Security Council mission visits East Timor area
worst hit by post-referendum chaos
13 November -- The delegation of the United Nations Security Council, currently on a mission to East Timor to review the work of the UN operation in the newly independent territory and to assess security in the region, reaffirmed today its keen interest in the repatriation of refugees from West Timor.
The seven-member delegation focused on the issue of repatriation during a briefing by UN officials in the town of Suai, in the southwestern district of Covalima, one of the regions most affected by last year's post-referendum violence.
The Council delegates met today with the District Administrator and his East Timorese Deputy, as well as UN Civilian Police, Military Observers, UN peacekeepers and representatives from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). According to the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the delegates were told that the few East Timorese refugees coming back to the Suai region reported that the militia continued to intimidate refugees in West Timor camps.
The Council mission, which is led by Ambassador Martin Andjaba of Namibia and includes representatives from Argentina, Malaysia, Tunisia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States, also visited the site of the 6 September Suai Church Massacre and participated in a town hall meeting at a newly constructed Peace and Reconciliation Centre. Opening the meeting, Ambassador Andjaba told the group that "we are here to listen to your problems and the objective is one - have you achieve your aspirations for freedom and independence."
"When you talk of reconciliation, you should also think of justice," he added. "Justice must be done. Those who committed crimes against humanity must be brought to justice."
Returning to the capital, Dili, the delegation met with representatives of international and local non-governmental organizations, Timorese community leaders involved in reconciliation initiatives, as well as East Timorese political leaders including Xanana Gusmao and Nobel Laureate José Ramos-Horta.
Yesterday, on the first day of their visit, the Council members held a series of briefings with UNHCR and UNTAET representatives, as well as members of the Transitional Cabinet, to discuss the territory's preparedness to receive refugees from West Timor, the security situation in East Timor, reconciliation, the justice system, human rights, and law and order.
