[Kabar-indonesia] 'Substantial' UN police presence needed in restive East Timor: Envoy

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

'Substantial' UN police presence needed in restive East Timor: Envoy

UNITED NATIONS, July 20 (AFP) - UN special envoy Ian Martin stressed the need 
for a "substantial" UN police presence in volatile East Timor to create the 
conditions for credible parliamentary and presidential elections next year.

Martin, whom UN chief Kofi Annan sent on a fact-finding tour of the tiny 
territory on May 31 to help conflicting parties address their grievances, briefed 
the Security Council on recommendations for a new UN mission that will be 
detailed in a report due out next month.

"We have not talked numbers yet. It's a matter for the report," Martin said. 
But he stressed that the police force "will need to be substantial initially 
as long as elections place a premium on security."

Asked when the UN force could take over from the Australian-led force 
currently ensuring security, Martin said the UN could take over responsibility from 
the very beginning of the mandate of the new mission "on the basis of police 
elements already there."

He said police elements in the international force -- made up of contingents 
from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal -- might be willing 
"initially at least" to be part of the new UN force.

Around 3,200 foreign peacekeepers, led by Australia, have been patrolling the 
Timorese capital Dili since May after factional fighting erupted in East 
Timor's security forces and ethnic gangs began battling on the streets, in 
violence that left at least 21 people dead.

"It's important that conditions are created for credible parliamentary and 
presidential elections in early 2007," Martin told reporters, adding that the 
international community must also recognize that its commitment "has to be a 
sustained one."

Next month, Annan is to produce a report with recommendations for a new UN 
mission when the mandate of UNOTIL, the current UN mission in East Timor, 
expires August 20.

Martin said Timorese leaders were hoping that the UN would take over from the 
Australian-led international force responsibility "to maintain law and order 
directly in the short term and work again on the long-term development of 
Timorese police."

East Timor sank into chaos after Prime Minister Mari Alkatari in April fired 
600 soldiers, nearly half the tiny nation's army, following complaints of 
discrimination because they came from the country's west.

A UN administration and security forces numbering in the thousands ran East 
Timor after the tiny nation voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999 until 
2002. Only 
a skeleton UN team has remained.

------------------------------------------
Joyo Indonesia News Service
------------------------------------------