U.S. wants to end UN mission in East Timor
U.S. wants to end UN mission in East Timor
The United States on Monday called for ending the United Nations
peacekeeping mission in East Timor when its mandate expires in
May, going against recommendations by Secretary-General Kofi
Annan.
The United States was the only Security Council member not to
endorse Annan's recent call to extend peacekeeping operations of
a scaled-down United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor
(UNMISET) for a year until May 2006.
The Bush administration, however, was backed by Australia,
which sent soldiers to East Timor to keep order in 1999 after
Indonesian military-backed violence left 1,400 people dead.
The United States, which pays more than a quarter of UN
peacekeeping costs, said East Timor no longer represented an
international security threat that required peacekeepers.
Annan's report praised the progress made by East Timor,
formally known as Timor-Leste, since breaking from Indonesia but
said support was still needed to resolve a dispute over the
border with Indonesia, improve its police force, develop justice
and financial institutions and fight political corruption and
human rights violations.
He called for cutting military personnel from 472 troops to
179 in addition to civilian advisers.
"It is clear to us that the peacekeeping phase of Timor-
Leste's path to full sufficiency can now be concluded," said U.S.
delegate Reed Fendrick, who suggested UN support might continue
in the form of a political mission.
"There is no longer a threat to international peace and
security requiring a peacekeeping mission."
The General Assembly appropriated US$85.2 million for the
mission for the year ending June 30, 2005. The United States pays
27 percent of the cost of UN peacekeeping operations.
The Security Council will vote on whether to extend the
peacekeeping mandate before it expires.
East Timor recently held elections in two districts with plans
for more in the coming months. It has agreed on about 96 percent
of its border demarcation with Indonesia.
The Timorese, who experienced centuries of Portuguese colonial
rule and then 24 years of occupation by Indonesia, voted
overwhelmingly in August 1999 to break free, prompting an orgy of
violence and Australia's intervention.
The United Nations ran the territory until independence in May
2002. The peacekeeping mission numbered 11,000 troops and
civilians when first authorized.
A stream of speakers in the open council session praised the
East Timor "success story" and advocated extending the mission
following a briefing by UN envoy Sukehiro Hasegawa and a speech
by Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta. --Reuters