MR. RAMOS-HORTA ON OFFICIAL VISIT
TO ALGERIA, UNITED STATES

José Ramos-Horta is leaving East Timor on Friday, 27 April, for a three-week trip to Australia, Algeria, the Netherlands and the United States. Mr. Ramos-Horta is scheduled to meet with the President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Boulteflika, during an official visit scheduled for the first week of May. On 16-17 May, Ramos-Horta will join CNRT President Xanana Gusmão and Bishop Belo in the Unites States for East Timor’s first official visit to the country, where they are scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Mr. Ramos-Horta is subsequently travelling to the Netherlands where he will meet members of the Dutch Parliament and the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Tentative plans have also been made to visit Canada. José Ramos-Horta returns to East Timor on 20 May and is temporarily replaced in the East Timor Transitional Cabinet by the Cabinet Member for Economic Affairs Mari Alkatiri. In related news, José Ramos-Horta was sworn in today as Cabinet Member for Foreign Affairs by the Acting Transitional Administrator, Jean-Christian Cady. Ramos-Horta resigned from the National Council yesterday to return to his former post in the Cabinet, stating that his skills would be of better use in the there. Ramos-Horta is expected to be replaced in the National Council by Paulo Assis, nominated by the CNRT.

AIDS WORKING GROUP ESTABLISHED

An all-Timorese Working Group on Sexually Transmitted Diseases/AIDS is being set-up by the Division of Health Service of the East Timor Transitional Administration. The group, consisting of twelve members from NGOs, the Church, women’s groups and medical associations, among others, will work as an advisory body for the Transitional Administration and the future Government in STD/AIDS prevention and care in East Timor. The members of the group will be formally nominated tomorrow, the last day of a two-day orientation workshop on AIDS prevention, held at the National Center for Health Education and Training in Dili. Some of the key issues addressed in the workshop include the role and responsibility of the Working Group, policy and program framework of AIDS prevention and care activities and lessons drawn from other countries combating AIDS.

TRAINING FOR NATIONAL COUNCIL MEMBERS

Ten members of the National Council are currently participating in a week-long training in administration. The course, which started yesterday at the Civil Service Academy, is focusing on public administration, civil service, personnel management, project planning, among other things. The training, open to all National Council members, is organized by the East Timor Civil Service Academy in conjunction with UNDP and the Institute of Public Administration of the Portuguese Government.

CONFISCATION OF ILLEGAL VIDEOS

The Border Service of the East Timor Transitional Administration and CivPol have begun to investigate the import and sales of illegal, pornographic video CDs in East Timor. The Border Service last week confiscated almost 150 VCDs with objectionable content at two private addresses and one VCD rental outlet in Dili. The Border Service found 200 pornographic VCDs last week when an East Timorese male was stopped in a checkpoint in Atabae, Maliana District. The VCDs are had been smuggled in from Indonesian West Timor. The investigation into this trade, illegal under the Indonesian penal code, is on-going.