CABINET AGREES TO PRIORITY LIST PROCESS

The East Timor Transitional Cabinet today agreed to a process for managing the Unfunded Priority List for donor assistance. The List includes US$60 million of priority projects, and is the basis upon which donor assistance is to be sought and accepted. The list is designed to ensure that donor funds are directed to East Timor’s highest national priorities. As part of this process, the Cabinet agreed that all project agreements on the list for bilateral and multilateral funding above a financial limit of US$100,000 shall be presented to the Cabinet for approval. The East Timorese Transitional Cabinet in November agreed to a revised list of unfunded priority projects for which donor assistance would be sought, including teachers, reconstruction of additional class rooms and capacity building activities. The list would be maintained and updated on a monthly basis by the National Planning and Development Agency (NPDA), in consultation with the Central Fiscal Authority, and presented to the Cabinet for approval, if changed. The bilateral assistance would only be sought and accepted on the basis of the list. The Cabinet also agreed that the NPDA would formally assume responsibility for coordinating the Transitional Administration’s relations with the NGO community in East Timor. A working group, led by the NPDA, will be established to advance consideration of an interim country agreement that would seek to formalize the status of NGO operations during the transitional period. The Cabinet also discussed progress against the key benchmarks for the Transitional Administration to achieve a successful transition to an independent East Timor. These benchmarks were presented at the December 2000 donors meeting in Brussels. Finally, the Cabinet approved, in principle, the formal establishment of the Prison Service of East Timor and a Legal Aid Service for East Timor, and directed the finalization of draft regulations to establish these vital justice services. Once these draft regulations are finalized and approved by the Cabinet, they will be submitted to the National Council, for its consideration.

STORM HITS AINARO, KILLS ONE

The Civilian Police, the Peacekeeping Force and UNTAET civilian staff have been deployed to help the population of Ainaro district to mitigate the effects of a heavy storm that hit the district yesterday night. A young girl died in the village of Leotila today after a tree fell on a house she was in and over 22 houses have been destroyed. There is no supply of water in Ainaro town and the power supply has been turned off since electric poles and transmission wires are hanging dangerously near residential areas. Contingency plans have been made by the District Administration and the Church to take care of people made homeless in the storm. The newly established National Disaster Management Office today coordinated an urgent visit to the district to conduct a disaster assessment and will send a team to Ainaro tomorrow morning.