No UN complaints on action of Portuguese peacekeepers

Subject: LUSA: No UN complaints on action of Portuguese peacekeepers - Arnaut

06-12-2002 13:55:00. Notícia nº 4420596...

East Timor: No UN complaints on action of Portuguese peacekeepers - Arnaut

Dili, Dec. 6 (Lusa) - Senior Portuguese official José Luís Arnaut said Friday he had received no complaints from the UN mission in East Timor on the actions of Portuguese peacekeepers in simultaneously helping to quell riots in Dili while protecting Portuguese nationals and installations.

Lisbon, Arnaut said in ending a visit to Dili, had assured that only troops not mobilized by UNMISET had been deployed to safeguard Portuguese nationals and other interests during rioting Wednesday.

UN forces had taken "a long time - about three hours" - to react to the rioting in Dili, while Portuguese troops had responded "in about one hour", said Arnaut, adjutant minister to Portuguese Prime Minister José Manuel Durao Barroso.

The crisis, he added, had helped the UN "to unblock" Portugal's offer since June to provide East Timor with a team of police instructors in anti-riot operations.

During his stay in Dili, which coincided with the Tuesday- Wddnesday riots, Arnaut inaugurated three aid projects: a training center for the justice ministry, a Portuguese school and the installations of Portugal's RDP radio.

Before departing Dili Friday, Arnaut also visited the Lusa bureau.

He praised the Portuguese news agency for its "fundamental" role in affirming Portugal's presence in its former territory and in recording "the construction" of the new nation.

ASP/SAS -Lusa-

Back to December Menu
November
Main Postings Menu

Note: For those who would like to fax "the powers that be" - CallCenter is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software application integrated with fax and data communications... and it's free of charge! Download from http://www.v3inc.com/