Funds needed urgently to avert strife in East Timor, head of UN mission tells Security Council
4 February - The head of the United Nations mission in East Timor warned members of the Security Council today that funds were needed immediately to avoid an outbreak of social strife in the territory.
Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello said that since projects to be funded through the World Bank would not begin for some time, the UN Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) faced several months during which it would be unable to begin badly needed reconstruction projects.
"UNTAET faces a gap in time which may well result in the perception amongst East Timorese during the next few months that little is being done to repair infrastructure," he told the Security Council, explaining that advance disbursements against the World Bank Fund and generous bilateral contributions would be essential in preventing social unrest.
Mr. Vieira de Mello described the unprecedented scope of the United Nations responsibility in East Timor and said the UN was being called upon to administer and govern a country which was starting from nearly nothing in terms of resources. He said 80 per cent of the population in East Timor was without means of support and that there existed no local mechanism for maintaining law and order.
"In East Timor's interior districts," Mr. Vieira de Mello said, "law and order is of increasing concern as public security is being undermined by a rising crime rate which reflects, in large part, the widespread unemployment and the disruptions to the education and social systems that have left many youth idle."
Die-hard militia leaders must also be deprived of their political base, he said. To do so, political dialogue would have to be strengthened with pro-autonomy, pro-integrationist groups outside East Timor, to reassure them that if they opted for democratic means, they could engage in normal political activities in East Timor.
Mr. Vieira de Mello said UNTAET would focus over the next six months on ensuring the physical security of all East Timorese and their access to a fair judicial system, supporting UNHCR in repatriating refugees, establishing administrative structures and relaunching basic services such as health, education, and access to electricity and water.
On the subject of human rights, Mr. Vieira de Mello said UNTAET had taken the lead in coordinating investigations of past abuses and would have to collect, catalogue and guard the evidence collected in the various inquiries, including the recently released Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor.
In an exchange that followed Mr. Vieira de Mello's presentation in the Security Council, speakers welcomed positive developments, including the establishment of the National Consultative Council, steps taken towards national reconciliation and efforts to ensure good relations between East Timor and Indonesia. However, they also acknowledged that many serious and complex problems were yet to be addressed.
