UN to send 5,000 personnel to East Timor
UN to send 5,000 personnel to East Timor
JAKARTA (JP): The United Nations plans to deploy nearly 5,000
personnel, including 280 civilian police officers, for its
operations in organizing the August ballot in East Timor.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented to the Security Council
on Monday a plan to establish the United Nations Mission in East
Timor (UNAMET) which will organize and conduct the "popular
consultation", as the vote is officially called.
In the ballot, scheduled for Aug. 8, East Timorese will be
asked whether they accept the Indonesian government's offer to
remain part of the republic with wide-ranging autonomy powers. A
rejection will set off the process of separation.
Annan's report, a copy of which was made available in Jakarta
on Tuesday, said the UN deployment will include 241 international
staff members and 420 UN volunteers, up to 280 civilian police,
and some 4,000 local staff.
Annan confirmed the appointment of Britain's Ian Martin as
head of UNAMET and special representative for the East Timor
Popular Consultation. Jamsheed Marker will continue to serve as
his personal representative to East Timor. UNAMET will be
headquartered in Dili and will have seven regional centers.
The UN police would act as advisers to the Indonesian police
in discharging their duties, including supervising the escort of
ballot papers and boxes to and from polling sites.
The report left out the issue of disarming the proindependence
and prointegration factions, which the United Nations has
insisted is the responsibility of the Indonesian Military.
Annan said the Indonesian Military has failed to maintain
peace in East Timor, as violence between pro-Indonesian militias
and proindependence groups has threatened the prospects for
peaceful balloting.
"I regret to inform the Security Council that credible reports
continue to be received of political violence, including
intimidation and killings by armed militias against unarmed
proindependence civilians," Annan said.
"The situation in East Timor remains extremely tense and
volatile," he said.
The vote was originally set for Sunday Aug. 8, but Indonesia
has proposed to move it one day forward to respect the Roman
Catholics who make up the majority of East Timorese.
A UN spokesman was quoted by AFP as saying in New York that
the Indonesian proposal was being looked at.
In Dili, the Roman Catholic Church denied suggestions that it
had asked the Indonesian government to bring forward the
election, Antara reported.
"For us, holding the popular consultation on Sunday is not a
problem because Christians will fulfill their prayers first in
the morning before casting their ballots," Dili Bishop Carlos
Filipe Ximenes Belo was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
The mass schedules could be rearranged to facilitate both
prayers and voting, he said.
"If anyone claims to be speaking on behalf of the Church, then
that is a big lie to serve certain political interests," he said.
Meanwhile, six foreign diplomats met with jailed East Timor
rebel leader Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao in the latter's
detention house in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.
Australian Ambassador John McCarthy said after the two-hour
meeting that they had all agreed not to disclose the content of
the meeting to reporters.
The other five were from Britain, the Philippines, the United
States, Germany and Japan.
The six countries were chosen by President B.J. Habibie to
take part in the UN mission to help organize the August ballot.
Xanana's lawyer Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Right Association said the meeting discussed solutions to East
Timor's problems. (01/33/emb)