Un abandons East Timor

[Other News - Roberto Savio / IPS <soros@topica.email-publisher.com>]

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U.N. Plans Pullout from East Timor
By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Feb (IPS) - The United Nations is planning to withdraw its
3,500 peacekeepers from East Timor in May despite
calls from the government in Dili and civil society groups that the body's work
in the world's newest country is not finished.

''Certainly, the United Nations did not complete its job of readying Timor
fully
to manage its affairs, and any expertise the
government requests should be provided to finish that transition,'' says
John M.
Miller, media and outreach coordinator for the East
Timor Action Network (ETAN).

Miller, whose group was one of the earliest non-governmental organisation
(NGOs)
to campaign for an independent East Timor, said
there are worries about possible sinister plans by neighbouring Indonesia,
which
virtually colonised the territory when it annexed
East Timor as its 27th province in 1976.

In May 2002, East Timor became an independent nation.

The mandate of the U.N. Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) expires May
20.

The mission, which was created in May 2002, also has 495 civilian police, 439
international civilian staff and 890 local staff. Its
annual budget is about 195 million U.S. dollars.

Ambassador Jose Luis Guterres, the permanent representative of East Timor
to the
United Nations, said his government has formally
requested that a battalion of U.N. peacekepers -- about 800 soldiers -- remains
after the mandate expires.

''We have also requested for U.N. advisers on finance, police, economics and
justice. We need U.N. assistance to consolidate the
process of national reconciliation and for a stable country,'' he told IPS on
Tuesday.

In an interview, Miller warned, ''Indonesia seems to be testing East Timor now
that the peacekeepers have pulled back from the
border areas à they recently bombed a disputed island to help assert their
claim.''

''Some strong signal needs to be sent to Indonesia and the remaining militia
that Timor must not be pushed around,'' he added.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters last week, ''obviously, all
peacekeeping operations do come to an end at one time
or another. What we want to do is to be able to make sure that the gains we
have
made are not lost when we withdraw.''

Annan also said the world body plans to send a team to East Timor to assess the
situation. ''We will be looking at objective
achievements we made to determine how to withdraw, when to withdraw and what
sort of follow-up mission will be established in East
Timor.''

Asked if he envisages the possibility of rioting, such as that which followed
the independence referendum in 1999, Annan said,
''honestly, I have not received any reports that the dramatic events and the
tragic events that you refer to are likely to be
repeated.''

The United Nations is ''working very hard'' to train East Timorese police and
security forces, ''who will be able to sustain or
maintain law and order and the efforts that we have made'', he added.

And even if the United Nations decides to withdraw its peacekeepers in May,
Annan said, it is quite likely a ''follow-up mission''
will remain in East Timor to assist the government.

Guterres said Dili did not say how long U.N. advisers and peacekeepers should
remain in the country. "We have left everything to the
U.N. Secretariat and the Security Council to work out the technical details.''

''The healing process takes time -- and the presence of the United Nations will
help,'' he added.

In a letter to Annan last year, the Dili-based East Timor Institute for
Reconstruction, Monitoring and Analysis warned that the
United Nations has not yet finished the task it is mandated to perform.

''East Timor is now politically independent, but dependencies caused by
past and
current international ineffectiveness still
abound,'' the letter added.

''If the international community intends to keep its promises, an international
presence will be needed in East Timor after June
2004."

The letter added, ''many in the U.N. community think of East Timor as one
of the
organisation's great success stories. But if that
success is to be more than mere mythology, many adjustments and much work
remains to be done.''

At a press conference in Dili last month, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta
told
reporters he was convinced the United Nations would
continue its mandate in some form beyond May.

''The United Nations has invested so much in East Timor that I am convinced
they
will maintain a visible and credible presence'', he
said, adding the ''conditions of security and peace (in East Timor) are still
fragile.''

The 15-member U.N. Security Council is expected to meet Feb. 20 to discuss the
future of UNMISET.

Along with UNMISET, the United Nations also created a joint U.N.-East Timorese
special court to investigate and indict those accused
of committing '''serious crimes'' after 1999.

Since the court has very limited powers, more than two-thirds of those who have
been indicted have not been prosecuted. As a result,
there have been demands for an international criminal tribunal.

Millers said the U.N. Secretariat is probably agreeable on a short extension as
are most members of the Security Council, ''although
I imagine France, the United States and some others don't want something
too big
or expensive.''

''Everyone I've talked to sees something after May 20, but the exact shape is
still being discussed,'' Miller added.

At the same time some groups are pushing for the creation of an international
criminal tribunal to investigate the serious crimes
and human rights violations committed during Indonesia's occupation of East
Timor.

The East Timor National Alliance for an International Tribunal, a coalition of
mostly local and international NGOs, said in a Jan.
15 letter to the United Nations that the primary responsibility lies with the
international community.

''We are, however, disillusioned by the half-hearted support for justice shown
thus far, and offer some suggestions for post-UNMISET
involvement by the United Nations, which can help end immunity for perpetrators
of crimes against our people and against humanity
between 1975 and 1999.''

East Timor, the alliance said, is a new, small and impoverished nation with a
flawed judicial system. ''It would be unreasonable and
unrealistic to expect our government alone to pursue justice.''

''Yet justice must be pursued, holding accountable the masterminds and
commanders of atrocities committed against our people during
(former Indonesian president) Suharto regime's brutal invasion and 24-year
occupation of our country.''
*****
+East Timor Action Network (http://www.etan.org)
+U.N. Mission of Support in East Timor
(http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unmiset/)
+East Timor Institute for Reconstruction, Monitoring and Analysis
(http://www.etan.org/lh/)

(END/IPS/


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