NEW FORCE COMMANDER APPOINTED

Thailand’s Lt. Gen. Winai Phattiyakul has been appointed the new Force Commander for the Peacekeeping Force and will take up his duties as of 1 September, the United Nations announced yesterday in New York.

Lt. Gen. Winai will take over from the current Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Boonsrang Niumpradit, who is also from Thailand. Lt. Gen. Boonsrang has been serving with UNTAET since 21 July last year. On 31 August, the Peacekeeping Force will hold a changing of command parade at Peacekeeping Headquarters in Dili.

Lt. Gen. Winai currently holds the post of Director of Joint Intelligence in the Supreme Command Headquarters of the Thai Defence Ministry. A 1969 graduate of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy in Thailand, he has also received training at the United States Army’s Command and General Staff College. He holds several Thai military honors, was born in 1948 and is married with two sons and one daughter.

SRSG ATTENDS SALESIAN CONGRESS

SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello attended the fifth congress of former students of the St. John Bosco School in Fatumaca village in Baucau district today. The SRSG spoke to some 150 former Salesian students attending the congress on topics relating to the 30 August elections and the future of East Timor. He also met with the Bishop of Baucau Basilio do Nascimento.

The congress, which was inaugurated by Xanana Gusmão yesterday, closes tomorrow with the uncovering of a statue St. John Bosco in Fatumaca.

In other news, newly appointed Deputy SRSG Dennis McNamara visited the Oecussi enclave today for the first in a series of familiarization trips to various districts. McNamara met with the District Administrator, the District’s new Peacekeeping Commander, as well as with UNTAET/ETTA and peacekeeping staff.

The Deputy SRSG received a briefing by the District Administrator on the Oecussi Development Plan and other special issues related to the enclave’s special status and its relationship to the rest of East Timor.

CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSIONERS TO PRESENT REPORTS TO SRSG

Constitutional Commissioners will on Thursday present SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello with reports from each of East Timor’s districts on the issues that people would like to be considered by the future Constituent Assembly when drafting a Constitution.

At the ceremony to mark the event, representatives of the 78 commission members will present highlights of the main issues raised by the more than 37,000 people that turned out at the 200 public hearings held between 18 June and 14 July.

The Constitutional Commissions – which consist of between five and seven Commissioners, one Rapporteur and one Constitutional Adviser – held public hearings in each of East Timor’s 65 sub-districts.

Among the prevalent issues discussed at the hearings were the political system, currency, and flag East Timor should adopt; the type of punishments that should be applied to those responsible for serious crimes; the educational system; laws for foreign investors; how oil and gas revenue from the Timor Sea should be distributed; and the official language.

SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello will in turn present a report outlining the commission’s findings to the Constituent Assembly, which will be elected on 30 August, once it convenes in mid-September.