Sergio Vieira de Mello will visit Australia and New Zealand 22-27 October.
He will celebrate UN Day, 24 October, in Canberra and meet with the Australian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister. Vieira de Mello will also give a keynote speech at the National Capital Authority and attend a Remembrance Service at the Australian War Memorial in honor of United Nations Peacekeepers.
SRSG leaves Canberra for New Zealand on the evening of 24 October, where he is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Helen Clarke, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defense.
FIFTY SCHOOLS TO BE REHABILITATED
The first batch of school textbooks has arrived in East Timor from Indonesia. A total of 50,000 high school textbooks in mathematics, biology, chemistry, geography, economics, sociology and handicraft were shipped in by Indonesian publisher Ganeca last week.
The second batch of 500,000 books from other Indonesian publishers, as well as 54,000 Portuguese language books for all high school levels, are due to arrive later this week.
In other news from UNTAET’s Education Unit, school rehabilitation under the World Bank Emergency School Readiness Project will start this week. Initially, 50 priority schools across the territory will be rehabilitated. Project engineers and school headmasters will sign participation agreements for the reconstruction on Friday.
Some 300 schools are currently operational in the territory.
MILITIA LEAVES EAST TIMOR
Of the 120-150 militia members who have been operating within East Timor, at least 30 have returned to West Timor, Indonesia, according to assessments by the Peacekeeping Force.
There are also indications that other militia groups are attempting to return to West Timor. The latest Peacekeeping Force assessment is that there is a maximum of 100 militia inside East Timor at the moment. There is no change in the operational pattern of the militias, as they still avoid contact with Peacekeeping Forces and only come down from their hideouts in the pursuit of food.
The quality of the militia fighters varies, according to UNTAET’s Peacekeeping Force, with some members poorly equipped, while others are well armed and equipped and exhibit some degree of military-like training.
TENT CITY RENOVATIONS
Minor renovation works on the building that will house the future East Timorese National Council started today, 17 October.
Tent City, the building where part of the East Timorese Transitional Administration has been operating since last November – and where many UN staff lived and slept in the emergency phase of the mission – was vacated over the weekend.
The installation of the translation equipment started today. The equipment will allow for simultaneous translation of six languages and includes microphones – one for each of the 33 members of the National Council – and 50 headsets for the public.
VEHICLES DISTRIBUTED TO THE JUDICIARY
Thirteen vehicles have been distributed to the East Timor Judiciary. The move is part of an effort to facilitate working conditions for judicial staff.
The cars have been distributed to staff in the Court of Appeal, the District Courts in Dili, Baucau, Suai and Oecussi, and the offices of the Prosecutors and Public Defenders.
UNTAET will also provide the East Timor Judiciary with furniture, stationary and other equipment over the next two months.
UNTAET LAND AND PROPERTY TEAM RETURNS FROM INDONESIA
Representatives from UNTAET’s Land and Property Unit returned to East Timor last Saturday, 14 October, after the first formal meeting with Indonesian authorities in Indonesia regarding land and property issues.
The UNTAET delegation could, however, only obtain a few documents such as maps, information on land tax and information on transmigration programs in East Timor.
Prior to the visit, the delegation requested the Indonesian government to seek for copies of several different documents. The Indonesian representatives indicated that they would try to search for the requested documents and to provide copies to UNTAET as soon as possible.
The delegation had formal meetings with representatives from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Land Board, National Archives, Department of Finance, Department of Forestry and Department of Transmigration.
