East Timor: Dili Wants UN To Stay 'Indefinitely' - Ramos Horta 19 Jan-13:36

East Timor's chief diplomat, Jose Ramos Horta, said Friday he would ask the UN Security Council to extend the mandate of the territory's UN transition administration by one year.

In addition, Ramos Horta told Lusa in Dili that he would seek approval for an "indefinite" presence in East Timor of UN peacekeeping forces, UN specialized agencies and international advisers "to assure the full success of the (independence) process".

"The message I will transmit to the Security Council is that we all share a general preoccup[a]tion not to be precipitate, but to advance slowly but firmly" to independence, he said.

"The calendar is not inflexible," he added in comments during a break in debate at the National Council, or transitional legislature, over an independence timetable.

Ramos Hortas, who holds the foreign affairs portfolio in the transitional cabinet, flies to New York Wednesday for meetings with the Security Council, which will be debating the extension of the UN mandate.

Before heading for New York, Ramos Horta will go to Jakarta Sunday for talks with Indonesian authorities.

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