EAST TIMORESE PREPARE TO VOTE IN FIRST DEMOCRATIC POLLS Voters throughout East Timor will head to the polls tomorrow in the country’s first democratic elections. SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello and other prominent non-contestants in the electoral campaign today visited districts throughout the country to encourage people to exercise their right to vote for the party of their choice and to respect the outcome of the process.

Voting will begin at 248 polling centers at 7 am and will continue until 4 pm. More than 1,000 national and international observers will be present at the polling stations. Today was a campaign-free “cooling down” period following the end of party campaigning yesterday.

Xanana Gusmão is scheduled to cast his vote in Manatuto district tomorrow morning, and Cabinet Minister for Foreign Affairs José Ramos-Horta will vote in the capital Dili. After voting, the SRSG will travel with Ramos-Horta to Bobonaro, Covalima, and Ainaro districts. Gusmão will travel with Deputy SRSG Dennis McNamara to Viqueque and Baucau districts.

Today the SRSG and Ramos-Horta visited Aileu and Manufahi districts. At the same time, Xanana Gusmão and McNamara visited Bobonaro and Oecussi districts.

Gusmão received a rapturous welcome in both Bobonaro and Oecussi, where residents hoisted him upon their shoulders. Gusmão encouraged those present to respect the outcome of the vote and to remember that in a democracy a government is responsible to the electorate.

Approximately 425,000 East Timorese are eligible to vote in the election, which will elect an 88-member Constituent Assembly that will have 90 days to write and adopt a Constitution for an independent and democratic East Timor.

UNTAET will tomorrow be opening a Special Election Press Center that will host daily press conferences until the final election results are announced on 10 September.

FIRST CROSS-BORDER TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION TALKS HELD

Members of the Steering Committee for the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CRTR) on Monday returned from Kupang and Jakarta in Indonesia where they took part in initial consultations on the Commission’s establishment with pro-autonomy supporters. In a press conference today, they announced that the initial talks had been encouraging.

Steering Committee members Jacinto Alves, Francisco Branco, Jose Estevão, and Aniceto Guterres, along with UNTAET Human Rights Unit head Pat Welsh, met pro-autonomy leaders including Filomeno Hornay, the head of the pro-autonomy umbrella group UNTAS.

The talks centered around the new Regulation establishing the CRTR, which was passed on 13 July. It is hoped that the CRTR, by facilitating the reconciliation process, will help encourage those East Timorese in West Timor refugee camps to return to East Timor.

The CRTR, which will be run by 5-7 yet to be chosen National Commissioners, will undertake two primary functions: it will establish a truth-seeking function and inquiring into the pattern of human rights violations in East Timor committed within the context of the political conflicts between 1974-1999. The commission will also create a community reconciliation body to facilitate agreements between local communities and the perpetrators of non-serious crimes and non-criminal acts committed over the same period.

It is hoped that the commission will create a fast, community based mechanism to deal with less serious crimes committed in 1999, thus freeing up East Timor’s criminal justice system to concentrate their limited resources on those perpetrators responsible for the most serious crimes.

Next month a Selection Panel made of 11 representatives from East Timorese society will conduct district consultations to hear nominations for National and District Commissioners. This panel will also consult with East Timorese still in West Timor. Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello will appoint the Commissioners based on recommendations from the Special Panel. It is expected that the CRTR will begin its work towards the end of this year.

UNTAET TO BID FAREWELL TO PKF FORCE COMMANDER

UNTAET will on Friday bid farewell to Force Commander Lt-Gen Boonsrang Niumpradit, from Thailand, who has been in overall charge of all peacekeeping forces in East Timor since July 21, 2000.

“General Boonsrang Niumpradit has demonstrated the best qualities we expect of a blue beret,” said Special Representative for the Secretary-General Sergio Vieira de Mello. “He leaves a job well done.”

“Under his command, UNTAET’s military has been singularly successful in achieving its core mandate: establishing, maintaining, and entrenching stability and peace in this country,” the SRSG added.

During Lt-Gen. Boonsrang’s command, militia activity in East Timor has been effectively halted. The rest of the country enjoyed calm and secure conditions, including during the election period.

New force commander Lt-Gen Winai Phattiyakul, also from Thailand, will take up his duties as of September 1, 2001. He arrived in East Timor on 28 August.

A change of command parade will be held at PKF headquarters in Dili on 31 August.