Xanana makes UN debut as president
Xanana makes UN debut as president
Gerald Nadler, Associated Press, United Nations
East Timor's president-elect Xanana Gusmao said his homeland would continue to need U.N. support even after it becomes independent on May 20.
Xanana, who was elected in April to head the new state, thanked the UN Security Council on Friday for helping to lead East Timor to independence after a 24-year occupation by Indonesia.
The United Nations has been administering the tiny Southeast Asian territory since its people voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN-sponsored referendum on Aug. 30, 1999.
"Support from the international community - including technical advisers to support key government functions - will be essential for some time to come," Xanana said. For Xanana, who was a guerrilla leader against the Indonesians and spent seven years in a Jakarta jail, the speech was his first appearance at the United Nations as the president-to-be.
"We will face a real test after the declaration of independence," he said.
The two major challenges, he said, were to manage the legislature so that laws are passed to promote economic development, and to continue East Timor's cooperation with the United Nations to improve the institutions of a fledgling democracy.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the new government of East Timor will face "enormous tasks" after independence on May 20 and urged that the Security Council approve a smaller successor peace mission of two years to help the fledgling state.
"The international community must ensure that the investment it has made does not go to waste," Annan said. "It will still have a crucial role to play in helping the Timorese consolidate their new (democratic) institutions."
He said the successor mission will help with administration, setting up courts, training police and providing security.
"That support will be gradually reduced over two years as the role of the United Nations becomes one of providing normal development assistance," he said.