Head of UN mission in East Timor meets Indonesian President to discuss border issues 30 March
30 March -- The head of UN mission in East Timor meets Indonesian President to discuss border issues 30 March -- The head of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) met the President of Indonesia in Jakarta today to discuss a legal agreement that would settle border-related issues on the island of Timor.
During the meeting, UNTAET chief Sergio Vieira de Mello briefed President Abdurrahman Wahid on his talks yesterday with Indonesian defense officials, with whom he had also discussed the Memorandum of Understanding on border issues. At Wednesday's meeting, the UNTAET official had met with Indonesian Minister of Defense, Juwono Sudarsono, and the Commander of the Indonesian army in West Timor, Major General Kiki Syahnakri.
Mr. Vieira de Mello will meet tomorrow with Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab to cover a wide range of topics that will include the border agreement, judicial cooperation between the two countries, scholarships for Timorese students in Indonesian universities and pension payments for former East Timorese civil servants under Indonesian rule.
In other news from East Timor, the UN mission today reported that a member of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) was killed yesterday during a fight between a group of ex-militia and the CNRT members who were in charge of guarding the group. Three other CNRT members and one ex-militia were hurt during the clash.
The nine former militia members had recently been moved from Dili to the southwestern town of Maubisse, and were being guarded by the CNRT while the peace-building process was under way. According to UNTAET, former militia members do community service within the country's reconciliation programmes before they are reintegrated in their original villages. This particular group was doing fieldwork in Ainaro District.
The local population captured eight of the nine ex-militia, but the one who committed the murder escaped, the UN mission said.
