RECONCILIATION MEETING IN AINARO

UNTAET Chief of Staff N. Parameswaran hosted a town hall meeting on reconciliation today in Ainaro. The event is part of a series of reconciliation meetings in different districts. More than 150 people attended from all four sub-districts. At today’s meeting the population of Ainaro was also consulted on the possible return of the militia leader Câncio Lopes de Carvalho and his brother Nemésio. The overall answer was that the district is ready to accept their return as long as both accept the results of 1999 popular consultation and face justice. Ainaro community leaders also expressed their desire to meet the former militia leaders at the border before they move back to the district. The Chief of Staff met Lopes de Carvalho and other militia leaders on his last visit to Kupang, West Timor, on 19 January. In the meeting, Lopes de Carvalho expressed his desire to return to East Timor. Mr. Lopes de Carvalho has since written a letter to UNTAET in which he states that he wishes to return and live in East Timor and that he accepts the result of the popular consultation of August 1999. He also said that he accepts that East Timor will be an independent country and that he is willing to face justice and help in the reconstruction of the country.

FIRST FORMAL MEETING OF JOINT BORDER COMMITTEE

At the first formal meeting of the Joint Border Committee, UNTAET raised the question of compensation by the Government of Indonesia for the destruction and damage done in East Timor in 1999, including the private property of ordinary East Timorese. The meeting, on Tuesday and Wednesday, agreed on the need for a comprehensive solution covering all these claims. In addition, upon the request of the UNTAET/East Timor Transitional Administration delegation, the Indonesia delegation agreed to ask the Kupang Museum whether it has any items from the Dili Museum, and if so, what items. The UNTAET/ETTA delegation agreed to continue the search for the 12-volume catalogue of the contents of the Dili Museum and asked the Indonesian Government to do the same. The Joint Border Committee was established in September to deal with practical issues or problems of a cross border nature. UNTAET and the Indonesian authorities also presented the compositions and membership of their respective National Border Committees. The meeting further acknowledged the need for a special arrangement for people living close to the border. The participants agreed in principle that people living within a specified distance to the border would have a special border pass that would allow them to cross the border at any point along the border, subject to certain regulations, such as travelling only within specified areas on the other side and conducting only customary activities.

PORTUGUESE PARLIAMENTARIAN EXPERTS ARRIVE IN DILI

Three Portuguese Parliamentarian experts arrived in Dili yesterday tasked with assisting the East Timor National Council to set up the future East Timor Assembly. The experts, expected to stay for six months, were sent by the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic. Their expertise lay in international relations, standing committees, infrastructure and local authority, among other things. This mission is a follow-up of the protocol signed by the President of the Portuguese Assembly António de Almeida Santos and National Council Speaker Xanana Gusmão during Mr. Santos’s official visit to East Timor last November.

EAST TIMORESE INTERVIEWED TO STAFF DEPARTMENTS

East Timorese candidates are being interviewed for positions in departments such as Health, Education, Roads, Postal Services and Information Technology, Post and Telecommunication, Border Control and Central Administrative Service. Over 700 positions are expected to be filled before the end of the first quarter of 2001. Some fifteen vacancies for various positions, mainly the upper levels of the civil service, have being posted. These include the Head of Telecommunication, Cabinet Secretary and its Deputy Secretary, and the Head of Education.