S/PV.4351 Security Council

I should like to inform the Council that I have received letters from the representatives of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal and the Republic of Korea in which they request to be invited to participate in the discussion of the item on the Council’s agenda. In conformity with the usual practice, I propose, with the consent of the Council, to invite those representatives to participate in the discussion without the right to vote, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter and rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure. There being no objection, it is so decided. At the invitation of the President, Ms. Wensley (Australia), Mr. De Ruyt (Belgium), Mr. Moura (Brazil), Mr. Heinbecker (Canada), Mr. Widodo (Indonesia), Mr. Motomura (Japan), Mr. Hughes (New Zealand), Mr. Manalo (Philippines), Mr. Brito (Portugal) and Mr. Sun (Republic of Korea) took the seats reserved for them at the side of the Council Chamber.

In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council’s prior consultations, and in the absence of objection, I shall take it that the Security Council agrees to extend an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure to Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative and Transitional Administrator for East Timor. There being no objection, it is so decided. I invite Mr. Vieira de Mello to take a seat at the Council table. In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council’s prior consultations, and in the absence of objection, I shall take it that the Security Council agrees to extend an invitation under rule 39 of its provisional rules of procedure to Mr. José Ramos-Horta, Member of the Transitional Cabinet of East Timor responsible for Foreign Affairs. There being no objection, it is so decided. I invite Mr. Ramos-Horta to take a seat at the Council table. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them document S/2001/719, which contains the progress report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor. The Security Council will hear a briefing by Mr. Vieira de Mello at this meeting. I understand that he is also prepared to answer questions or to provide clarifications, if need be. At the end of the briefing, I will give the floor to Council members who wish to make comments or to ask questions. I would like to invite members to raise their hand if they wish to take the floor. I now give the floor to Mr. Vieira de Mello. Mr. Vieira de Mello: It is a great pleasure and an honour to appear before the Council today and to have the opportunity to brief it once again on the latest situation in East Timor and our plans for the future at this critical stage in the transition process. It is a particular pleasure to make this presentation under the presidency of China, which has been such a stalwart friend to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and to East Timor since the very beginning of this daunting enterprise. Indeed, the entire Council, having set us this mammoth undertaking, has never shirked from its full responsibility to ensure that this mission is a success. Though, in East Timor, we may be nearly as far away from this Chamber as it is possible to be, through the intense interest and support of the Council’s members we are continually reassured that we are never far away from their minds. Before I begin my presentation proper, allow me to introduce — though it always seems somewhat foolish to introduce one so well known to all Council members — our Cabinet Member for Foreign Affairs, José Ramos-Horta. Also, and she is perhaps less well known to the Council now, may I take the opportunity of introducing Mrs. Emilia Pires, Director of the East Timor National Planning and Development Agency. Mrs. Pires is here in New York as a guest of the United Nations Development Programme and the timing of her visit is particularly fortuitous, as she headed our initial planning exercise for the possible design of a successor mission in East Timor, a subject I shall focus on at some length today. It has been six months since I last visited New York and spoke to the Council. As members have read in the report of the Secretary-General, much has happened in East Timor since then. Many of the projects that I outlined six months ago have come to fruition thanks to resolution 1338 (2001), which this Council adopted after the last open debate in January, while many more are on the way. As I have told the Council before, however, the mandate with which we were entrusted in East Timor was much more than a list of tasks, much more than a catalogue of problems to be solved. It was nothing less than to work with the traumatized and brutalized people of East Timor and, together, to create an independent sovereign State. I have often commented on the uniqueness of the operation in East Timor. I do so not because I wish to make excuses for any of our failings, but because we are all engaged in something truly historic, and we need to constantly remind ourselves of that fact and of where we started. Never before has the international community banded together and embarked on such a noble venture from such a bleak beginning. We started, quite literally, from nothing and — because we had never done this before — through feeling our way carefully, we have come a long way towards preparing East Timor for that ultimate goal: independence. That end is now in sight. But my message to the Council today is that while we have indeed come a long way on an extraordinary adventure, we nonetheless have much further to go if East Timor is to be able truly and fully to benefit from its independence. Now is not the time for complacency, but a time to buckle down and complete the mandate the Council gave us to the very best of our ability. Elections will take place in exactly a month’s time. A Constituent Assembly will be convened on the basis of the outcome of that ballot. A second transitional Government will be put into place, and East Timor will soon thereafter become the first new nation of the millennium. This Council can afford to be proud of the consistent help and guidance it has given us during this critical and often difficult period, and I want to thank it for that. But much still needs to be done, and in his report to the Council, the Secretary-General has indicated that some of the tasks will be completed only after the formal date of East Timor’s independence. My overriding priority now is to ensure that the United Nations is positioned to complete the job it has been set by the Council, as quickly as is sensible and as economically as is prudent. To do this, we need to address four major objectives: first, consolidate the secure and stable environment that presently exists; secondly, steer East Timor through the creation of democratic institutions and successful, peaceful elections; thirdly, put in place the building blocks for the management of public finances and policy-making; and fourthly, establish the framework for a sustainable and effective Government administration. These four broad objectives support the goal of handing over a secure, stable and working Government to the people of East Timor. I believe that we are on track with the process of political transition. We are producing a voters’ roll, which is being developed from the successfully completed civil registration process. Elections will go ahead on 30 August. A multi-party political process is now under way, and campaigning has begun. I am very happy to tell the Council that our efforts to encourage women’s participation in the political process have truly borne fruit. No fewer than 268 women candidates will be standing in the election, out of a total of 992 candidates, and I expect a substantial number to be elected; indeed, I very much hope that that will be the case. We have also found a way, with the generous and timely support of Member States, to offer campaign help to the political parties, which will be of particular assistance to the smaller and less well funded among them. It will not be in cash, and it will not be enough — it never is — but it will assist the democratic process to take root in a country that has never before been afforded this basic right. There is still some disquiet among much of the population because of concerns that the political process may lead to civil unrest and violence. But both East Timor’s leadership and we have made it absolutely clear that politically motivated violence in the territory will not be tolerated. At the beginning of this month, to reinforce that point, 14 of the 16 parties competing in the election signed a pact of national unity, witnessed by both José Ramos-Horta and myself, among others, which demonstrates unequivocally their commitment to peaceful, non-violent and mature — I repeat, mature — democratic competition. As has been mentioned in the report of the Secretary-General, those members of the transitional Cabinet who wished to take part in the election campaign have resigned and have been replaced by their civil service deputies. This modified Cabinet will continue to exercise executive authority and develop draft legislation, most of which, apart from urgent business, will await referral to the new Assembly. Following the elections, I intend to appoint an expanded Cabinet that will reflect the outcome of the ballot. The new all-Timorese transitional Government will head a reorganized Transitional Administration that will more closely reflect the anticipated portfolio responsibilities of the future independent Government. This will entail perhaps the most exciting qualitative leap forward in the process of handing over the reins of Government to the East Timorese from the international community: a process that the Council called on UNTAET to carry out to the utmost in its resolution 1338 (2001) last January. While I shall continue to retain the authority the Council has vested in me as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Transitional Administrator, following the elections it is clearly appropriate to move to a further stage of what we call Timorization. This, I agree, is an ugly word that, I regret, has entered into common usage. Behind it, however, lies the basic guideline that has underpinned this mission from the early months of last year: you cannot prepare a people for self-government without first exposing them to experience of government. Any other approach would simply not work. I know that, following the successful donor conference in Canberra last month, many in the Council are keenly and, dare I say it, critically looking at our plans in the area of public finances. The budget provided at Canberra, of $65 million, was, I believe, neither lavish nor imprudent. It was the product of a very bruising and difficult, as well as very democratic, process. It was, like all budgets, a compromise — a compromise between the need for fiscal sustainability, economic good sense and aid dependency, on the one hand, and the clear and desperate needs of the people of East Timor, on the other. However, I share with many members concern about the medium-term viability of a budget that is already dependent on $20 million a year in aid money just to keep running the basic operations of Government. The last on my list of essential objectives was the transfer of the existing public service architecture to an East Timorese public administration. My plans for this will lead me to discuss also the question of the follow- on mission and the sensitive but increasingly urgent task of what we call “managing expectations”. In public administration it is my intention to follow much the same pattern as in the political transition. In other words, I want to spend the time that we have between now and independence bringing the international component of the public administration down to a size and a shape that will allow a seamless transfer of power to a national structure that is credible, effective and adequately staffed. This public administration will be one that East Timor can afford, using technology that is sustainable, and one that will serve the people while eschewing the risks of corruption, nepotism and cronyism. There is still a way to go, and over the next few months and years capacity-building must remain our main endeavour and highest priority. Capacity-building has proved both frustrating and difficult in the past, and we at the United Nations have too often looked for managers rather than mentors, who have thus not seen the need to deliver in this vital area of skills transfer. UNDP has done excellent work in this field, and I would like to commend it on its recent very comprehensive report on this subject and on the long-term plan that it contained. All of East Timor’s development partners will do well to support this plan over the next few years. The Secretary-General has recommended in his report to the Council a continuation of the United Nations presence in East Timor, should he receive an appropriate request from the Government of East Timor. The nature of the successor mission has been spelled out to members, but I would like to take a few moments of the Council’s time to share my views on what is needed and why. I might preface this by saying that we have been planning the new mission both through the mechanism of an integrated mission task force in the Secretariat here in New York and through the presence in East Timor of a senior officer dedicated to its planning several months ahead of its deployment. That is a rare and welcome exception which I know my colleagues in New York will ensure becomes the norm in future. I am aware that critics of the United Nations often say that the hardest thing to persuade us to do is to leave. In the past, that has often been the case, but in East Timor I do not think we are seeking to outstay our welcome, although I look forward to hearing José Ramos-Horta on this subject in a moment. This is not in any sense special pleading; it is my view that this is an absolute necessity. The arguments for a continued military and police presence have been well presented in the report, and I will not return to them in detail. What I wish to emphasize, however, is that our planning in this critical area will be predicated solely on the security conditions prevailing in East Timor. No other factor should be allowed to influence our judgement or that of the Security Council. The report entertains a scaled drawdown of the international military presence, starting some time in the near future and beginning in the eastern part of the country. Should the current stable conditions continue in East Timor through the election period and the formation of the Constituent Assembly and of the new transitional Government, I see no reason at this stage why that process could not commence, cautiously, prior to independence. Security, however, requires more than an effective police and military, important though they are. It requires also the rule of law and effective access to justice. In East Timor, as members know well — and indeed, as the Council mission to us last November made explicit — we have struggled to put in place an effective mechanism to deal with the serious crimes of the recent past. Some success is now becoming visible. A major trial is currently under way in Dili, focusing on a series of brutal crimes against humanity that took place in 1999 in the eastern district of Lautem. Nonetheless, our courts continue to lack basic resources, both material and human. Where we also continue to struggle is in bringing fully to life the memorandum of understanding that I signed last year with the Attorney-General of Indonesia concerning cooperation in legal, judicial and human rights related matters. While bilateral relations continue to move forward in a generally positive direction, we urge the Government of Indonesia to reissue the decree creating the ad hoc human rights tribunal that would make it possible to bring to justice for serious crimes in East Timor those first 23 suspects that the then Indonesian Attorney-General Marzuki Daruzman publicly named in early September 2000 following thorough, joint investigations by the Indonesian and the East Timorese prosecutors-general. For that process to be credible, it is imperative that the tribunal have jurisdiction over crimes that occurred not just after the popular consultation in 1999 but also before that date. We can and will continue to bring to justice those responsible for these acts who are within East Timor’s jurisdiction. But true justice will require that the architects of those crimes also face their day in court. The bulk of my comments today will focus on the question of the civilian presence, and in particular that part of it that will be working within the post- independence government structure. We have been directed to do a job, and that job is not yet complete. The Security Council mandate in resolution 1272 (1999) was quite clear. UNTAET was to maintain security and law and order, to establish an effective administration, and to support capacity-building for self-government. To equate the political transition, which is now so close to completion, with the establishment of an effective administration for East Timor is quite simply wrong. The event of political independence is on a path that is parallel, albeit closely related, to the progressive achievement of what we might call administrative independence. It would be wrong to disengage from that activity prematurely, to declare too early the full implementation of resolution 1272 (1999). On independence, we will have unfinished business from resolution 1272 (1999) still to do — and do it we must, in order to ensure that the work so far completed, for which the Council should take much of the credit, remains firmly in place. I am sure that José Ramos- Horta will reinforce that point in a moment. The reality today is that we do not yet have a fully effective East Timorese administration, and that we will not have one early next year, when independence is likely to come. The machine we run now, the hybrid we have created, which contains large numbers of international staff, is being reduced in size and rationalized. But there will still be many gaps, and those gaps will need to be filled. We cannot simply walk away and thus put at risk the enormous investment that has been made thus far. While it is true that East Timor must rely on its bilateral and multilateral partners and that the mission should not do anything that those partners are prepared to do, I nevertheless believe that there are vital parts of government, particularly in the areas mentioned by the Secretary-General in his report — those of central management, fiscal management, justice and human rights, and security and national sovereignty — where it would be entirely justified to place advisory staff and a small number of line managers in the East Timor Government. With the consent and active support of the East Timorese, those experts would continue the process of skills transfer and would ensure the proper functioning of departments for a specified period of time. I am convinced that those positions should be within the new mission and should be funded from assessed contributions. With great respect, I am fully aware of the difficulties that some members of the Council may have with that proposition, but I have worked for most of my United Nations career with the often debilitating and always uncertain constraints of voluntary funding, and I am certain that these vital posts should have the firm and predictable base of assessed contributions if they are to attract the calibre of personnel required and if those personnel are to be enabled to work successfully in areas which are, after all, of vital concern to East Timor’s donors. The Secretary-General has already indicated our determination to finish the task in East Timor as economically and as efficiently as possible. We have signalled this with the figures we have already presented for downsizing — or as I am now told is the correct phrase, “rightsizing” — the existing mission. We are still putting the details to our plans for the next mission, but what we will ask for in October, when we come back to the Council with more precise information, will, I can assure members, be a strategic, sensible and above all modest assessment of what will be required. Perhaps this is the right moment to address the question of burden-sharing before I move on to sustainability and the management of expectations. An address to the Security Council always provides an opportunity like no other to bring to the attention of the international community and member States any particular hobbyhorses that the speaker might be riding at the time. Perhaps the Council will indulge me therefore if I ask members to encourage, on my behalf and on behalf of East Timor, the entire United Nations system — the Secretariat of course, but also agencies, funds and programmes — to work as never before to deliver together as much coordinated assistance, with ourselves on the ground, as they can. We had hoped for that before, at the beginning of the current mission, and quite frankly the results were, as members will recall, disappointing. Let us, on this occasion, really pull together in the spirit of a truly integrated mission to show what the United Nations working as a team can do. One of the most significant events of the past few weeks in terms of the long-term viability of East Timor was the signing on 5 July of the Timor Sea framework agreement. Australian and East Timorese cabinet ministers initialled an Arrangement that was the product of 16 months of often difficult negotiations. It will come into effect as a treaty only when it has been approved, signed and ratified by the elected Government in Dili. It would be very unwise at this stage to offer even a guess as to the revenues that this will provide for East Timor in the medium term. Suffice it to say that those revenues, if properly managed, will have a very significant impact indeed on the ability of the independent Government to deliver services to its people and to plan development investment for a secure future. There are surely enough examples of bad management of mineral resources for the East Timorese to take heed and profit from others’ mistakes. I am confident that they will. However, this indication of wealth to come and the need to manage it should not deflect the Government from the need to plan within its means in the meanwhile. This leads me to the vexed and sensitive subject of managing expectations. I have no doubt that we have done well in East Timor so far — together, in very close partnership with the Timorese leadership. Historians will be able to tell us with hindsight how much better they would have done in our place. But even the harshest of critics — and, as Council members know, we have had many, especially those sitting on the fence — must be surprised at what we, the United Nations and the East Timorese, by working ever more closely with the people of East Timor, have achieved in turning the ashes and debris that we found when we arrived, in early November 1999, into a functioning State, heading fast towards democratic institutions, elections and a democratic future. There is a price, however, which concerns me more and more, and that is the baggage that a United Nations mission and the donors and others bring with them on a venture such as this. In order to function and to create the conditions necessary for us to operate effectively, we bring with us a complicated culture of technology and relative comfort. We bring cars and computers, air conditioners and satellite antennas, and all the paraphernalia of the technologically developed North — because we do not function otherwise and arguably could not do the job without them. But then we leave, having created expectations, especially in the capital and main centres, that cannot be realized when Independence Day dawns and our hosts find that they have to live within their modest means. Sustainability is the catch-all word that we put into our reports, but behind this antiseptic word may lie disappointment and disillusion, which need to be managed if they are not to be destructive. We have been working hard on this whole question of the transfer of UNTAET assets to independent East Timor. Over the next few months, with the right-sizing of the Government machine, some hard and even harsh choices will have to be made, and we have to do everything that we can to make sure that they are not only made, but that their effects are planned for and understood by all. How many computers remain in Government, how many means of sophisticated telecommunications, how many vehicles? There are many important questions. But how many, how much, how few are not simply mathematical questions; the answers will affect people’s lives and livelihoods. I have made a habit on these occasions of drawing to the attention of the Council some of the lessons we have learned in East Timor that might be useful to others in the peacekeeping business. In addition to what I have just said, I would like to draw the Council’s attention to three final concerns: police, justice and personnel. I have little new to say on the question of United Nations civilian police, but I must repeat myself because we still seem to be facing the same old problems of quality versus quantity — a problem, I would suggest, that might not be so much one of the police personnel that are sent on peace missions, but rather one of our doctrinal approach to the whole concept of international executive policing functions. Admittedly this would be a new departure for the United Nations. We need an exhaustive analysis of how we approach this task. This involves the Secretariat, the contributing States — in how they prepare their officers pre-deployment — and those of us in the field, in how we decide to best use them. For the record — with the support of Jean-Marie Guéhenno and the assistance of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York — we have tried a pilot project in one district, involving the deployment of the civilian police as a national unit. The results are not yet conclusive, but I believe that in some cases this might prove more effective than the old method of scattering and mixing national contingents in small numbers all over the mission area. I would like to place on record here my strong personal support for those who have been asking for the development of a uniform code of justice to be employed by transitional administrations such as UNTAET and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). If the United Nations is to govern, then justice is the key, and we should come to the mission with the code already in our pockets. But even a pre-prepared code requires implementation, and implementation requires resources. These have been sorely lacking in East Timor from the very start. As Council members will recall, the mission began at a place that was some distance from even square one. There were no judges, no lawyers, no records, no equipment, no buildings. For the future, should we ever be called on to administer justice, we must be in a position to do just that, and we must be provided with the means to ensure that we have no excuse for not doing so. Anything less and we risk the collapse — or non-development — of a fundamental pillar of democratic society. Lastly, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we have proved, somewhat belatedly and with strong Secretariat support, that in personnel matters we can make the United Nations system work. We have developed an autonomy and flexibility that has seen us through very difficult days, but let us not leave it at that. Let us now institutionalize some of these innovations and continue to be creative in our thinking as concerns field deployment. We need the right people at the right time, and we need to have the machinery to keep the good ones and let those who do not perform go. Above all, we need the time and the resources to plan ahead. That is why we are planning now, and that is why we are asking, once again, for the Council’s help. When I briefed the Council in June of last year, I invited all the members to visit East Timor and see for themselves, first-hand, the work that was being done, the difficulties encountered on the ground, the successes and those areas where I recognized that there was much room for improvement. In November the Council paid us such a visit and, I believe, found the exercise to be helpful, enabling members to see perhaps more clearly the complexity of the operation in all its multifarious aspects. The elections on 30 August will be a landmark in many different ways. They will lead to the creation of an Assembly that will formulate the constitution of East Timor, while assuming certain legislative powers and, in all likelihood, eventually transforming itself into the first legislature of an independent East Timor. These elections will also enable me to form the second — this time, all-Timorese — transitional Government of East Timor. Its composition will reflect the aspirations of the people as expressed at the polls; its structure will very much prefigure that of the first independent Government; and I intend to delegate to it most of the day-to-day management of Government business. These new bodies, coupled with the judiciary, which we have striven to Timorize from the very early days, will, from the second half of September, be exercising the maximum degree of self-government possible under resolutions 1272 (1999) and 1338 (2001). At this stage it appears that once the constitution is adopted presidential elections would be the likely final step on East Timor’s route to independence. A great deal will be accomplished in that final phase of the United Nations-led transition. Both we and the East Timorese will continue to learn in what will be, without doubt, the most complex, yet the most rewarding, chapter of this unprecedented mission. The challenge for the East Timorese is obvious. The one faced by the United Nations, which, on the Council’s behalf, administers East Timor, will be equally daunting, for we shall have to exercise our responsibilities in full harmony with new organs that will enjoy, for the first time in East Timor’s history, democratic legitimacy. Should Council members accept my renewed invitation to visit us again, they would, I am sure, appreciate that this is not an interface that should be allowed to continue for longer than is absolutely necessary to meet the essential benchmarks for East Timor to achieve its independence. Conversely, I am equally certain they would agree that for our pride in this endeavour to be fully justified, we must remain fully engaged in those early, difficult days after the United Nations flag comes down. I pledge to fulfil the Secretary-General’s commitment to recommend to the Council in greater detail, by this coming October, the reduced, compact and most effective configuration of that post-independence component. I thank you once again, Mr. President, for allowing me to make this presentation today. Perhaps now, to complete my briefing and that of the East Timorese Transitional Administration, you will be kind enough to allow my friend and colleague José Ramos- Horta to take the floor.

I thank Mr. Vieira de Mello for his comprehensive briefing. I give the floor to Mr. José Ramos-Horta, member of the Transitional Cabinet of East Timor responsible for Foreign Affairs. Mr. Ramos-Horta: I would like to take this occasion to tell you, Sir, how privileged and pleased we feel that this meeting is taking place today, still under your presidency. I would also like to express my most sincere appreciation to the previous Presidents of the Council, particularly during the month of January, when we had the first meeting of the year on this subject, and in May, when President Xanana Gusmão and I addressed the Council under the United States presidency. Allow me to congratulate you, Mr. President, your Government and your people on your successful bid to host the Olympic Games in 2008. I hope that by then the East Timorese will be worthy competitors in Beijing and will be able to take some medals away from the Chinese athletes. We have come a long way since the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) first landed in the country. I do not want to go through again what we have already said and what Sergio Vieira de Mello has already so eloquently stated in his speech about what the international community found in East Timor and the difficulties, the destruction, the despair, the loss of lives, the dislocation of people — more than one third of the people have been uprooted and taken to West Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia — and what we have achieved so far. Two years after the historic referendum, on 30 August, the people of East Timor will again go to the polls and, for the first time ever in our 500-year history, will vote to elect deputies for a Constituent Assembly, who will draft a constitution setting the legal framework for the declaration of independence and the election of a President. We have assured the Council throughout our engagement with it, in the discussions, that — beyond the efforts of the peacekeeping forces, which have done an outstanding job in protecting the borders of East Timor and providing safety and tranquillity to the people throughout the districts — we on the East Timorese side itself will do our utmost to cooperate with the international community in ensuring peace and tranquillity for ourselves. This June we dissolved the National Council of Timorese Resistance. In the history of decolonization, this must be quite a unique experiment. Never before in the history of decolonization had a coalition movement dissolved itself to allow its members to create a multi- party society and system. There was some concern and fear that with the dissolution of the National Council of Timorese Resistance — the umbrella body that led the people of East Timor towards independence and, in particular, mobilized and organized the people for the 30 August 1999 referendum — there would be violence. Yet the transition from the National Council of Timorese Resistance to a multi-party system has been going very smoothly. In the first week of July, witnessed by Sergio Vieira de Mello, the two Bishops of East Timor, Xanana Gusmão and myself, and with His Holiness the Pope having sent a message, the East Timorese political parties signed a pact of national unity committing themselves to accepting non-violence as a norm and the results of the 30 August elections, regardless of the outcome for each of them. So far, they have been true to the commitment that they have made. Political campaigning has started throughout the country, with thousands of people participating, yet there has not been a single case of violence among the political parties. The border region itself has been relatively quiet despite occasional incidents. We regret an incident that happened only yesterday with the fatal shooting of an Indonesian soldier, who was armed but in civilian clothes. The exact circumstances and exact location of the incident have not yet been determined. I received this information only this morning from my office in Dili. Apart from these incidents, however, the situation throughout the border region has been relatively quiet and safe. This is a tribute not only to the professionalism of the peacekeeping forces but also to the successful efforts of the United Nations itself, through Sergio Vieira de Mello and the head of the peacekeeping forces, to engage the Indonesian side in dialogue. We commend the efforts of the Indonesian military commander in the Bali region, particularly in West Timor, General Willem da Costa, under whom, since he took over the operational leadership in West Timor, the situation has improved. We have also pursued efforts at dialogue with the pro-autonomy and the pro-integration faction in East Timorese society. There were successful meetings at the end of May in East Timor, involving almost 100 people, of whom about 50 came from West Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia. President Xanana Gusmão has travelled to the border region and engaged some militia leaders and political elements from the other side in dialogue. Bishop Basilio Nascimento, the head of the Diocese of Baucau, also had a very successful visit to West Timor, where he was received by thousands of people. Preparations are under way for Xanana Gusmão again to travel to the border region and maybe to West Timor itself to continue the dialogue with not only the authorities in West Timor, but also our own people who are still in the camps in West Timor. We have just arrived from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting in Hanoi, to which we had been invited by the host country, Viet Nam. Once again, we reiterated to our neighbours, particularly ASEAN countries, but also to others — the dialogue partners such as China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the United States — our continued commitment to develop relations with the region, including with Indonesia, because we believe that a strong, dynamic and creative relationship with the region will be our best defence. Only our ability to create a web of relations and interests with the countries of the region will ensure that East Timor will be able to continue to develop peacefully in the years to come. As Sergio Vieira de Mello has just mentioned, we have recently concluded an interim arrangement, a framework agreement with Australia, governing the sharing of revenue from oil and gas in the Timor Sea. The successful conclusion of the discussions on the Timor Sea is also a tribute to the maturity and the sense of responsibility of the two sides, East Timor and Australia. As Sergio Vieira de Mello mentioned, and as has been our concern, we nevertheless hope that we will be able to develop alternative sources of wealth for East Timor in order to prevent East Timor from becoming dependent on only one or two commodities, such as oil and gas. In this regard, I would like to inform the Council that we are continuing discussions with the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, Sergio Vieira de Mello, Timorese compatriots and donor countries to set up a strategic development task force that would look at long-term development in East Timor. In this regard, we are receiving concrete assistance from the Government of Malaysia, which will provide a senior official from the Office of the Prime Minister, dealing with economic development, to assist us in developing a strategic framework for the development of East Timor in the medium and long term. In December, we hope to present to the donor conference in Oslo a preliminary vision of the economic outlook for East Timor in the years to come. If everything goes well, we will be able to announce here when East Timor will be independent. The decision will be made by the Constituent Assembly in consultation with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General. We hope we will be able to keep to the initial calendar previously drawn up, and the date will be sometime early next year. Presidential elections should take place immediately after the adoption of the constitution, and independence would occur sometime early next year. However, in spite of the positive note I am trying to convey, which is a reflection of the reality in the country, it is also important to remember that peace in East Timor is still very fragile, because of 25 years of trauma, of people living in a culture of violence and fear. It is not easy to erase this state of mind after 25 years of violence. Peace is fragile also because as long as armed elements continue to operate in West Timor, the people of East Timor will continue to live in fear of what will happen in the post-independence period. The incident involving an Indonesian soldier who apparently strayed into East Timor and was shot dead by vigilant New Zealand forces only underscored the need for the two sides to continue to cooperate even more closely to rid the entire region of weapons and violence along the border. On the East Timorese side, we very much look forward to working with the new President and the new Government of Indonesia; we send them our warmest greetings. In the last few days, the Indonesian people have shown extraordinary maturity in accepting the changes peacefully. We are continuing our efforts to engage the new Administration in Indonesia in dialogue. We look forward to the time when East Timor and the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur, the territory of West Timor in particular, can develop a partnership to eradicate poverty, malaria, tuberculosis and other ills. To achieve this, it is necessary that the Government in East Timor and the Government in Jakarta reach a stage where we really trust each other and act with transparency. I conclude by emphasizing that we are conscious of the need for the United Nations to downsize the military component of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor. We are also conscious of the need to downsize the civilian component in East Timor. After all, this is in our interest. We have no interest or desire to have the indefinite presence of a foreign force in East Timor, as professional as they are, as welcoming as they are, as well behaved as they have been so far. It is the nature of a society and a country to want to be masters of their own destiny. We do not wish to impose on the international community an indefinite presence of the peacekeeping forces on the ground nor of civilian personnel. However, peace is still fragile although the process has been extraordinarily successful due to the leadership of the Secretary-General and due to the Special Representative. What the United Nations has achieved in East Timor in partnership with the donor countries has been unique. However, any consideration of hasty withdrawal soon after independence could undermine what has been achieved at such great cost, in terms of financial resources and in terms of lives, because the East Timorese made such a great sacrifice and sacrificed many lives to achieve what we have achieved so far. For this reason, I end with an appeal to the members of the Security Council and the donor community to support the recommendations of the Secretary-General’s report regarding the civilian component and the recommendations for a prudent, cautious downsizing of the military component after independence. We hope that next year we will all be able to return here, and the elected President, Prime Minister or Foreign Minister will return to this Council and thank members once again for the tremendous support and generosity that has been shown by the Council, the Secretary-General, the agencies, the donor countries in general and civil society.

I thank Mr. Ramos-Horta for his kind words addressed to my country. After the independence of East Timor, the international community will certainly warmly welcome this newborn country. We wish you excellent results in all areas, including the Olympics in 2008. I shall now give the floor to the members of the Council who wish to make comments or ask questions. So many members of the Council raised their hands at the beginning of the meeting to indicate that they wanted to speak that it will probably not be possible to please everyone with the order of the list of speakers. I ask for members’ forgiveness, and for their understanding of the difficulties faced by the Secretariat and the President.

We are pleased to welcome once again Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello and Mr. José Ramos-Horta to the Security Council, especially at this critical juncture in East Timor’s political transition. We also endorse the wise words of advice they have both given to members of the Council. Why are we at a critical juncture today? First, it is midway through the current mandate of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), which the Security Council decided in resolution 1338 (2001) will last until 31 January 2002, although we must bear in mind the possible need for adjustments related to the timetable for independence. This is therefore an opportune time for a mid-term review on the progress of UNTAET and to hear more about the political timetable for East Timor. Secondly, the Secretary-General has provided us with a very important progress report on UNTAET. We are pleased to note the number of projects which UNTAET has collaborated on with such bodies as the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank. More importantly, the Secretary-General has provided us with a concept of operations for the successor mission following East Timor’s independence. Using the framework provided by the Secretary-General, intensive discussions must now ensue within East Timor and with the United Nations community. Discussions should start here and now to build the best possible foundation for the successor mission and not because, as some have asserted, the Council is anticipating a precipitous withdrawal from East Timor. If I may borrow the words of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke at the open debate on “no exit without strategy” last year, the Council “must be very careful, when we talk about exit strategies, not to confuse them with exit deadlines … an exit strategy must be directed towards a defining overall objective, not an arbitrary, self-imposed, artificial deadline”. (S/PV.4223, p. 4) Thirdly, in exactly a month’s time, East Timorese will go to the ballot booth to democratically choose their representatives to the 88-member Constituent Assembly. The election is one of the most important events in the calendar of East Timor’s political transition, but we must not forget that, while the election is an important milestone in UNTAET’s mandate, it is not UNTAET’s final destination, nor should it be that of the United Nations. Given their recent experience with elections, many East Timorese believe that the potential for violence during and after the elections may be even higher than before. Many previous United Nations peacekeeping operations have also shown elections to be a highly unstable time at which to withdraw from an operation. The United Nations should therefore learn its lessons from past experience and not repeat these mistakes in East Timor. Planning for a phase-down before the elections take place assumes a best-case scenario, which the Brahimi report opposed. The Brahimi report also warned against forcing a situation on the ground to fit political and other extraneous criteria in New York. The Constituent Assembly elections and the period immediately after that could be a moment of vulnerability. As such, the Security Council should view this period with vigilance rather than as an opportunity for an early exit or drawdown from East Timor. At the same time, to make plans for the United Nations exit or substantial withdrawal from East Timor at this juncture would send precisely the wrong signal to the East Timorese. UNTAET has certainly come a long way. The dedication and devotion of the staff of UNTAET, not least of the Transitional Administrator, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, are qualities which Council members have repeatedly paid tribute to. We would be remiss if we did not reaffirm that tribute again today, as it is truly well deserved. We also remain impressed by the determination and resolve demonstrated by the East Timorese to maintain their road to independence. It is in no way an indictment of the good work done by UNTAET and that of the East Timorese people for us to say that the tasks ahead remain large. The United Nations still has a long way to go. Indeed, as Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello said this morning, we have come a long way but we have much further to go. Before it signed the 5 May 1999 agreement, East Timor wanted five years of political transition to prepare itself for independence. Given that it has been barely two years since the popular consultations in East Timor and the events that followed, it is only understandable that more remains to be done. What East Timor has achieved thus far remains fragile and reversible. As the Secretary-General’s report has highlighted, some hard-line militia elements have plans to resume operations designed to destabilize the situation in East Timor in the lead-up to the elections and independence. There is also concern that some militia elements have adopted a strategy of lying low until independence in the belief that the military presence will then be removed from East Timor. Therefore, although great strides have been taken to Timorize the East Timor Transitional Administration, it is clear that certain critical areas of government will continue to need the support of the United Nations. Should post-independence East Timor unravel, the costs to the United Nations to again enter and rebuild East Timor would be much higher than if the international presence were sustained until East Timor is able to stand on its own two feet. We believe that the United Nations should not be penny-wise and pound-foolish. We believe that it is not sufficient for us to rely only on voluntary contributions to fund the United Nations presence. Voluntary contribution on its own is not enough. It would be better if the United Nations presence were supported by a regular and reliable source of funding that would give East Timor the maximum chance of viability over the long term. Indeed, again, as Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello said this morning, speaking boldly and clearly, we will need to retain funding from assessed contributions, not from voluntary funding. We should heed his careful words of advice and I believe that Mr. Ramos-Horta also made a similar appeal to us. During the Arria-formula meeting organized by the Singapore mission on 26 July 2001, Council members were briefed by four very distinguished speakers: Mr. Shepard Forman from the Centre on International Cooperation at New York University, Ambassador Nancy Soderberg from the International Crisis Group, Ms. Sidney Jones from Human Rights Watch and Ambassador David Malone from the International Peace Academy. The unanimous message at that meeting was that East Timor is a half-finished project. They reminded us that ensuring sustainable peace and development in East Timor cannot be done on the cheap or in accelerated time. A precipitous withdrawal of either the civilian or military components of UNTAET would entail serious risks by heightening levels of uncertainty, both locally and internationally, and by undermining stability in the transitional period that really counts. No one wants two years of investment to produce a failed State. The success or failure of East Timor will either bolster or undermine the United Nations credibility. At the same time, the regional context must be borne in mind, not least because of all the political transitions which East Timor’s neighbour Indonesia is currently going through. The exit strategy from East Timor must therefore be carefully worked out with the elected representatives of East Timor, based not on past costs or anticipated needs in other crises, but on the continuing needs in East Timor. A continued United Nations presence, albeit a scaled-down one — and we agree with both Mr. Vieira de Mello and Mr. Ramos- Horta when they say that it will have to be a scaled- down own — is going to be crucial. Areas such as defence, public safety, justice and governance are critical areas which need international support even after independence. More specifically, the speakers at the Arria- formula meeting felt that, first, the United Nations has no other responsible choice but to stage its drawdown with the gradual establishment of the East Timor Defence Force and the East Timor police. There is a real risk that militias would escalate violence significantly if the United Nations security presence were to be withdrawn. The international force should therefore be scaled back only when the East Timor Defence Force reaches critical strength and is fully trained, equipped and deployed alongside the international troops. The process should only begin after independence is declared. The United Nations civilian police should be replaced only when there are adequate numbers of well-trained, well-equipped and well-disciplined police acting within the established rule of law. The second point they made was that one of the most urgent needs is for the international community to assist the United Nations with basic law-and-order functions, providing, for example, judges, prosecutors and investigators. If the United Nations stops its support for prosecutions, “that might be the end of justice, period”, to quote the words of one participant. Thirdly, there are also ongoing needs for capacity-building and technical assistance both in the general area of civil administration and in specific functional areas such as banking, finance, immigration and customs, and air and seaports. International staff will also be needed to perform functions with a high technical content, since local expertise will be unavailable in the beginning. One point worth stressing is that these tasks were indeed spelled out in resolution 1264 (1999), which first established UNTAET. Having just looked at the progress of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) last week, it might also be useful to draw some comparisons between the two operations, given their similarities in size and population. While UNMIK is only one pillar of the international community’s commitment to Kosovo, United Nations members spend roughly the same amount of the United Nations peacekeeping budget on UNMIK as on UNTAET, and will probably do so for a much longer period of time. It is also important to bear in mind that no other region in the world has replicated the security architecture in Europe. The Security Council must therefore factor in the broader political, social and economic context and the regional dimension when considering East Timor. Indeed, this is what our European partners have often asked us to do when looking at the complex interlinked problems in the Balkans. At the recent meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held in Hanoi, the ARF Chairman issued a statement on 25 July which also “reiterated the need for the support of the international community, including ASEAN, to play an active role in the nation-building efforts of East Timor up to and beyond the territory’s independence”. ASEAN is clearly aware that it has to play its part in helping East Timor, but it has its own limitations. In addition, a new Government has recently been installed in Indonesia, East Timor’s closest neighbour. We are pleased that this has been achieved smoothly. Nevertheless, Indonesia has recently undergone a difficult period of social, economic and political change. President Megawati Soekarnoputri has to address many pressing and diverse challenges throughout the Indonesian archipelago. We are therefore confident that Indonesia also sees it to be in its own interest to have a successful and smooth transition in East Timor. The international community should therefore encourage goodwill and understanding between East Timor and Indonesia. We note with interest the results of the registration process of the refugees remaining in West Timor. We hope that the United Nations will continue to work closely with Indonesia to repatriate and resettle the refugees who have indicated their preferences, while keeping in view that some might change their mind after the political situation in East Timor stabilizes. We also look forward to hearing the results of the security assessment mission to West Timor. We hope that the problem of East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara province can be resolved in a comprehensive manner. There can be no doubt that at the end of the day, as Mr. José Ramos-Horta emphasized a few minutes ago, the East Timorese themselves will ultimately be responsible for the success of their own nascent State. They have demonstrated their clear commitment and eagerness to take over once they are ready to do so. The question for us in this Council is whether the United Nations has the wherewithal to stay the course and leave only when it has fulfilled its mandate of providing the framework for self-government and establishing conditions for sustainable developments. This is the key question we have to answer. One way of finding out what the answer is for the Security Council to visit East Timor, as indeed was just proposed by Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello. This is just a suggestion that we support. Finally, this morning at the informal consultations a draft presidential statement on East Timor was introduced. In principle, we believe that such a presidential statement could be helpful. But, as we also emphasized at the informal consultations, we have grave reservations about rushing this statement. We hope that all of us will deliberate carefully on this presidential statement before we reach a final agreement. It is vital that we send the correct signals at this delicate phase of East Timor’s transition.

Through you, Mr. President, I would like to thank the Secretary- General for his comprehensive report and Mr. Vieira de Mello and Mr. Ramos-Horta for their briefings at the beginning of our deliberations. Their personal observations on the current situation on the ground in East Timor and their views on the way forward have added a valuable additional dimension to today’s discussion. The United Kingdom welcomes the good progress that is being made to prepare for the democratic elections in East Timor on 30 August. These elections will be a huge milestone in East Timor’s development and in its journey towards independence. In this respect, we are very encouraged that 14 out of the 16 parties contesting the election have signed up to the pact of national unity and thereby have committed themselves to respecting the outcome of the election and to defending multi-party democracy. We hope that this augurs well for a peaceful election campaign and the acceptance and full implementation of the election results. It is very good that there has been some in-kind donor assistance for the political parties as they prepare for the election. The United Kingdom endorses the Secretary- General’s analysis of the registration exercise for refugees remaining in West Timor. The decision of the majority of refugees to remain in Indonesia at this time should not be seen as a final one. We firmly believe that refugees should retain the right to change their minds and to return to East Timor in the future if they so wish. We also welcome the increased effort made by the East Timorese leadership in recent weeks towards reconciliation. In particular, we believe that the establishment of the Truth, Reception and Reconciliation Commission is a very positive step, which will serve to promote community reconciliation and, perhaps more importantly, to relieve the pressure on the formal justice system. The United Kingdom is providing funding to support this Commission. We are, on the other hand, very concerned that political instability in Jakarta has weakened efforts to initiate the establishment of the ad hoc tribunal for the prosecution of serious crimes committed in East Timor or the appeal against the Atambua murder verdicts. We very much hope that the recent change in Indonesia’s political leadership will result in great progress on that front, and we call on the new Indonesian Government to fulfil its obligation to make early progress in this area. It is vital for the long-term stability of East Timor that those responsible for serious crimes be seen to receive fitting punishment. I should like to end by looking ahead. We have achieved great progress in East Timor, more than I think any of us would have dared to hope during the dark days of 1999. As Mr. Vieira de Mello said, we started from absolutely nothing. The United Kingdom pays tribute to all those involved who have contributed to those achievements: to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, and in particular to the people of East Timor themselves. But we cannot afford to be complacent. It is clear from the Secretary-General’s report and from the presentations of Mr. Vieira de Mello and Mr. Ramos- Horta that much remains to be done before we have the stable and fully independent East Timor which we all hope for. We must remain vigilant, and we must protect the investment that we have all made. As Mr. Ramos- Horta said, peace remains fragile. So there should be no hasty withdrawal, even though there should be no permanent presence. I am sure we all heard Mr. Ramos-Horta’s appeal to support the careful recommendations of the Secretary-General. My delegation also listened very carefully in that regard to the careful and detailed arguments put forward by Ambassador Mahbubani, which we endorse. The United Kingdom recognizes the importance, therefore, of a continued United Nations presence in East Timor after independence, and we welcome the planning which is already under way for that successor mission. We look forward to receiving fuller information in the Secretary-General’s next report, including details on the shape of the follow-on mission and a clear timetable for its implementation. In particular, we look forward to a comprehensive analysis of the military and civilian police requirements, based on a full review of East Timor’s security needs, and to a thorough exposition of the proposed working relationship among the successor mission, the new East Timorese Administration and the United Nations agencies.

Bangladesh thanks you, Mr. President, for holding this open debate on East Timor. This morning, we heard a very useful briefing by the Special Representative of Secretary- General, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello. His presentation was characteristically cogent and eloquent. We note the substantive progress made in various fields since the last report that Sergio Vieira de Mello presented to the Council on the East Timor situation, on 26 January 2001. For that, we commend the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and, in particular, the leadership of Sergio Vieira de Mello. We would also like to welcome the valuable address that Mr. José Ramos-Horta made to the Council this morning. He has once again provided the Council with helpful perspectives on East Timor’s situation and on its future after the elections. East Timor has travelled a long distance since September 1999. With the first democratic elections only a month away, the East Timorese are now approaching a critical point in their history. Mr. Vieira de Mello has informed us of a number of developments in addition to those described in the Secretary- General’s report (S/2001/719). He has also outlined a number of preparatory steps that UNTAET is taking for the smooth conduct of the elections and the subsequent transfer of authority to the first full-fledged East Timorese Government. We believe that the four broad objectives he outlined are very relevant, and those objectives have our full support. In that context, we very much welcome the format and content of the key benchmarks set out at the end of the Secretary- General’s report. A lot has been achieved in a very short period of time through cooperative engagement of the Timorese people and the international community. The Secretary- General’s report portrays the participatory and on many occasions innovative approach followed in establishing a pluralistic society and a multi-party democracy in East Timor. Particularly, some noteworthy achievements over the past months signal East Timor’s advance towards a sustainable social and economic base. Let me cite a few of these: women are increasingly taking part in decision-making; the election process is attracting qualified individuals, and we were particularly pleased to hear this morning from Sergio Vieira de Mello that a large number of women candidates will be participating in the elections; the East Timorese civil service is being integrated into all major decision-making areas; substantial Trust Fund resources, as high as 40 per cent, are being invested in the social sector, particularly in health and education; and women are coming up prominently in entrepreneurial efforts, and we note with satisfaction that women occupy one third of the jobs generated by the World Bank’s Small Enterprises Programme. Still, we believe, there are a number of areas where unfinished tasks should be approached carefully and with a well planned timetable for implementation. The first area is capacity-building and technical assistance. For some more time, East Timor will need support from the international community in the areas of civil administration, policing, the judiciary and basic social services. We welcome Sergio Vieira de Mello’s comment this morning that capacity building is the main endeavour of the United Nations in East Timor. Multiple sources closely familiar with the territory and following the developments there confirm the need for the ongoing commitment of the international community in post-independence East Timor. It is absolutely necessary for Timorization to take root. Otherwise, all the efforts of the international community will be in vain. Both the current report of the Secretary-General and his last one (S/2001/42) underline clearly the need for an international presence in the early years of an independent East Timor. The second is a continuing United Nations presence. While East Timor will continue to receive assistance from bilateral donors and international financial institutions, United Nations assistance will constitute the core of all international assistance. The United Nations is engaged in meeting urgent needs in areas such as security, public safety and governance. The Secretary-General’s report sufficiently explains the reasons behind the need for a continuing United Nations presence in the civil administration — and within that, particularly in public finance and public sector management — and in civilian police, defence and the justice system. In all those spheres, the United Nations is engaged effectively. If the United Nations makes a rapid withdrawal, the precious investment we have made in East Timor during the past two years would be at stake. Therefore, a phased withdrawal should be finalized only following consultation with the new East Timorese national Government. In that regard, for some months, back-stopping by international advisers could be a useful way to assist East Timorese effectively to build up capacity and to gather experience. East Timorese should not get the impression that the international community has abandoned them at a critical stage of their nation- building. Thirdly, the cooperation and support of Indonesia is another important aspect for an independent East Timor. We hope that the new Government just installed in Indonesia will realize that expectation effectively. At the same time, worthwhile people-to-people contact between Indonesia and East Timor is necessary to generate understanding and promote a culture of peace between them. We believe that while the Governments make efforts to promote closer relations, civil society in Indonesia and East Timor could complement governmental efforts. The fourth area relates to the role of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). East Timor would obviously look towards eventual membership of ASEAN. In a regional setting, ASEAN can play a key role in maintaining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of East Timor as its future member. We welcome the establishment by the Secretary- General of the working group on post-UNTAET planning in East Timor, and we would emphasize the importance of there being a civilian component to the United Nations presence for some time more. Bangladesh would be happy to contribute civil administration and civilian police professionals to such a presence. We note UNTAET’s preparations for holding elections to the Constituent Assembly, as mentioned in paragraph 62 of the Secretary-General’s report. We fully support its efforts and hope that a free and fair election can set East Timor robustly on its path to independence. Let me conclude by saying that in the run-up to the election to be held in exactly a month’s time and in the subsequent independence, we would encourage UNTAET to continue to employ determined and well- planned efforts to prepare East Timor effectively for its sovereign existence. Bangladesh has been making its humble contributions to the empowerment of the Timorese people through the Grameen Bank’s microcredit initiatives. We believe that — as the territory emerges as the first independent State of the new millennium, in an expression of the will of its people — continued support to East Timor is a major responsibility of the international community.

I too would like to thank the Secretary-General for his progress report on the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), and I would also like to thank Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, for his useful and complete briefing on the developments in East Timor. I also thank Mr. José Ramos-Horta for his briefing. The phase that East Timor is now going through is an important stage in the history of the East Timorese people, who are moving inexorably towards independence. In this regard I would like to pay a sincere tribute to UNTAET for the effectiveness with which it has shouldered its responsibilities and is continuing to do so in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council. The upcoming elections, which are planned for 30 August and are expected to be pluralist and democratic, are a real reason for satisfaction and augur well for the future of the East Timor. We hail the signing by the registered parties of a national unity pact, by which they have committed themselves to respect the rules of democracy and fair competition and the verdict of the polls. This is a positive step. The elections will in particular allow the movement from the Transitional Administration to an independent East Timorese Government. This Government will be confronted with numerous problems and challenges, which it will have to meet. International community assistance for this effort will be indispensable. We welcome the progress that has been made towards establishing the basis for an effective administration, which will have the onerous responsibility of governing the country in a viable manner and of promoting a climate conducive to the integral development of East Timor. The best way to ensure the future of East Timor is for it to establish good-neighbourly relations with the countries of the region. In this regard we welcome the conclusion by East Timor and Australia of the Timor Sea Arrangement, which was the culmination of 16 months of negotiations. We also would like to emphasize the importance of confidence-building between Indonesia and East Timor. The Indonesian authorities for their part have time and again demonstrated their readiness to cooperate with UNTAET and to establish mechanisms for dialogue and concerted action in order to resolve the outstanding issues, such as the problems of refugees and displaced persons. The importance of the regional context was emphasized earlier by Mr. Ramos-Horta when he said: “a strong, dynamic and creative relationship with the region will be our best defence”. Finally, I would like to say that we support the major efforts being undertaken by UNTAET, the troop- contributing countries, the United Nations Development Programme and the donor countries. They are playing an important role in providing the East Timorese a solid basis for governing, in an atmosphere of peace and stability, once independence has been achieved. In conclusion, my delegation would like to reiterate Mr. Ramos-Horta’s view stressing that the peace remains precarious and that any hasty withdrawal would threaten what has been achieved. Indeed we believe that a great deal remains to be done, and the commitment of the international community to East Timor should be preserved. What is at stake here is the future of this nascent State.

I would like to thank Mr. Vieira de Mello for his briefing of the Council and in particular for the professionalism, dedication and simply good service of him and his colleagues in East Timor. I would also like to thank Mr. Ramos-Horta for his comments this morning, including the affirmations he has made regarding his hopes for the future of his country. The most important thing for us to do today is to send a clear, unambiguous signal that the Constituent Assembly elections scheduled for 30 August are a major step forward towards a free and independent East Timor. Everyone here hopes and expects that these elections will be conducted peacefully and that there will be a smooth and fair implementation of the results. We have consistently supported the efforts of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) to strengthen the involvement and direct participation of the East Timorese people with the Administration of East Timor. The establishment of an elected Constituent Assembly is a logical, welcome next step in this process, as is the selection in mid- September of a new transitional cabinet, reflecting the election results and the principle of national unity, and composed entirely of East Timorese. We have heard from a number of sources that there is anxiety among the East Timorese people as they approach this election with the memory of the popular consultations still fresh in their minds. It is important for them to look at the differences that those two years have made. Now nearly all the parties have signed a pact of national unity, committing themselves to a peaceful political campaign and to accept the outcome of elections. Now there are United Nations peacekeepers and civilian police throughout the territory. In addition, their fellow citizens are in the nascent East Timorese Police Service and East Timorese Defence Force. This election will be different. It will be safe, and it will set the tone for the future. As part of that future, at a later date and when there are elected East Timorese representatives among our interlocutors, we will need to talk seriously about the international presence after independence. In its resolution 1338 (2001) the Security Council stressed the need for a substantial international presence in East Timor after independence. I think I can say that the Council still firmly holds that view. The United States Government hopes that this substantial presence will include a wider range of United Nations agencies and programmes engaged in East Timor. We welcome the Secretary-General’s recommendation, contained in paragraph 54 of his report, that his Deputy Special Representative after independence should be the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in East Timor. The Secretary-General’s recent report also provides us with the beginning of a useful road map for getting from where we are now, on the eve of elections, to where we want to be, next year, on the eve of independence. In particular my delegation supports the Secretary-General’s intention to adjust downwards some parts of the UNTAET structure in the upcoming months. This is both well reasoned and realistic, and also completely within the Secretary-General’s jurisdiction, independent of Council action. Today is not the time to get into a protracted discussion of the Secretary-General’s recommendations on a post-UNTAET presence. The upcoming elections are our first priority. We will have time later for other discussions. I would like to say, however, that we have looked carefully at paragraphs 52 to 60 of the Secretary-General’s current report, and we look forward to October’s more detailed elaboration of the proposal for fielding a smaller successor mission to UNTAET. We presume that this follow-on report will use as a starting point the commitment in paragraph 53 that this will be a substantially smaller presence and the discussion in paragraphs 58 and 59 of how the peacekeeping force can be reconfigured and eventually, in due time, withdrawn. That brings me to two questions that I would like to pose to Mr. Vieira de Mello to end my remarks. The first relates to paragraph 56 of the report, where it estimates that a certain percentage of the East Timor Transitional Administration staff and the UNTAET administrative staff will be reduced at the end of the current mandate. I wonder if you could give us an idea of how many international staff work in those two entities, respectively, at the current time. The second question relates to UNTAET’s relationship with the Indonesian Government. There has been progress in some areas, but the report notes that there are many outstanding issues, including the refugee and militia situation in West Timor, cooperation in the judicial sphere, a range of economic issues, such as pensions, and access from Oecussi to the rest of East Timor. I would be interested in your comments and those of José Ramos-Horta about engaging with the new Government on those issues.

I, too, would like to express gratitude to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, for his important and interesting briefing. We have also listened attentively to the very substantive statement by the member of the Transitional Cabinet and major political figure of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta. Today’s meeting of the Security Council is dedicated to reviewing the important processes taking place in East Timor, in particular within the framework of preparations for the Constituent Assembly. Necessary assistance for this review is provided by the progress report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor. The report is an extremely substantive document that provides a detailed description of the efforts of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor and of successes in the Timorization of the structures of power as the movement towards independence advances. We share the conclusions of the Secretary-General and the thrust of his ideas concerning the future role of the United Nations in East Timor. We expect that they will take on the form of recommendations in his next report, to be submitted at the end of October. We consider that preparations for the transition of East Timor to a new status is being carried out in a logically planned manner. It is extremely important that this process remain smooth. In any case, the Security Council must take into account the need for a thorough adjustment of its actions so that the future — in our view, absolutely indispensable — evolution of the United Nations presence in East Timor does not impinge on this process. It is necessary to recall here that the operation in East Timor opened up a fundamentally new page in United Nations peacekeeping and that its success or failure is directly linked to the prestige of the United Nations. Miss Durrant (Jamaica): My delegation wishes to welcome the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, and Mr. José Ramos-Horta, member of the Transitional Cabinet of East Timor responsible for Foreign Affairs. We thank them for their important contribution to the Council’s consideration of the situation in East Timor. The Security Council must now focus on developments in the territory, the preparation for elections on 30 August, progress made in capacity- building and the exit strategy of the United Nations. In this regard, we are grateful for the update provided on each of these areas in the Secretary-General’s report, and I wish to comment in turn on these issues. First, on the preparations for elections and independence, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) has made excellent progress in the registration of political parties and the residents of East Timor. We are pleased that the election campaign has been peacefully launched and that deadlines for registration on other activities have been met. The fact that no party is basing its campaign appeal on regional or ethnic affiliations is encouraging, as is a commitment of the parties to conducting themselves in a peacefully and mutually respectful fashion and to defending multi-party democracy. We are optimistic that, with the special preparations to ensure public safety, the community policing activities and the apparent commitment of the people of East Timor to this process, the elections will be conducted with fairness, with wide participation and in an environment of calm and stability. We look forward to the establishment of the Constituent Assembly after elections and to its important work on the constitution. We hope that the wide participation encouraged during the election campaign and the involvement of the population in the decision-making process will also be an essential part of the second stage of the political process. We wish to stress the importance of finding common ground with regard to the drafting of the constitution and the need for those intimately involved to work in a spirit of cooperation and compromise. We also anticipate a renewed focus on economic and social development and reconstruction during this period. Secondly, with regard to capacity-building, the Secretary-General’s report details the substantial progress that has been made in the areas of finance, the economy, education and the social services. We are particularly interested in the progress made in the area of justice and reconciliation. The National Council’s finalization and endorsement of a regulation establishing a Truth, Reception and Reconciliation Commission is a welcome development. Developing a strong and effective police force and improvement of the judicial system are also objectives important to addressing the security situation and the overall maintenance of law and order. We note the progress that has been made so far in the transfer of authority to the East Timorese. In particular, we are pleased that efforts have been made to ensure gender balance at the different levels of the East Timorese Administration and that women constitute some 27 percent of candidates on the national list of parties. We hope that these initiatives will also result in a substantial number of women being elected to the Constituent Assembly. On the East Timor economy, we view the signing of the Timor Sea Arrangement as an important development in the Timorization process. The long- term benefits expected to accrue from this agreement, along with the strong economic growth referred to in the Secretary-General’s report, augur well for East Timor’s economic viability and sustainability. The assistance of United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme and of international financial institutions and their future collaboration on development plans will also be crucial in contributing to the economic growth of East Timor and in creating an enabling environment for investment. The refugee situation remains of concern to us, as do incidents of militia activity in West Timor. We commend the Indonesian Government for its cooperation in the registration of refugees in West Timor, and we look forward to the findings of the inter- agency security assessment mission, which visited West Timor from the 6 to 14 July. We again encourage the Government of Indonesia to implement all the measures called for in resolution 1319 (2000) in order to create a more secure environment for the return of United Nations staff to West Timor. My delegation cannot forget the murder of the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees last September. We attach importance to the implementation of the memorandum of understanding on cooperation in legal, judicial and human rights matters. We urge the Government of Indonesia to take steps to implement the section of the memorandum pertaining to the transfer of persons for the purpose of prosecution. In regard to the exit strategy, it is clear that a lot more needs to be done in East Timor and that the impact of many of the initiatives taken by UNTAET can be evaluated only in the long term. In this regard, the Secretary-General’s report due in October will be an important contribution to the evaluation by the Council. We must therefore carefully consider the timing and impact of the reduction of the international presence in East Timor. East Timor, after all, constitutes a unique experiment for the United Nations. We are all agreed that after independence, East Timor will still require the assistance of the international community. Our exit strategy depends a great deal on the progress in capacity-building, especially in the areas of the police, the justice system, institutional capacity and the long-term security of East Timor. We look forward to discussing the recommendations of the working group on post- UNTAET planning and the recommendations of the integrated mission task force. We note the recommendations in the Secretary-General’s report and welcome the proposed inclusion of a human rights component in the successor mission. We would also like to emphasize the importance we attach to the development and training of the East Timor Police Service, and we encourage UNTAET to work urgently towards achieving the targets set for December 2001 and April 2003. We agree with the Secretary-General that the substantial strength of the United Nations civilian police should be maintained until East Timor police are fully trained and deployed. We also agree with the Secretary-General’s assessment of the security situation in East Timor. We share his view that the militia groups will continue to pose a threat both to the internal stability of East Timor and to the well-being and security of refugees remaining in West Timor. We therefore support the need for a continued United Nations force, the size of which has to be determined in close coordination with the elected representatives of the East Timorese people so that we can maintain a secure environment. We feel it is important that the military presence be proportionate to the security risks and threats to the territory. In this regard, we must heed the appeals made to the Council by Mr. Ramos-Horta. The continued support of the international community for the people of East Timor is crucial to the cementing of the substantial gains already made and to future sustainable growth in East Timor. We also agree with Mr. Ramos-Horta that excellent relations with other countries in the region will be East Timor’s best defence. In conclusion, Jamaica salutes the people of East Timor in their long, long struggle for self- determination, and we look forward to welcoming East Timor into the family of nations after independence early next year. We also pay tribute to the men and women of UNTAET, under the dynamic leadership of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello.

France associates itself with the statement that Belgium will make later on behalf of the European Union. I will merely make a few comments in my national capacity. First, I wish to thank Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello and Mr. José Ramos-Horta for the clarity and the precision of their statements. With them we can take stock of the absolutely outstanding work accomplished by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and of the progress in the transition towards independence and in particular of the Administration’s continuing “Timorization” — I use that term even though Mr. Vieira de Mello does not consider it appropriate; it is the word one must use. I wish to pay tribute once again to the personnel of UNTAET. The progress achieved brings us closer to our ultimate common goal, which is the building of an independent and viable Timorese State. We welcome the upcoming election of the members of the Constituent Assembly on 30 August. We need to work together with Timorese officials to make that consultation a success. We should especially mention the quality of the preparation of this timetable, in particular the conclusion of the national pact signed by the majority of political parties. These elections will clearly be a critical stage in the political transition. The international community, for its part, will see its role thoroughly changed. There will be less need than in the past of replacing Timorese authorities. Rather, it will be a question of accompanying them on their road towards independence. We welcome, moreover, the creation on 20 June 2001 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The process of discussion with the militias must also be supported, and we thank Mr. Ramos-Horta for the clarifications he gave us in this respect. We believe that only the attainment of political power by the Timorese will make it possible to progress in the reconciliation process. To ensure the stability of the country, we believe it is essential to promote the rapid recognition of Timorese political power and the earliest possible accession of East Timor to independence, once the presidential elections have been held. Indonesia, for its part, also has a role to play in the issue of disarmament and the dismantling of the militias. We welcome what was indicated by Mr. Ramos-Horta concerning relations with Indonesia, particularly since the designation of the new president of Indonesia. We call upon the Government of Jakarta to implement appeal procedures concerning the murder in September 2000 of the three staff members of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Atambua, and to bring to trial the perpetrators of violations of human rights in East Timor. The problem of violence linked to traffic in the border zone is a legitimate reason for concern. In order to deal with the roots of this phenomenon and control this violence, a strategy for harmonious development with West Timor must be developed. We have taken due note of the report of the Secretary-General, which clearly recounts the work and missions of UNTAET and presents more clearly what is to come. We note that the Secretary-General envisions a substantial reduction in the international presence, and we await with interest the specific figures in his next report, in October, on the pre- and post- independence periods. We would like to thank Mr. Vieira de Mello for the clarifications he gave us in his introductory statement, particularly regarding security. In this respect, I associate myself with the question Mr. Vieira de Mello was asked by Ambassador Hume on one of the paragraphs of the report. The next report should allow us to obtain broader indications on the expected duration of maintaining the international presence and on the distribution of roles between, on the one hand, the United Nations mission to follow after UNTAET, and on the other, the United Nations funds and programmes such as the United Nations Development Programme, the international financial institutions and the regional organizations, whose role is called on to grow rapidly as the country progresses towards independence. I have indeed noted what Ambassador Mahbubani indicated regarding the role that could be played by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and he also referred to the very recent meeting of the ASEAN ministers at Hanoi.

I, too, wish most particularly to thank Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative of the Secretary- General, and Mr. José Ramos-Horta for their very comprehensive and enlightening statements. We also wish to thank the Secretary-General for the report that is before us. The excellent and highly appreciated work of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) can largely be attributed to the experience, dedication and personal and professional qualities that Mr. Vieira de Mello has brought to his difficult task. The Security Council is entering a decisive period for the future of East Timor. The elections scheduled for 30 August to elect a Constituent Assembly are an essential step in the construction of an independent State in East Timor. The United Nations has no choice but to accompany the Timorese to the very end, that is, until they have developed local capacities that will allow the emerging State to create the conditions for adequate and sustainable development. The Security Council, the United Nations system and the Timorese, in particular, all face the challenge of contributing to the establishment of a system of government in which law, institutions, respect for human rights, tolerance and respect for diverse ideologies and viewpoints prevail and in which, we must say yet again, full, complete and due justice is essential. Colombia, as a member of the Security Council, wishes actively to contribute to the construction by the Timorese of a promising future in peace. We want favourable results in the political, economic and social spheres and therefore believe that our exchange today marks the onset of a strategic debate that should lead to defining an appropriate role for the United Nations in East Timor. Colombia feels that, in determining the future of UNTAET, the sole valid criterion is one that will surely be simple to define: the specific conditions and needs of East Timor and its people. Any other criterion that may be brought to the debate — such as budget, the needs of other peacekeeping operations, current or potential, and so on — could lead us to draw inappropriate conclusions. This is not a simplistic assertion, but a realistic one, given the situation in East Timor. We must first decide what East Timor needs from the United Nations and then define how to provide what the Timorese need. In this context, it is quite obvious that paragraphs 52 through 60 of the Secretary-General’s report require very careful study. The Security Council will keep abreast of the elections to be held on 30 August; once the Timorese have expressed their political will, the Council must ensure that its opinion is given due weight in the definition of UNTAET’s mandate and of any other mandates that might be agreed. I should like to ask the Secretariat a few general questions in order to obtain an up-to-date understanding of certain aspects of the report. First, I should like to be a little clearer on how the presence of other United Nations agencies in East Timor is to be coordinated with any future decision of the Security Council concerning UNTAET. For example, paragraph 54 refers to certain ideas relating to the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme, which would surely be of interest to the Executive Board of that Programme. How is coordination to be established between the efforts of such boards and the Security Council’s proposals on the future of UNTAET? Secondly, I should like greater specificity on the status of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), which, according to paragraph 22 of the report, is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. How will those who have been elected participate in UNDAF? Will they be in a position to define development priorities by the end of the year or will they maintain UNDAF as a process focused exclusively on the United Nations vision? Finally, I must emphasize the great importance of the inter-agency security assessment mission that visited West Timor from 6 to 14 July under the guidance of the United Nations Security Coordinator, as mentioned in paragraph 46 of the report. When will we receive the results of that mission and, above all, when can action be taken on them? It is clearly indispensable to proceed as quickly as possible on this security issue, hopefully before the elections.

At the outset, I wish to thank you, Sir, for having organized this public meeting on the situation in East Timor, barely one month before the elections that will open the way to that country’s independence. I also wish to thank the Secretary-General for his progress report on the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and to welcome Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative of the Secretary- General, and Mr. José Ramos-Horta, Cabinet Member of the East Timor Transitional Administration responsible for Foreign Affairs. I thank Mr. Vieira de Mello for his clear and precise presentation of the Secretary-General’s report and Mr. Ramos-Horta for his very enlightening statement. In the report before us, we take due note of the considerable progress made by UNTAET since our last meeting on 18 May towards building an independent, democratic and stable East Timorese State. This public meeting is an ideal opportunity for my delegation to pay a warm tribute to the Special Representative, all the staff of UNTAET and all the Members of the East Timor Transitional Administration for the steps they have taken in the political process leading to the national and international sovereignty of East Timor and the emergence of an independent East Timorese Government. The delegation of Mali endorses and supports all the ideas, recommendations and analyses provided by the Secretary-General in his report, and shares some concerns expressed by those who have spoken before us. Allow me to make a few additional comments. First, there can be no doubt whatsoever that UNTAET has been seriously and resolvedly involved in the process of preparing for the elections for the Constituent Assembly, to be held on the symbolic date of 30 August. The dissolution of the National Council and the opening of the electoral campaign on 15 July were concrete demonstrations of that involvement. The massive participation of East Timorese in this first multi-party balloting is the biggest challenge facing UNTAET and, through it, the international community as a whole. In this connection, my delegation welcomes the participation of 16 political parties and the registration of 1,138 party and independent candidates for the 88 seats in Parliament. We welcome and encourage the women candidates in particular. The pact of national unity, signed on 8 July 2001, by 14 out of 16 parties competing for the vote, constitutes a strong political act that my delegation welcomes and supports. The fact that these parties have committed themselves to respecting the ballot results, to conducting themselves peacefully with mutual respect and to defending pluralistic democracy clearly attests to the maturity of the East Timorese political leaders and their determination to establish the bases of a solid democratic and an economically viable State. The political parties, we believe, must become increasingly involved in the education, sensitizing and training of their activists. In order to do this, the parties need the means. In this context, we support UNTAET’s decision to solicit donors’ support to organize a programme of assistance for all the registered political parties and independent candidates. Regarding the various phases of transition from a Transitional Administration to an independent East Timorese Government, my delegation welcomes the laudable progress made by UNTAET. It is encouraging to note that steady progress has been made in the last six months in the areas of staff recruitment and training and the adoption of legislation on employment and labour administration. All this certainly contributes to the Administration’s transition in good conditions to the future East Timorese Government. The Timorization of the Administration must be accelerated before independence, in order to allow the country’s people to take control themselves of their country’s destiny. East Timor’s accession to independence must not be synonymous with the international community’s disengagement. In view of the enormous sums that the international community has invested there, everything must be done to accompany the young East Timorese democracy’s first steps. In this context, my delegation takes due note of the comments made by the Secretary-General in paragraphs 52 to 60 of his report and awaits with interest his October 2001 report, in which he will outline the new mission that will replace UNTAET. My delegation attaches great importance to the questions linked to defence, public safety and governance, which must be ensured for the East Timorese throughout the critical period that will follow the elections. I am certain that the Secretary-General will make relevant recommendations in his October 2001 report regarding each of the aforementioned points. Finally, I cannot conclude without reiterating Mali’s firm support for the remarkable work achieved by UNTAET, under the effective guidance of Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello, on the path to East Timor’s independence, of the Timorization of the Administration and of the advent of an independent East Timorese Government. East Timor will still need the international community’s support following its accession to independence. The international community does not have the right to shirk its responsibilities vis-à-vis this emerging democracy.

With the concurrence of the members of the Council, I intend to suspend the meeting now. The meeting will resume at 3.30 p.m.