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The agreement signed Indonesia and the Netherlands on 15 August 1962,
provided for the administration of West New Guinea (West Irian) to be
transferred by the Netherlands to a United Nations Temporary Executive
Authority (UNTEA), to be headed by a United Nations Administrator. The
agreement also stipulated that the Secretary-General would provide a United
Nations Security Force (UNSF) to assist UNTEA with as many troops as the
United Nations Administrator deemed necessary. In "related understandings"
to the main agreement, it was established that United Nations personnel
would observe the implementation of the ceasefire that was to become effective
before UNTEA assumed authority.
Article VIII of the
Indonesian-Netherlands agreement stipulated the role and purpose of UNSF
in the following terms:
The Secretary-General
would provide the UNTEA with such security forces as the United Nations
Administrator deems necessary; such forces would primarily supplement
existing Papuan (West Irianese) police in the task of maintaining law
and order. The Papuan Volunteer Corps, which on the arrival of the United
Nations Administrator would cease being part of the Netherlands armed
forces, and the Indonesian armed forces in the territory, would be under
the authority of, and at the disposal of, the Secretary-General for
the same purpose. The United Nations Administrator would, to the extent
feasible, use the Papuan (West Irianese) police as a United Nations
security force to maintain law and order and, at his discretion, use
Indonesian armed forces. The Netherlands armed forces would be repatriated
as rapidly as possible and while still in the territory will be under
the authority of the UNTEA.
UNSF was thus essentially
an internal law and security force - the "police arm" of UNTEA
- whose responsibilities ranged from monitoring the ceasefire to ensuring
the smooth implementation of UNTEA's administrative mandate to supervising
the buildup of a viable, local police force.
© United Nations
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