U.N. council mission to visit Timor in mid-November

Peacekeeping forces attend a briefing in Dili on Thursday

October 27, 2000
Web posted at: 5:43 AM HKT (2143 GMT)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- A U.N. Security Council mission will visit East Timor and West Timor from November 9 to 18 in the wake of recent violence that took the lives of three U.N. refugee workers, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday.

The seven-member mission will study the operations of the U.N. interim administration that since late last year has been helping put the formerly Indonesian-ruled territory of East Timor on the path to independence.

It will also review implementation of a Security Council resolution, adopted after the killing last month of three U.N. refugee workers in Indonesia's West Timor. The resolution called on Indonesia to disarm and disband militias that have been terrorising refugees, restore law and order, ensure security in the refugee camps and prevent incursions into East Timor.

A council source said it was not certain whether the mission would visit Jakarta.

Indonesian-backed militias went on a rampage in East Timor after the population voted overwhelmingly in August 1999 to cut ties with Jakarta, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

Tens of thousands of refugees fled, or were forced to flee, to West Timor, which is part of Indonesia. Although many returned later to East Timor, more than 100,000 remain, largely at the mercy of the militias.

Foreign relief workers fled West Timor after a militia-led mob stormed an office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in the town of Atambua on Sept. 6, killing three U.N. employees and some 20 civilians.

The Security Council mission was invited to East Timor by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative there, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who heads the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

Indonesia refused to receive a council mission in West Timor immediately after the council adopted its September resolution, saying that would lead Indonesians to think their government could not handle domestic affairs.

But Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab, who had a private meeting with the Security Council on October 12, said a council mission would be welcome in mid-November because it would no longer investigate but observe Indonesian progress in disarming the militia.

The council mission will be headed by Ambassador Martin Andjaba of Namibia, who has been serving as council president for October.

The other participants will be Ambassadors Arnoldo Listre of Argentina, Hasmy Agam of Malaysia, Said Ben Mustapha of Tunisia and Volodymyr Yel'chenko of Ukraine -- who are their countries' U.N. permanent representatives -- as well as Ambassadors Stewart Eldon of Britain and Nancy Soderberg of the United States, who are both deputy permanent representatives.

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