(ANTARA) Friday, October 27 4:08 PM SGT UN Delegation to Visit E Timor, Indonesia on Nov 9 18

NEW YORK, Oct 27 Asia Pulse - A delegation will be sent by the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] to visit East Timor and Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province on Nov 9-18, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

The delegation will observe the progress of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor [UNTAET] in preparing East Timor for independence, Eckhard said.

It will also evaluate the implementation of UN Resolution 1319 which demands that the Indonesian government disarm and disband the pro-Jakarta militia in East Nusa Tenggara, he added.

According to him, the UNSC delegation will consist of seven ambassadors to be led by Ambassador Martin Andjaba of Namibia.

The members of the delegation are Amoldo Listre of Argentina, Hasmy Agam of Malaysia, Said bin Mustapha of Tunisia, Volodymyr Yelchenko of the Ukraine, Stewart Eldon of the United Kingdom, and Nancy Sodenberg of the United States.

"The visit to East Timor is in response to the invitation from UNTAET chief, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and (Indonesia's) Foreign Affairs Minister Alwi Shihab," Eckhard said.

He however did not elaborate on whether or not the delegation will visit Jakarta.

There are some 100,000 East Timorese refugees still staying in camps near the border between East Timor and East Nusa Tenggara.

The Indonesian government's task to handle these refugees has become more difficult since the UN High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] stopped its operation in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, following the attack launched against the UN office which killed three foreign staff members.

The UNSC originally planned to send a mission to Atambua to investigate the incident, but this was rejected by Jakarta which saw it as intervention in its domestic affairs.

Foreign Affairs Minister Shihab, in his meeting with the UNSC last Oct 12, invited the UN mission to come to East Nusa Tenggara in November.

"The visit of the UN mission is not aimed at conducting an investigation, but at seeing Indonesia's progress in disarming the militia. This is a friendly visit and not an intervention," Shihab said.

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