| Subject: UN starts
building pillars of authority Sydney
Morning Herald Wednesday, October 20, 1999
UN starts building pillars of authority
By MARK RILEY, Herald Correspondent in New York
The birth of the world's newest nation has been a long and
painful process, and East Timor faces an infancy filled with more challenges as it
attempts to build an independent society from the ground up.
The transition is expected to take anywhere between two and
four years, during which the latest addition to the family of Asian sovereign states will
remain under the foster care of the United Nations.
It is a task the UN has undertaken many times before, most
recently when Namibia was granted independence from South Africa in 1990.
It is a task that requires a lot of money. It is certain
that the final bill will run into the tens of billions of dollars.
The first step - Indonesia's parliament formally
relinquishing all claims to sovereignty over the territory - was expected last night or
today.
The next important step is expected early Friday morning
(Australian time) when the UN Security Council votes on the establishment of an interim
administrative authority, to be called the United Nations Transitional Administration for
East Timor, or UNTAET.
Even though the Indonesian Government may have relinquished
its claims to sovereignty over the territory, the UN will not assume official control
until the Security Council mandate is issued.
In the meantime, the UN has begun assembling about 500
administrative officials to oversee the reconstruction of the civil and physical
infrastructure all but demolished in the chaos that followed the vote for independence on
August 30.
The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, has recommended an
interim administration that will place a UN special representative in control of the
territory until East Timor has had its first independent elections. If, as expected, the
Security Council accepts Mr Annan's recommendations on Friday, the administrator will
effectively become a benign dictator with extraordinary powers at his or her disposal to
make, repeal and amend any laws necessary to ease the path to independence.
Mr Annan will name the administrator some time after the
Security Council deliberations. UN officials said the most obvious option open to Mr Annan
would be to appoint the present head of UNAMET, Mr Ian Martin, to fill the position in the
short term. Mr Martin could then be replaced by a permanent administrator some weeks or
months later.
Pressure is building on Mr Annan from Asian countries such
as Malaysia, which occupies a Security Council seat, to appoint an Asian.
UN officials said it was normal for such selection
processes to be shrouded in "high politics" and suggested there may be a number
of administrators filling the job over the next two to four years.
The UN will retain much of the existing administrative
structure in East Timor, which was inherited by the Indonesians from the Portuguese
colonial administrators.
The country will remain divided into 13 districts, with UN
controllers appointed in each region, reporting directly to the administrator.
Mr Annan's first important task will be to create a
priority list of urgent projects needed to establish a foundation of civil administration.
Hospitals need to be rebuilt and doctors found to fill them. Schools, shops, banks and
government offices all need to be re-established.
Reconstruction committees are being set up in each town and
village as people return home. These committees have been asked to report on the most
urgent projects.
The UN's special envoy to East Timor, Mr Jamsheed Marker,
is overseeing the recruiting of international experts, from bureaucrats to engineers, to
help with the reconstruction program.
"Basic services, such as water, power, communications,
sanitation, all have to be addressed quite urgently," he said.
"But the primary objective remains with security.
There is no police force there now; the police stations are empty, the jails are
empty."
Mr Annan has recommended sending 1,600 UN-sponsored police
to East Timor to patrol the streets and to help establish a domestic police service.
At the same time, the UN has begun building the framework
for an interim judicial system, based largely on that left behind by the Indonesians.
One of the greatest problems faced by Interfet, the
Australian-led military force in East Timor, has been the absence of a court system,
forcing it to set free militia members suspected of crimes ranging from vandalism to theft
and murder.
The UN hopes to have a judicial system operating by the end
of next month, but aims to reopen the jails within days.
It is expected that Interfet will convert to a UN
peacekeeping force in December or January, easing the financial burden on Australia, which
has been footing the largest part of the bill.
Mr Annan has called for a peacekeeping force of up to 9,000
soldiers, although the US is lobbying hard for that number to be reduced to 8,000. Under
the UN's assessed contributions system, the US is responsible for about a third of the
cost of all peacekeeping missions.
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