SVM:

US Dollar New Official Currency of East Timor, Central Payments Office Established

UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello today signed Regulation 2000/7 which establishes the United States dollar as the official currency of East Timor.

According to the regulation, contracts between different parties can still be executed in any currency they agree upon, but compulsory payments owed to any public authority in East Timor will be paid in US dollar. Indonesian rupiah may also be used to make such payments in the transitional period, until decided otherwise by the Transitional Administrator. Payments in rupiah will, however, be subject to a transaction fee to be determined.

The regulation was adopted by the National Consultative Council at its special session held on Saturday. It was signed today, following the contacts with the governments of USA and Portugal in order to inform them before the decision was made public.

Following a special session of the National Consultative Council on Saturday, UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello also signed Regulation 2000/6 establishing East Timor’s Central Payments Office.

The Central Payments Office, which is to ultimately become East Timor’s Central Bank, is an institution crucial to efficient payments and a sound banking system in East Timor.

The responsibilities of the Central payments Office include procedures for payments in the legal tender and foreign currencies; facilitation of payments and storage facilities to the central Fiscal Authority of East Timor and foreign governments and banks, foreign monetary authorities and international institutions; ensuring an adequate supply of bank notes and coins of the legal tender. The Central payments Office will also license supervise and issue instructions and guidelines to banks in East Timor.

A General Manager, and deputies for supervision and payments, who are to be appointed by UN Transitional Administrator, will manage the Central Payments Office. The General Manager will be chief executive officer of the Office and will be in charge of day-to-day operations, have authority to take all actions required for administration and operation

UNTAET Peacekeeping Force

Filipino Lieutenant General Jaime de los Santos will arrive in Dili tomorrow to take up his post of the Commander of UNTAET Peacekeeping Force.

The transition from INTERFET to UNTAET Peacekeeping Force (PKF) has already started, but the first physical transfer will happen on the 1st of February, when the troops in the four eastern regions will became UNTAET. The transition is expected to be completed by 28 February 2000.

Twenty three nations will contribute forces to the approximately 8500 strong UNTAET PKF. In addition to the 19 nations of INTERFET, forces of Bangladesh, Chile, Pakistan and Portugal will arrive in the country and join the force in early February.

An estimated 70% of UNTAET troops will transition from INTERFET. The majority of the forces will continue to operate in their present areas of responsibility with roles and mandate virtually identical to INTERFET. This means that the expertise and experience built by INTERFET will be passed on to UNTAET Peacekeeping Force.

The PKF Headquarters will have representatives of each of the 23 nations, and will assume control of Komoro Airfield Support Group and the responsibility for airspace management.

Like Interfet, the PKF will continue to work on Humanitarian Assistance, mainly on distribution of food, internal displaced persons and repair of infrastructure.

Force Contributing Nations:
Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Portugal, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand.

(This list does not include UN Military Observer Group contributors)

Program Launched to Combat Tuberculosis in East Timor
The new East Timor national plan for combating tuberculosis has been launched in Dili on Friday trough a seminar on TB control organized by UNTAET, WHO and Caritas.

The National TB Control Program for East Timor will combine an immunization program and a program of treatment of infectious cases. Caritas will be the implementing agency, with Dili, Baucau and Lospalos being the first districts with clinics providing services envisaged in the Program.

Reason for such phased implementation of the Program is the lack of medical facilities sufficiently equipped to perform necessary tests and treatments. The seminar held on 21 and 22 January was organized to collect information on existing facilities in the regions, and improvements needed to enable medical institutions to implement the program. According to the Program, it is expected that all the regions will have clinics or hospitals equipped to work on TB by the end of the year.

The medicine needed for combating TB through the program is being purchased by Caritas of Norway and the shipment is expected to arrive in Dili in the first week of February.

Human Rights Workshop in Maliana

A workshop on human rights organized by UNTAET District Administration of Bobonaro will be held in Maliana this Wednesday and Thursday (26-27 January). Around 200 local residents, East Timor Human Rights Commission members and NGO representatives are expected to participate in the two-day workshop which will be opened by the Director of UNTAET Human Rights Division, Sydney Jones.

Subjects to be discussed during the workshop include method of investigation of human rights violations; differentiation between individual and collective responsibility in human rights abuses; and the levels of jurisdiction, domestic and international, in dealing with HR violations. The moderators of different discussion subjects will be professionals from UNTAET Human Rights Division and CIVPOL, and Yaysan Hak, a local human rights organization.

Arrival of UNTAET’s Chief of Staff and Director of Political Affairs

Peter Galbraith, a distinguished American diplomat, joined UNTAET as the new Director of Political Affairs Division. Mr. Galbraith is a former member of the staff of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and a former US Ambassador to Croatia.

UNTAET’s new Chief of Staff, Nagalingam Parameswaran of Malaysia is a former Ambassador of Malaysia to Vietnam. Prior to joining UNTAET, he served as the Director-General of the ASEAN national secretariat in the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.