Security Council urges Indonesia to help end cross-border attacks
in East Timor
3 August -- Condemning last week's murder of a United Nations soldier in East Timor, the Security Council today called on the Government of Indonesia to cooperate closely with the UN to end cross-border incursions from West Timor and to disarm the militias still operating in the border area.
The call, which came in a presidential statement at a formal meeting on East Timor this morning, also urged Indonesian authorities to disband the militias in West Timor and bring to justice those guilty of crimes.
Expressing its sympathy to the Government and people of New Zealand, the home country of the peacekeeper killed in East Timor on 24 July, the Council welcomed the recent establishment of a joint investigation between Indonesian authorities and the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) to look into the incident.
On the issue of East Timorese refugees, the Council expressed its "profound concern" at the continuing presence of large numbers of Timorese refugees in West Timor, as well as the intimidation by militia towards the refugee population and staff of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Calling for "a more determined involvement" by Indonesia in dealing with these problems, the Council urged the Indonesian authorities to restore law and order and ensure the protection of refugees and humanitarian personnel in West Timor. It also called on them to separate former military personnel, police and civil servants from the refugees and to arrest those militia extremists trying to sabotage the resettlement process.
The Council acknowledged that Indonesia has approached the challenges in West Timor with an attitude of cooperation -- illustrated through the agreements it has signed with the UN on border and security issues -- but regretted that "serious problems persist" and looked forward to these agreements being translated into "concrete progress."
Noting that the National Council of Timorese Resistance -- an umbrella group of political parties in East Timor -- was advocating the creation of a national security force, the Council welcomed the work being done on the territory's future defence needs and urged the East Timorese to conduct a broad discussion of the issue.
In other news, a Bangladeshi UN peacekeeper was killed today and a second slightly wounded by the blast of an unexploded ordnance during a clean-up operation at one of Dili's beaches. The area had been sealed off on 1 July when unexploded ordnance wounded three Portuguese peacekeepers. UNTAET has established a Board of Inquiry to investigate the incident.
