UNTAET to take over East Timor soon
UNTAET to take over East Timor soon
DENPASAR, Bali (JP): UNTAET peacekeeping force commander Lt.
Gen. Jaime de los Santos said on Tuesday that his troops would
soon take over complete supervision of East Timor from Interfet.
"By the end of February, we shall take over all the sectors
within East Timor," De los Santos said after a courtesy call on
chief of the Udayana Military Command Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri.
The Philippine general was accompanied by the chief of the
United Nations Military Observers (UNMO), Brig. Gen. Rezaq
Hayder, in the one-hour meeting.
De los Santos said the UNTAET peacekeeping force would consist
of 9,000 personnel from 27 countries, not including 200 military
observers.
East Timor would be divided into eastern, central and western
sectors. UNTAET, whose members are from South Korea, Thailand,
and the Philippines, took over the eastern sector from Interfet
early this month.
De los Santos said he did not foresee any obstacles in the
peacekeeping process in East Timor.
"Although before I came to Denpasar there were some isolated
cases at the border, but after my meeting with General Syahnakri
this afternoon, I was assured that we can have good cooperation
and good communication, so that the problems at the border will
be reduced, minimized, if not eradicated."
He said most of the incidents were border crossings by former
members of pro-Jakarta militias. He added that the border
crossings occurred some weeks ago and the Indonesian security
forces took action to deal with them.
He added that he met with several high-ranking Indonesian
officials on Monday, including Minister of Defense Juwono
Sudarsono, Indonesian Military Commander Adm. Widodo and Army
chief of staff Gen. Tyasno Sudarto.
"They told me they will support the programs of the UN and
UNTAET. I think this is a very good sign for the normalization of
the situation in East Timor."
On a separate occasion, Kiki said economic factors were behind
the border crossings in East Timor.
"We all know East Timor is lacking foodstuffs. A kilogram of
sugar costs Rp 55,000, if that.
"It is very possible that prointegration militias were
involved in the border crossings. But we have taken stern action
against them," he said, referring the arrest of Moko Soarez, a
former militia member, who was found selling guns last week.
The buyers of the guns were also arrested, he said. "The guns
dated back to the Portuguese colonial era."
Soarez is being held in Kefamenanu Police detention in West
Nusa Tenggara, awaiting trial.
East Timor broke away after 25 years with Indonesia following
a UN-sponsored self-determination ballot last year which resulted
in an overwhelming rejection to Jakarta's wide-ranging autonomy
offer. Violence followed the ballot, prompting the UN to send
peacekeeping force to the territory. (zen/sur)