Asia Times: UN approves massive Timor peacekeeping force



	October 27, 1999	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

UN approves massive Timor peacekeeping force
By Farhan Haq

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council has committed the United Nations to the interim administration of East Timor and voted unanimously to send more than 10,000 peacekeeping troops to the Pacific island state.

The 15-nation council gave the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (Untaet) a mandate to maintain law and order in the former Indonesian province, as well as to set up an effective administration, social services and political and development infrastructure.

To achieve those goals, Untaet was authorized to deploy up to 8,950 soldiers, 200 military observers and 1,640 civilian police officers in East Timor. The troops, forming one of the largest UN peacekeeping forces in several years, also were authorized under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter to use ''all necessary measures'', including military means, to perform their tasks. The mission will be headed by a special transitional administrator, who will ''have the power to enact new laws and regulations and to amend, suspend or repeal existing ones''.

The council set an intitial 15-month term for Untaet, lasting until January 31, 2001. The mission is expected to be deployed within the next two to three months, UN officials said, with UN Under Secretary-General Sergio Vieira de Mello as its first administrator. Until that time, security in East Timor will remain the responsibility of the 16-nation International Force (Interfet) led by Australia, involving more than 7,000 troops, which has been operative for the past month.

Several Interfet contributors, including Australia and New Zealand, emphasized that they will continue to provide troops to Untaet even after Interfet has handed its mission over to the UN force. ''Australia looks forward to the time when the multinational force in East Timor will hand over its duties to the military component of Untaet,'' said Australian Ambassador Penny Wensley. Michael Powles, New Zealand's ambassador, said that there were compelling ''symbolic and practical'' reasons to replace Interfet with the UN force as quickly as possible.

Australia has been under particular pressure from Asian nations to cut back its forces, which number more than 4,500. They have been accused of using excessive force.

Indonesian Ambassador Makmur Widodo urged Untaet to act impartially in East Timor and cautioned that ''self-righteous attitudes have proved . . . to be of no relevance in rectifying the situation but rather could exacerbate the situation''.

Widodo dismissed what he called ''unverified and often exaggerated reports of human rights violations'' in which pro-Indonesia militias and their Indonesian military allies were accused of widespread atrocities following the August 30 self-determination ballot. ''Allegations of mass killings have not been supported with even a shred of credible evidence,'' he claimed.

Yet Interfet troops have uncovered evidence of killings of Timorese independence supporters, largely blamed on the militias. UN officials estimate that, in the aftermath of the overwhelming vote for independence, some 500,000 of the more than 850,000 East Timorese were forced to flee their homes, and hundreds of thousands are still living in camps in the Indonesian province of West Timor.

The scale of atrocities, and the muted response to the violence by many Asian states, prompted concern among East Timorese leaders over any Asian role in Untaet. Jose Ramos Horta, a Timorese Nobel laureate and pro-independence activist, warned recently that if Asian nations were not more forceful in their stance with Jakarta, ''we don't want them''.

Bernard Miyet, the UN Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, said that the United Nations, however, was trying to get support for Untaet from as many Asian countries as possible. In particular, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), including Malaysia and the Philippines, are expected to contribute troops.

''We will establish the mission as quickly as we can,'' Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. UN officials are negotiating with countries to obtain the necessary resources for the mission, Annan added.

The approval of the East Timor mission came just three days after the Security Council unanimously approved the creation of a 6,000-soldier peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone. The two new missions more than doubled the number of UN troops and police deployed worldwide, Miyet noted. In recent years, UN peacekeeping missions had shrunk, from more than 70,000 troops deployed in the mid-1990s to about 14,000 earlier this year.

(Inter Press Service)

back to the top

©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.