INDEPENDENT NEWS

EAST TIMOR TODAY 16/11/99

Published: Tue 16 Nov 1999 01:55 PM
EAST TIMOR TODAY 16/11/99
For full text see… http://www.easttimor.com/
STORIES
1. UN to rebuild from scratch (16/11/99) Sydney Morning Herald Dili: The United Nations administrator Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello flies into East Timor this week to face the task of rebuilding a country almost from scratch. Not only must East Timor be physically reconstructed but the necessities of a modern society - courts, an official currency and language, a tax system and a civil service - must be re-established while East Timor makes the transition to independence.
2. UNÆs Timor chief set to arrive in Dili amid strained ties (16/11/99) AFP - The chief UN administrator for East Timor, Sergio Veiera de Mello, is scheduled to arrive here Tuesday amid accusations by East TimorÆs leaders that they are being ignored by the United Nations.
3. East TimorÆs Gusmao attacks foreign aid agencies (16/11/99) MANATUTU, East Timor, (Reuters) - East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao has launched another attack on the international effort to rebuild the ravaged territory, saying aid organisations were not co-operating with Timorese officials.
4. Timor militia chief closes border crossing (16/11/99) Reuters - A pro-Jakarta militia leader has closed a border crossing between West Timor and the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi, multinational peacekeepers said on Monday. "The local militia commander operating on the West Timor side of the border, called Moko has taken it upon himself to close the border for the ongoing movement in to the enclave of... (refugees)."
5. INTERVIEW-TimorÆs Belo says rights probe too late (16/11/99) Reuters - East Timor spiritual leader Bishop Carlos Belo on Monday condemned U.N. slowness over an inquiry into abuses in the territory, saying evidence had long gone. "It is too late already," he told Reuters in an interview. "We still donÆt have this team present in East Timor and... some of the bodies have already disappeared and some of the places where the crimes were committed have already been cleaned up."
6. The shocking truth that must be told (16/11/99) Sydney Morning Herald As horrifying details emerged about the TNI-backed militia rampage which followed the East Timor independence referendum demands have grown from within and outside the United Nations for an international investigation. Progress, however, has been disappointingly slow.
7. Issues of rebuilding East Timor (16/11/99) ABC With the violence over in East Timor a struggle for power and influence in the territory has begun. Frustrated East Timorese leaders are struggling to control the delivery of aid by what theyÆre calling neo-colonial foreign non-government organisations. Meanwhile, Australian property developers and construction unions are courting Falantil guerilla leaders, as Geoff Thompson reports from Timor.
8. Boy and two Falintils gain first E. Timor passports (16/11/99) AAP - An infant boy named Igor and two commanders of the guerrilla group Falintil were the first recipients of East Timorese passports issued by the United Nations over the weekend. The UNÆs administration, UNTAET, agreed to issue passports in cases of humanitarian emergencies after Australian doctor Simon Leslie approached them late last week.
9. House agrees to release political prisoners (16/11/99) JAKARTA (JP): The House of RepresentativesÆ 11 factions have unanimously approved President Abdurrahman WahidÆs request to grant amnesty and absolution to some 85 political detainees and prisoners.
10. JakartaÆs in no sorry state (16/11/99) The Age SOMETIMES statistics tell a grim tale. In the first weeks of September this year, 70per cent of public buildings and private residences in East Timor were destroyed. At least 75per cent of the population was displaced, with more than 260,000 people being driven across the border into Indonesian West Timor. Even more ominously, out of an estimated population of 850,000 at the time of the 30 August ballot for independence, between 80,000 and 130,000 are unaccounted for and, according to UN peace-making force InterFET, are likely to remain so.
PHOTOS
a) A cyclist passes by destroyed shops along what used to be a main shopping street in Dili, the capital of East Timor, Monday, Nov. 15, 1999. With few materials to build with, reconstruction of the territory's capital has been going slow, businesses have yet to return to life and many houses still lack a roof with the rainy season quickly approaching. (AP Photo/Ed Wray)
b) A key U.N. body voted on Monday in favor of a crucial inquiry into alleged atrocities in East Timor, nearly two months after governments, meeting in Geneva, first asked for the probe. Two East Timorese look at ten badly charred bodies on the back of a pickup truck in Tasi Tolu, west of Dili, on September 29 after they were found by local residents. A witness said that those killed were bound, then hacked to death by militiamen and men in Indonesian police uniforms before being burned. (Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
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