U.S., Belgium to supply arms to East Timor army

U.S., Belgium to supply arms to East Timor army

DILI (Reuters): The United States and Belgium have agreed to sell East Timor weapons, including more than 1,200 assault rifles, for its new defense force, a senior UN official said on Tuesday.

The weapons worth $1.6 million would be paid for out of the territory's current annual budget and would not be donated as aid, said the UN's Deputy Special Representative for East Timor, Jean-Christian Cady.

Cady was speaking at the end of a two-day conference on the defense force attended by representatives of 13 countries. "We (the transitional administration) have taken action to procure weapons for the East Timor Defense Force. These weapons are financed from this year's budget, that is to say, the budget which closes on the 30th of June," he said.

The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) is overseeing the territory's transition to independence, expected within the first few months of 2001.

A senior U.S. official told Reuters Washington had agreed to sell the former Portuguese colony 1,200 new M-16A2 assault rifles, 75 M-203 assault rifles with combination grenade launchers and 50 .45 caliber hand guns.

Another 75 Minimi light machine guns would be procured from Belgium, said the official, who declined to be identified.

An Australian diplomat said 300 older M-16s on loan to the East Timor Defense Force (ETDF) for training would be returned.

However, along with Portugal, Australia would continue to play a major training and support role for the ETDF.

On Tuesday, diplomats gathered at Metinaro just outside Dili to formally open a new Australian-built barracks and training center for the ETDF worth $2.5 million.

Last week the first group of 247 ETDF soldiers recruited from the ranks of the now demobilized Falintil guerrillas graduated from a Portuguese-supervised basic training course.

UNTAET expects the force to be built up to battalion strength of 600 people by the time the tiny territory gains independence.

At full strength, the ETDF will comprise, 3,000 men and women under arms including a regular force of 1,500. The impoverished half-island voted in 1999 for independence after more than 20 years under Indonesian rule.

HIV Screening

Meanwhile, Australia's Northern Territory called on Tuesday for the United Nations to screen its workers in East Timor for HIV, saying it had diagnosed 10 cases of the AIDS-causing virus in foreigners visiting from East Timor.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis Burke said one Australian woman in Darwin had already contracted HIV from a visiting UN worker from East Timor.

Burke said if the UN did not begin screening its workers to prevent the spread of HIV in East Timor and Australia, the Australian government should consider restricting the visa which allows UN staff to visit the northern city of Darwin.

Darwin is a short plane ride south of East Timor and was used by the United Nations to launch its peacekeeping operation into East Timor after an independence vote from Indonesia in 1999.

"Not only is the health and well being of territorians at stake but so too is that of the people of East Timor," Burke told a news conference on Tuesday.

"I believe that if the UN is serious about tackling AIDS globally, they should start in their own backyard," he said.

Burke said his territory's government had confirmed the United Nations was not testing its personnel in East Timor for HIV, but that 10 cases had been diagnosed by the Royal Darwin Hospital.

He said the majority of reports of HIV infection in East Timor since September 1999, when the tiny nation gained its independence in a bloody separation from Indonesia, had been "on foreign nationals from high HIV prevalence countries".

He later pointed to concerns about increasing numbers of unscreened peacekeepers or other U.N workers coming from African countries with a high incidence of AIDS.

The United Nations has about 7,900 peacekeepers, 1,400 police and 2,700 civilian staff -- 877 of them foreigners -- running East Timor until it achieves full independence, expected by the end of 2001.