EAST TIMORESE CABINET AGREES ON TRAFFIC POLICY

The East Timor Transitional Cabinet today agreed to a policy to establish a road traffic regime for the country, replacing the current Indonesian traffic laws. The new regime would provide a unified system governing traffic rules through a regulation and directive. This will support the work of police and traffic wardens, as well as providing drivers with clear guidelines and responsibilities. The regime will respond better to the post-conflict environment of East Timor than the current, complex mix of Indonesian laws, which apply under UNTAET Regulation 1999/1. Furthermore, all the Indonesian institutions that supported their traffic laws, such as driver licensing, insurance, vehicle registration, no longer exist. The Cabinet also requested the Deputy Transitional Administration to discuss with the Speaker of the National Council the legal process of establishing the East Timor Defence Force. Finally, the Cabinet was briefed by Peter Galbraith, Cabinet member for Political Affairs, on the negotiations between East Timor and Australia on the Timor Sea.

SRSG AND WEST TIMOR COMMANDER DISCUSS REFUGEE RETURNS

UNTAET SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello met the new Udayana (Bali and West Timor) Commander General Williem da Costa for the first time yesterday, in Denpasar, Indonesia. The two-hour meeting, in which Force Commander Lt. General Boonsrang Niumpradit and Chief of Staff N. Parameswaran also took part, focused on the return of refugees from West Timor. General da Costa stressed that he had been assigned the task of securing the border between the two countries and returning the refugees, and intended to carry out this task efficiently. The General further said that he would continue to work closely with UNTAET, the Indonesian Government’s task force on refugees and those pro-autonomy leaders whom he found to be reliable. After the meeting, SRSG traveled to New York, where he is scheduled to brief the United Nations Security Council on Friday, 26 January.