a staging post and supply center.
In Jakarta, the South Korean embassy said on Thursday that its government would send five civilian police officers to join UNAMET and has donated US$200,000 to the UN assistance for East Timor.
Meanwhile Habibie's spokeswoman Dewi Fortuna Anwar denied an Australian newspaper report on Thursday that the UN plans to postpone the self-determination ballot to Aug. 29 from its original schedule on Aug. 8.
"I think it is only speculation, so far we have not heard anything about the delay," Dewi said.
The Sydney Morning Herald, quoting UN sources, said in a front page story that the autonomy vote is now likely to take place on Aug. 29, instead of Aug. 8.
The source cited continuing deterioration in security and a "lack of integrity" by East Timorese local government officials.
"UN envoy Jamsheed Marker will meet with the President on Monday who will brief him on the latest development for the direct vote process," Dewi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
UNAMET spokesman in Dili, David Wimhurst, also denied the report, telling AFP that a decision on the matter would be made "in five or six days" by the secretary general.
Jose Ramos Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace co-laureate, said Thursday he still wanted to go to East Timor but was prepared to cancel his trip to campaign in his homeland.
"If my going to East Timor is the biggest embarrassment for whatever reason, I am prepared to stay in Australia ... as long as at least Xanana Gusmao is released and allowed to go to East Timo," Horta said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas reiterated his opposition to Horta's visit to East Timor if his only purpose was to campaign before the direct ballot in the province.
Alatas expressed concern on Wednesday that pre-ballot campaigning in East Timor by Horta and other people, who have lived abroad for a long time, would create a conflict in the province.(prb)