TWO NEW INSTITUTIONS TO FIGHT POVERTY APPROVED

The East Timorese Council of Ministers today approved the creation of two new institutions, a Foundation for the Reduction of Poverty in East Timor and a Society for Micro-finance in East Timor, following agreements between UNTAET and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed in December 2000.

The decision came after an ADB briefing to the Council on a micro-finance project that aims at developing East Timor and reducing its poverty.

The Council of Ministers however formally recommended that there be a larger proportion of East Timorese members on the Board of Trustees than proposed by the ADB.

The Council will now recommend to Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello that these institutions be brought into being by Executive Order.

In addition, the Council of Ministers also approved the programs and structures of the Ministries of Heath; Education; Culture, Youth and Sports; Finance and Transports and Communications. The Minister for Foreign Affairs also presented its organizational chart, which was approved. Today's fifth formal meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Second Transitional Government was chaired by Senior Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation José Ramos-Horta, who is the interim Chief Minister. Mari Alkatiri is currently in Portugal for an official visit before travelling to New York to participate in the open session of the United Nations Security Council on East Timor on 31 October.

McNAMARA, OTHMAN MEET THE PRESS AFTER JAKARTA MEETING

Acting SRSG Dennis McNamara and Special Advisor to the Prosecutor General Mohamed Othman today described as "generally positive" the meetings they attended with the Indonesian Attorney General Mohamad Abdurrahman and other justice officials in Jakarta last week.

"We had generally positive discussions with the Attorney General and his staff on a number of justice related issues," McNamara told journalists today, adding that a number of specific issues spanning as far back as 1975 were raised. "But there are many issues outstanding. We need much more active cooperation from the Indonesian side if we are going to make real progress," he added.

This first meeting between UNTAET officials and Abdurrahman in his new capacity as Attorney General focused on outstanding legal issues and continued cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting was a follow-up to the 12 September visit to Indonesia by SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello, Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri, Cabinet Member for Foreign Affairs José Ramos-Horta, and independence leader Xanana Gusmão during which they met with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and other senior Indonesian Government representatives.

The cases discussed last week included the murder of Dutch journalist Thunder Tones in September 1999; the killing of Private Devi Ram Yaishi, a Nepalese peacekeeper, in August 2000; the murder of five journalists in Balibo in 1975; attacks and murders in Dili in April 1999; the Suai and Liquiça church massacres in 1999; the murder of three UNHCR staff in West Timor last year; and the murder of Private Leonard Manning, a New Zealand Peacekeeper, in July last year.

In the case of the Tones murder, the Indonesian Attorney General's Office told the delegation that the investigation into the case is continuing, and that it was hoped the case would be brought to an ad hoc Human Rights Tribunal later this year.

McNamara said that the Indonesians were also making progress in the Manning case, and that UNTAET hoped the "killing of Private Yaishi will be investigated the same way the case of Manning has been."

The Acting SRSG added that his delegation had proposed that monthly meetings be held with the Indonesians in order to go through each of the cases in detail, and suggested the next meeting