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By Michael Richardson International Herald Tribune Paris, Thursday, October 7, 1999
MELBOURNE - Australian officials cautioned Wednesday that an ambitious UN military and civilian operation to prepare East Timor for independence within three years could be delayed by a shortage of money. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday proposed a plan to install nearly 9,000 UN peacekeeping troops who would take over from the Australian-led multinational force in the Indonesian territory. The Australian officials also warned that the plan could be upset by any sudden worsening in the security situation in East Timor - especially if pro-Indonesian fighters in West Timor undertook a guerrilla war against the Australian-led force, as they have threatened. Mr. Annan recommended to the Security Council in New York on Tuesday that it quickly approve a UN transitional administration that would include up to 8,950 soldiers ''with robust rules of engagement and a rapid-reaction capability,'' 200 military observers, and 1,640 police officers. The operation would also have a large but so far unspecified number of civilian officials to administer virtually all public services. After the territory's overwhelming vote for independence on Aug. 30, much of the infrastructure was decimated as a campaign of killing and destruction was carried out by anti-independence militias, which were backed by elements in the Indonesian military. But with UN officials estimating the cost of the operation at $500 million, an Australian official said his government worried that the UN would fail to mobilize enough financial support for it to proceed on schedule. ''We're concerned it will lag behind as UN members argue over who should pay and how much they should pay,'' the official said. In his report to the council, Mr. Annan detailed why the UN should intervene: ''The civil administration is no longer functioning. The judiciary and court systems have ceased to exist; services, such as water and electricity, are in real danger of collapse.'' The military component of the proposed UN operation in East Timor is not expected to be deployed until December or early next year, Bernard Miyet, the UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, said in New York. But Mr. Miyet said Indonesia had agreed that UN civilians could take up some tasks immediately, without waiting for the People's Consultative Assembly, Indonesia's highest constitutional body, to endorse the outcome of the independence referendum and repeal its 1976 law making East Timor an Indonesian province. The endorsement is not expected until late this month or early November. The Australian-led force was sent into the territory by the council with the Indonesian government's approval on an interim basis pending deployment of a UN force, which takes longer to organize. Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer, said Wednesday that as a result of Mr. Annan's proposal, he hoped that Australia would be able to start reducing its military presence in East Timor by December. Australia has 3,500 troops in the territory out of a total multinational force of 4,500 and had promised to contribute 4,500 to a contingent that would eventually number 7,500 or 8,000. But the prominence of Australians in both the command and composition of the force has provoked criticism from Indonesia and some other Southeast Asian countries, which have called for an Asian-led UN force. Mr. Downer said the Australian government wanted a full UN peacekeeping operation to take effect as soon as possible so that Australia could reduce its military commitment. ''We're obviously pressing for it to be sooner rather than later,'' the foreign minister said, ''and that will mean some scaling back of Australia's contribution. It's hard to predict when that will happen, but conceivably it could be in two or three months, perhaps nearer three than two months.'' About two dozen countries have promised troops for the UN mission to East Timor. Japan announced Monday that it would contribute $100 million to a special UN trust fund to pay for peacekeeping troops from developing nations, but other UN members have yet to agree to pay the remaining $400 million of the total estimated cost. With the United States $1.7 billion in arrears in its dues to the United Nations, the world organization has limited funds to pay for operations in Kosovo this year - much less for new ones in East Timor, Sierra Leone or the Democratic Republic of the Congo - a senior UN finance official warned in New York on Tuesday, shortly before the secretary-general made his East Timor recommendation to the council. Mr. Miyet said the UN transitional administration for East Timor would be headed by a special representative of the UN secretary-general, but he did not say whether the Australian general who heads the multinational force would be replaced when the full UN force took over. Many of the troops in the multinational force, however, are expected to transfer to the UN command when it is established. Mr. Miyet said Mr. Annan had urged the council to approve the UN operation as soon as possible so that UN troops could replace the multinational force smoothly and without creating any security vacuum in East Timor. Mr. Miyet estimated that it would take two to four months to deploy the UN force.
© International Herald Tribune 1999
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