| Subject: Filipino
general to head U.N. E Timor force
Filipino general to head U.N. East Timor
force
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 29 (Reuters) -
Major-General Jaime de los Santos of the Philippines will be the commander
of U.N. peacekeepers to be sent shortly to East Timor, and Major-General
Michael Geoffrey Smith of Australia will be deputy force commander, a U.N.
spokesman said on Wednesday.
De los Santos, who will be promoted to
the rank of lieutenant-general for the assignment, is currently
superintendent of the Philippines Military Academy. Smith is
director-general in the Australian Department of Defence in charge of
matters relating to East Timor.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has informed
the Security Council of the intended appointments. De los Santo and Smith
are expected to arrive in East Timor in mid-January.
The United Nations plans to field more
than 8,000 troops in February to take over from an 11,000-strong
Australian-led international force called INTERFET, commanded by
Major-General Peter Cosgrove, that has restored order in the former
Portuguese colony since mid-September.
Many of the INTERFET troops are expected
to don blue helmets and serve under U.N. command.
The U.N. force will be a key part of the
U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) that will remain
there for two to three years to help ease the path to independence from
Indonesia, which invaded the territory in 1975 and later annexed it.
UNTAET, which will include thousands of
civilian administrators, is headed by Sergio Vieira de Mello, the
Brazilian U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who
arrived in East Timor last month.
Under an agreement between Indonesia and
Portugal, the United Nations organised a ballot on August 30 in which
nearly 80 percent of East Timorese voters opted for independence from
Indonesia.
This was followed by a rampage of killing
and destruction by pro-Jakarta militias, supported by the Indonesian army.
De los Santos, 53, joined the Philippines
armed forces in 1969 and has held a range of command and staff
appointments, including as commanding general of an infantry division.
He is a graduate of the Philippines
Military Academy and has attended the United States Command and General
Staff course.
Smith, 49, joined the Australian armed
forces in 1968 and has also held various command and staff appointments,
including as commander of the 3rd Brigade.
He was a military observer with the U.N.
Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan and has served as Australian
defence attache in Cambodia. He is a graduate of the Australian Royal
Military Academy.
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