East Timor Cabinet endorses proposal on future defence force
20 December--
The East Timor Cabinet today endorsed a proposal giving legal status to a future defence force and
establishing an Office of Defence Force Development within the territory's transitional government, the United Nations Mission in that country said in a statement issued today in Dili. The proposal, which was endorsed during the Transitional Cabinet's last session of the year, stipulates that the legal status is to be granted through the drafting of a regulation that will be closely considered by the Cabinet's Legislation Committee, according to the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The regulation will underline key elements, such as how the defence force will function and to whom the Chief of the force will be accountable, the UN mission said, adding that the proposal will be further considered when the Cabinet resumes its meetings in January.
In other news from Timor island, about 450 East Timorese refugees are scheduled to arrive in Dili from Indonesia on 22
December for a Christmas visit organized by UNTAET and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The refugees, from camps in the vicinity of Kupang, West Timor, will go to their home districts on 23 December. After the visits, those who wish to return permanently will be brought back to East Timor in mid-January. In a separate operation, 14 refugees will travel by helicopter tomorrow from the East/West Timor border to Baucau for a one-day "come and see" visit. "It is hoped that the visits will promote additional refugee returns," UNTAET officials said.
