Asia Times: Annan proposes massive UN mission for E Timor



	October 07, 1999	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Annan proposes massive UN mission for E Timor
By Farhan Haq

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged the 15-nation Security Council to accept an ambitious plan for the United Nations to temporarily administer East Timor.

The proposed mission, the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET), will be one of the biggest undertaken by the UN. It will last for two to three years and involve nearly 9,000 troops being deployed in the territory along with 200 military observers.

Annan insisted that quick approval of the force is necessary because of displacement of an estimated 500,000 of East Timor's 850,000 people.

''The civil administration is no longer functioning,'' Annan wrote in his report to the Security Council. ''The judiciary and court systems have ceased to exist; electrical services, such as water and electricity, are in real danger of collapse.''

The violence which followed the August 30 self-determination ballot in East Timor was so severe that hardly any buildings were left undamaged in the capital, Dili, while the towns of Ainaro and Cassa were ''completely destroyed''. Large parts of other towns, like Atsabe and Maliana, had been destroyed by fire, according to the report.

Annan said the UN would establish an ''effective administration'', help develop a constitution for East Timor and organize elections and build institutions for the territory's independence. It will include providing advisors on civil administration, legal and judicial affairs, policing and other key functions.

Before UNTAET is deployed, the United Nations must deploy 460 police officers, as well as legal experts and civil affairs officers, throughout the country to handle urgent security and administrative concerns, Annan said.

Approval of the UN's peace-keeping plans is unlikely to occur until the end of this month, since the United Nations has to wait for the Indonesian legislature to ratify the results of the ballot in which 78.5 percent of East Timorese voters opted for independence from Indonesia.

Bernard Miyet, UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping, said that Annan had urged the Security Council to approve UNTAET as soon as possible so that the UN troops could replace Interfet quickly without any security vacuum in East Timor.

''We are already preparing the transition,'' he said. ''We want a seamless transition . . . in which there is no gap between the end of Interfet and the beginning of UN administration.''

Miyet estimated that it would take between two and four months to deploy UNTAET, but said he was confident that countries would be willing to lend troops. Some soldiers and equipment, he added, could be donated by Australia and other Interfet forces.

Many Asian countries have offered to participate in the UN force and Australia - which has some 4,500 troops in East Timor - is expected to decrease its own participation as Asian troops arrive. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer confirmed last week that Canberra is prepared to scale back its contribution once the UN peacekeeping force is established.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has argued that a more Asian force is preferable, although he cautions that Malaysia and other cash-strapped nations could not afford a long-term deployment.

The UN force will be paid for by a standard assessment among member states, in which the United States pays for 31 percent of peacekeeping costs and European countries account for a heavy share of the funding. But Miyet noted that the United Nations also was relying on a trust fund to help rebuild East Timor's shattered infrastructure. Japan has contributed $100 million to the fund, while Portugal - East Timor's former colonial ruler - gave $5 million.

Miyet warned that the new operation may be more costly and logistically challenging that other recent missions, such as the UN administration in Kosovo, because of the amount of destruction in East Timor. ''Right now, we have a situation in which everything has been burned, looted - all our capacity has been destroyed,'' Miyet said.

Yet the United Nations also has some advantages in the upcoming mission, including the support of the Timorese and the pro-independence movement, the National Council for Timorese Resistance.

(Inter Press Service)

back to the top

©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.