Annan Offers U.N. Strategy for E. Timor

Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented a blueprint Tuesday to guide East Timor to independence, a difficult task that the U.N. chief said will take two to three years and require a “robust” military and police presence.

The U.N. plans call for building governmental institutions in the territory, which is seeking independence from Indonesia, in part based on the model that the world organization is following to create a civilian administration in Kosovo.

“The situation in East Timor is critical,” Annan warned in a report to the U.N. Security Council. “The civil administration is no longer functioning. The judiciary and court systems have ceased to exist.

“Essential services such as water and electricity are in real danger of collapse,” he said. “There are no medical services, and hundreds of thousands of displaced persons are in dire need of emergency relief.”

The secretary-general called for deployment of 1,640 police officers and as many as 8,950 troops to ensure the safety of East Timor’s citizens and U.N. staff.

The United Nations, which allowed an Australian-led force to enter East Timor on Sept. 20, plans to assume the “full burden of the military component” in the territory in a matter of months, said Bernard Miyet, undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations. The U.N. also will take on civilian administration, he said.

In contrast, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has handled peacekeeping duties in Kosovo--a province of Yugoslavia’s main republic, Serbia--since the alliance defeated Yugoslav forces in June. The U.N. is responsible for Kosovo’s civilian administration.

Annan’s 18-page report to the council did not estimate the cost of what will be an extensive U.N. presence in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that was annexed by Indonesia in 1976. But Miyet predicted that it will be far greater than the cost of the Kosovo operation. Neither Miyet nor Annan provided a proposed budget.

On Aug. 30, nearly 80% of East Timor’s voters cast their ballots for independence. The decision was followed by a blood bath carried out by pro-Indonesia militia members, often supported by Indonesian troops.

Miyet said one of the United Nations’ earliest tasks will be ensuring a smooth transition between the Australian-led troops now in the territory and the U.N. peacekeepers who will replace them.

The U.N. force is not expected to be deployed until December at the earliest.

The United Nations Transitional Administration will have a broad mandate in East Timor in addition to providing security. It will coordinate humanitarian assistance, support economic development, assist in the development of a constitution, organize and conduct elections, create a judiciary system and create conditions for disarmament.

The administration will be headed by a special representative of the secretary-general.

Underlining the dimensions of the tasks ahead, thousands of people who had fled into the hills of East Timor returned to Dili, the territorial capital, Tuesday and lined up for what a U.N. spokesman described as a “massive food distribution.”