Indonesia agrees to facilitate UN probes into post-referendum violence
3 November -- The Government of Indonesia has agreed to a number of requests made by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) regarding investigations into serious crimes committed in the territory last year.
In talks this week with UNTAET Prosecutor-General Mohammed Othman, Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman agreed "in principle" to the mission's request to interview 39 selected witnesses in Indonesia, the UN mission said in a statement issued today in Dili.
At the same meeting, Mr. Darusman agreed "in principle" to the joint exhumation of about ten bodies suspected to be buried in West Timor, near the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi. The UN mission suspects the bodies are the remains of people killed in September 1999 by the Sakunar militia group near Passabe.
Indonesian authorities also agreed to help UNTAET compare and crosscheck a number of documents that could serve as evidence in future trials.
Meanwhile, a project to develop an environmental policy for East Timor will be launched next week by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Norwegian Government and UNTAET's Environment Protection Unit. A team of experts from Norway and the Philippines is to arrive in Dili to help local experts carry out a four-month study of East Timor's environmental problems. The team's subsequent report will be the "first step" towards an overall policy for the territory, the UN Mission said.
In other news, National Immunization Days will be launched tomorrow in East Timor to vaccinate over 100,000 children under the age of five against polio. About 600 vaccination posts - primarily refurbished health centers - will be operational for a period of one month.
