Australian Foreign Minister foresees "seamless transition" from multinational force to UN
peacekeepers in East Timor.
2 November- With peace and security restored to East Timor there should be a "seamless transition"
between the international force and United Nations peacekeepers, the Australian Foreign Minister said
today.
Mr. Alexander Downer was speaking at a UN press briefing about his discussions yesterday with
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other top United Nations officials on the hand-over of peacekeeping
operations to the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).
In the wake of the violence that erupted after the 30 August independence referendum, maintenance of
security in the territory has been the responsibility of an Australian-led multinational force, INTERFET.
Australia appreciated the way the UN had handled the East Timor issue, Mr. Downer stressed, adding that
the target date for the hand over was some time between mid-January and early-February. His government
would continue to be very supportive of the UN operations in East Timor and provide financial assistance to
future humanitarian efforts, the Foreign Minister said.
Mr. Downer also met with the Secretary-General's Special Representative for East Timor, Sergio Vieria de
Mello, who will head UNTAET, and the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bernard
Miyet.
In East Timor meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today its staff were
still encountering difficulties at they tried to determine which people in the West Timorese camps dominated
by militia wanted to return to East Timor.
UNHCR staff received a hostile reception yesterday from militias in a camp in the Atambua region and
needed police intervention.
Today, UNHCR staff from Kupang, the capital of West Timor checked conditions in three camps in Soe
which house 6,000 refugees. UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said in Geneva that according to the
Indonesian government there were still 219,000 refugees in West Timor and up to 70 percent wanted to
return to East Timor. To date, some 36,800 people have returned from West Timor and other parts of the
Indonesian archipelago, including 12,700 who returned spontaneously from camps in West Timor.
Following the Indonesian military departure from East Timor this week, UNHCR estimates 250,000 to
300,000 displaced people will come down from the hills and they will need food and other relief materials.
