Asia Times: UN must act fast or face unrest, warns Timor mission chief



	February 5, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

UN must act fast or face unrest, warns Timor mission chief
By Jim Wurst

UNITED NATIONS - The head of the UN mission in East Timor has warned the United Nations Security Council that the UN must be seen to be making rapid progress in the reconstruction of the troubled state, or risk social unrest.

"The people of East Timor are justifiably impatient to see improvements in their lives," said Sergio Viera de Mello, the Special Representative in charge of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (Untaet).

De Mello's presentation to the Council on Thursday and the UN's new report on the situation in East Timor is a litany of pressing needs. The report to the Security Council, issued last week, said: "The humanitarian disaster which resulted from the violence visited upon East Timor . . . has been the most pressing crisis facing Untaet."

De Mello said that job creation, reintroduction of public services and returning refugees who fled to West Timor would be priorities over the next three months.

De Mello told the council: "Untaet faces a gap in time which may well result in the perception amongst East Timorese during the next few months that little is being done to repair infrastructure, save for the UN's own facilities . . . Therefore, quick advance disbursements [of funds] will be essential to prevent social unrest."

Of all the coming challenges, he said, "First among these are the high expectations of the East Timorese, who will have displayed tremendous patience with the slow pace by which the destruction of last September is being recouped."

The entire society and infrastructure - schools, health services, police, courts, civil service, utilities - are either in the hands of international agencies or need to be built from ground up. Only half the people have electricity, and road repairs are urgently needed, especially to reach mountainous areas in time for the coffee harvest, De Mello noted.

One bright spot came in a phrase UN officials almost never utter: "Money is not the problem." De Mello told reporters that the pledges of aid "are more than sufficient to cover our needs in the year 2000 and in subsequent years. The problem is how quickly those funds can be dispersed for reconstruction." He added: "What I need is money now to provide East Timorese people with tangible proof of international concern."

Unemployment is a major problem which can "only be addressed through labor-intensive programs", De Mello said. The civil service will employ only some 7,000 people this year - "clearly the problem of unemployment will have to be addressed by rapid implementation of rehabilitation and reconstruction projects as well," he told the Council.

De Mello said most parties were interested in reconciliation. He said independence leader Xanana Gusmao "has gone out of his way in promoting reconciliation" and that his talks with Indonesian authorities had been both "encouraging" and "constructive". President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia is due to visit East Timor at the end of February.

However, the UN representative said there is "continued hostility" among the pro-autonomy factions that rejected the independence vote last year. "Their position is so radical that no rational dialogue could change their minds," he said. However, "political dialogue with pro-autonomy groups must not be excluded. Campaigning for autonomy is not a crime, it was one of the two options given to the people of East Timor."

De Mello said the pro-autonomy groups and militia in West Timor must "accept the outcome of the popular consultation and opt for a moderate democratic course of action. The remaining extremist groups and militia in West Timor should be disarmed, and disbanded once and for all."

After the referendum in August resulted in a resounding vote in favor of independence, pro-Indonesian militia, backed by the Indonesian army, went on a rampage throughout East Timor. Some 750,000 East Timorese out of an estimated population of 880,000 were driven from their homes, many into the Indonesian province of West Timor. An unknown number were killed and the capital city of Dili was nearly leveled.

In September, the UN authorized a multinational force led by Australia to restore peace in the region. Since February 1, that force is gradually being replaced by the military component of Untaet. One UN official referred to this as a "re-hatting" of soldiers, since nearly half of the UN troops are already serving in the original force.

The law enforcement structures of East Timor are also in disarray. Only 480 UN civilian police out of an authorized force of 1,610 have been deployed. An academy to train East Timorese police will not open until March.

In the meantime, De Mello said, the independence movement Falantil "has indicated that it would be willing to lend - unarmed - its standing in the local community to crime prevention through community education and intercession to reduce community tensions".

The judicial system is not functioning either. De Mello said the 10 judges and prosecutors who have been appointed so far are inexperienced, while the courts lack basic staff and services and the prisons "are in worse shape".

He said more than 300 bodies have been found so far and the UN has registered a further 467 alleged murders. With further suspected mass grave sites still to be investigated, De Mello said it is "urgent" that all evidence of human rights abuses be carefully recorded while the Timorese and Indonesian authorities decided how to deal with the findings.

(Inter Press Service)

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