The first meeting of the new Cabinet of the Transitional Government in East Timor was held today, 17 July.
The cabinet members discussed a range of organizational issues including cabinet procedures, a code of conduct and frequency of meetings.
The meeting is an important step towards an independent East Timor and represents the first time in history that East Timorese leaders have participated as equal partners in the governing of their country.
The session follows the historic announcement and swearing in of East Timor’s transitional cabinet at UNTAET’s headquarters last Saturday, 15 July. The cabinet consists of eight members, four of whom are East Timorese and four international staff.
“We can from now on provide to the Timorese population as well as to our international partners one single point of entry; one single focal point in each of the main sectors of public activity to the government of East Timor,” SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello said after the ceremony.
The four international cabinet members are: Deputy SRSG Jean-Christian Cady, responsible for the portfolio of Police and Emergency Services; Judge Gita Honwana-Welch, responsible for Justice; Peter Galbraith responsible for Political Affairs and Michael Francino responsible for Finance.
The four Timorese cabinet members are: Judge Ana Pessoa, in charge of Internal Administration; João Carrascalão, responsible for Infrastructure; Father Filomeo Jacob, responsible for Social Affairs and Mari Alkatiri, in charge of Economic Affairs.
In addition, Mariano Lopes da Cruz was appointed Inspector-General for the Cabinet.
As soon as the necessary consultations are completed, announcement of the Deputy cabinet members will be made.
INDONESIAN INVESTIGATORS ARRIVE
The team from the Indonesian Attorney General’s Office, originally scheduled to arrive last Friday, is arriving in Dili on Wednesday, 19 July. The team will be accompanied by five Indonesian journalists, and is visiting East Timor to, if necessary, question witnesses and collect any resulting material evidence concerning the five priority criminal cases presented by the Indonesians.
The five cases are: the Liquica Church massacre, the Suai Church massacre, the attack on Manuel Carrascalao’s residence, the attack on Bishop Belo’s compound and the murder of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes.
The visit is the result of the first working-level meeting between UNTAET’s legal and political representatives and their Indonesian counterparts in Jakarta on 8 June.
The Indonesian team consists of 15 investigators, two legal advisers, two typists and two interpreters. The team will be in East Timor for 10 days.
AIDS REPORT CONDUCTED
A “HIV theme group” is in the process of being set up by UNTAET and United Nations Agencies. The group consists of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund, UNDP, the World Bank and representatives of UNTAET and PKF medical service.
This follows the release of an assessment report last week on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STI). The report was conducted by UNICEF and supported by UNFPA and UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.
The report reveals that although there is insufficient available information to assess the existence of an HIV epidemic, there is a worrying combination of most of the factors that can contribute to an epidemic developing in the near future.
This includes the presence of a wide range of STIs, low levels of HIV/AIDS/STI awareness, little prevention and care, rapidly increasing activity in male and female sex work, the beginnings of intravenous drug use, as well as cultural constraints to talking openly about sexual behaviour.
The newly formed group will look into recommendations of this and expected reports before taking appropriate action. Efforts, aimed mainly at youth groups and health staff, will focus on information campaigns to increase the awareness of the public about sexually transmitted diseases in general.
In addition, training of health staff on a national level in diagnosing and treating specific sexually transmitted diseases is planned.
LABOUR PARTY DEMONSTRATION
The East Timorese Labour Party, known as Partido Trabalhista, staged a rally in front UNTAET’s headquarters in Dili today. Party leaders demanded greater democracy in the transition period.
Around 60 of the party’s members and sympathizers attended the demonstration. Some of them carried banners, calling on UNTAET to cease negotiations with Jakarta and demanded compensation from Indonesia for the destruction of last September.
FALINTIL MEMBERS LEAVE AILEU CANTONMENT
Seventy-one Falintil fighters voluntarily left their cantonment in Aileu last week-end.
It is believed that the soldiers made their way to Los Palos and other areas to be with their families. Before leaving Aileu, the soldiers held discussions with CNRT President Xanana Gusmão and Falintil Vice-Commander Taur Matan Ruak.
Meanwhile, the King’s College team from London University, preparing a report on the future of Falintil for UNTAET, left for Maliana and Suai today.
The team leaves East Timor on Saturday, 22 July.
NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS TRAINING PROGRAMME
The National Tuberculosis Programme is currently training 22 health workers from various districts to become tuberculosis supervisors. Once the training has been completed, the trained staff will in turn train local health workers in their home districts.
Two tuberculosis trainers from the World Health Organization (WHO) are running the two-week training, focusing on the supervision of tuberculosis patients.
The National Tuberculosis Programme was operating in nine districts as at the end of June, with nearly 1,500 patients enrolled. By the end of July, all 13 districts will be covered by the programme.
This training is another step towards the establishment of a well functioning national tuberculosis programme.
A three-week bacteriology training course is currently on-going as well. The course will help establish diagnostic capacity in the country, which is currently not available and limits the capability of diagnosing infectious diseases.
The course, sponsored by WHO, AUSaid and the Darwin-based Menzies health school, started two weeks ago and will have a follow-up course next month.
The course is aimed at medical laboratory scientists at the UNTAET-run Central Health Laboratory.
