UN to keep technical mission in East Timor

UN to keep technical mission in East Timor

EAST TIMOR: A 300-member international technical mission will remain in East Timor after independence next year to support the new government, the head of the UN administration said on Friday.

Sergio Vieira de Mello said the new UN mission would largely be composed of administrative, financial and legal experts. It will remain in place for up to two years after East Timor becomes fully independent on May 20, 2002.

East Timor is currently under the administration of the world body. Its people voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999 in a UN supervised referendum. Hundreds were killed and most the country was destroyed as Indonesian troops and their proxy East Timorese militia withdrew after a 24-year occupation.

After over 450 years of colonization by first Portugal and then Indonesia, East Timor has no previous history of self- governance. --AP