Timor Today 26/10/99

Timor Today 26/10/99

For full text and photos see… http://www.easttimor.com/

PHOTOS

a) a) Members of the United Nations Security Council vote unanimously Monday, Oct. 25, 1999, to authorize the UN to take control of East Timor during its transition to independence. The U.N. will take over the administration of East Timor, probably for two or three years, to rebuild its shattered infrastructure and set its 800,000 people on the road to democracy before independence from Indonesia is declared. (AP Photo/Shawn Baldwin)

b) Protesters burn a cardboard figure of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan during a demonstration Monday, Oct. 25, 1999, outside the U.N. building in Jakarta, Indonesia. The protesters were demonstrating against the U.N. presence in East Timor. (AP Photo)

c) East Timorese residents looks at a bulletin board displaying Timorese child refugees separated from their families at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Dili, East Timor, Monday, Oct. 25, 1999. In the weeks of violence that followed the U.N. referendum for independece, thousands of East timorese residents were separated from their families as they fled rampaging militiamen. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, POOL)

NEWS

1) Security Council votes to approve UN East Timor force 25/10/99 (Reuters) United Nations The U.N. Security Council on Monday unanimously approved a force of nearly 11,000 troops and police and thousands of civilian administrators to lead devastated East Timor to independence in two to three years.

2) Doubts Fester About ASEAN Leading UN Force 26/10/99 (Inter Press Service) With the formal transfer of authority in East Timor to the United Nations expected this week, Australia now seems willing to hand over the reins of the multinational security force in the territory.

3) Wahid to meet Gusmao 26/10/99 (Kyodo News Service Jakarta) Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid is expected to meet shortly with East Timor independence movement leader Xanana Gusmao, probably in Brunei, acting State Secretary Muladi said Monday.

4) East Timor's militias feel they're being abandoned 28/10/1999 Far Eastern Economic Review Bitterness is growing among militia members, who worry that the Indonesian armed forces, having supported their brutal campaign to forestall East Timor's independence, may now be abandoning them.

5) Returning refugees stoned in West Timor 26/10/99 (AFP) DILI, East Timor - Several returning East Timorese refugees were injured when militia hijacked their vehicle in the West Timor capital of Kupang, a UN refugee official said on Monday.

6) Only church left standing in East Timorese enclave 26/10/99 (AFP) Oekussi, the main city in the East Timorese enclave of the same name, is a ghost town with the church virtually the only building left intact, humanitarian officials said Monday

7) Militia devastate East Timorese enclave 26/1099 (ABC Radio) The World Today

8) Gusmao Invites Remaining Indonesian Settlers to Stay 26/10/99 (Lusa) East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao has written to the few remaining Indonesian settlers in the territory inviting them to stay and assuring their security.

9) Interfet commander wants Filipino spokesman 26/10/99 (AFP) Manila The commander of the International Force for East Timor (Interfet) wants a Filipino officer as a deputy spokesman, the head of the force's Philippine contingent has said.

EDITORIAL

10) What are Indonesia's Special Forces doing in Vermont? 24/10/99 Quietly tucked away in the Vermont hills, the only private military college in the country has been educating and training current and future members of the Indonesian army. During home- coming week at Norwich University, parents strolled the bucolic campus, crimson leaves glistening in the bright fall sunshine. A world away, that same hue ran in the streets of East Timor. The Norwich program, which includes both undergraduate and graduate military training, was arranged in 1997 by high-ranking Indonesian military officers suspected of committing crimes against humanity in East Timor.

11) The reality of our diplomacy 24/10/99 The Age The East Timor crisis and Australia's leading role in the UN-authorised International Force for East Timor (InterFET) have brought Indonesian- Australian relations to a low point. But these developments have also been accompanied by new questioning in Australia of the Australia-US defence relationship - evoking the classic twin fears of either being controlled or left in the lurch by Australia's superpower ally.

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