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UNTAET Daily Briefing 16 Jun 2000

Dili, 16 June 2000
INDONESIAN INVESTIGATORS TO VISIT EAST TIMOR

A team from the Indonesian Attorney General's Office is arriving in Dili early July. The purpose of the visit is to question witnesses and collect material evidence, if any. This was agreed after the first working level meeting between UNTAET's legal and political representatives and its Indonesian counterparts in Jakarta last week.

The Indonesian team would not number more than 15 persons and will stay in Dili for approximately 10 days.

It was also agreed that UNTAET investigators alone would question witnesses in a number of selected priority cases. UNTAET estimates that it will take at least three weeks to locate witnesses, question them and translate these interviews into Bahasa Indonesia. The results would then be handed over to the Indonesian Attorney General's Office.

In Dili the process of identifying witnesses started on Sunday.

When the Indonesian team visits Dili - after the witnesses have been questioned - it will follow-up, if necessary, with further questioning and material evidence collection. UNTAET will conduct the questioning in the presence of an observer from the Attorney General's team and the protection of witnesses will be treated as a priority.

ILLEGAL AMMUNITION SEIZED BY UNTAET

UNTAET Civilian Police and Customs have seized a shipment of illegal ammunition in a cargo container in Dili. The ammunition, 200 rounds of soft-nose bullets, was concealed in a box with several packages of curtains.

One hundred rounds were of .270 caliber and 100 of .22 caliber.

The container, which had been shipped from Australia, also contained bags of sugar, flour and refrigerators, among other things. Sixty-seven cases of excess beer were also found in the container.

The investigation is ongoing.

On 1 June, UNTAET's Border Control officers stopped two trucks at the border crossing point at Batugade. The importer initially presented customs officers with invoices for the shipment, which indicated a value of nine million rupiah. During a routine inspection, however, a second manifest was found; this showed that the goods were worth 39 million rupiah.

The trucks were escorted to Dili port, since they were too large to unload at Batugade.

REHABILITATION OF CENTRAL BANK STARTS

The rehabilitation of the Central Payments Office began yesterday and is expected to be completed in two months. The work is carried out by an Australian company, TIC East Timor, and will cost US$416,000. The amount will cover full rehabilitation of the destroyed building, as well as the installation of high standard security systems and the reinstallation of bank vaults. Fifty people are working on the project, 38 of them East Timorese.

This is the first major reconstruction project on a public building carried out by UNTAET.

Several other buildings are being renovated and the works are currently out for tender. In Dili, these include: the Judicial Affairs Office, Education warehouse, the Court of Appeal, the Employment Service Centre, installation of a kitchen at the Police College and the renovation of toilet and septic system at the airport.

In Baucau, rehabilitation works are underway for the prison, the district court, the Public Prosecutors Office and the market.

In Suai, repairs are planned for the government building.

PROTESTANT CHURCHES BURNED IN LEQUIDOE

Three Protestant churches were burned last week in the villages of Name Lesso, Fahisoi and Berilau in Lequidoe, a sub-district of Aileu.

The Protestant pastor of Berilau was physically assaulted and his motorbike burned.

The incident was apparently sparked off when Protestant youths jeered at a Catholic procession. In East Timor, the whole month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and nightly processions are a common occurrence.

Civilian Police in Aileu is investigating the incidents and have called all parties to exercise religious tolerance.

The Catholic priest in the area referred to the incident in last Sunday's sermon and called for reconciliation between Protestants and the Catholics.

The sub-district chief of Lequidoe will be organizing a reconciliation meeting today, 16 June, with the help of UNTAET's civilian staff in Aileu.

NEW POLICE STATION OPENS

It is expected that another 10 to 15 sub-stations will open by the end of the month. The ultimate aim is to have some 50 sub-stations operating.

FOOD BROUGHT TO MUDSLIDE VICTIMS

The World Food Programme (WFP) carried out an assessment into the mudslides in Baucau's Quelicai sub-district Wednesday. One hundred and fifty families, numbering some 700 people, are in need of immediate assistance in the villages of Laisoro, Adu and Maluru.

An UNTAET helicopter left this morning for Quelicai, to distribute UNHCR plastic sheetings and WFP food rations to the 150 families. The food should last two months. Distribution will be done by representatives of CNRT and Catholic Relief Services.

The health situation in the area is under control, according to MSF.

The mud, still moving, is part of a dissolved mountain. The mudslides are caused by heavy rain and deforestation.

The total number people of affected stands at 6,000 across six villages.

DRAFT OF REGULATION ON ENVIRONMENT INTRODUCED

A draft regulation on protection of the environment was introduced today, 16 June, before the National Consultative Council.

The other topics on the agenda were the budget law introduced in the last session, and a presentation by the United Nations Development Program on the so-called Common Country Assessment, a mechanism for planning a common strategy for the UN agencies and improve collaboration between them.

TEPs EXTENDED UNTIL END OF AUGUST

East Timorese working in the Transitional Employment Projects (TEPs) will continue to receive their salaries until the end of August.

TEPs are short-term employment projects, which are in place in all the 13 districts of East Timor. TEP activities focus on the maintenance of roads, drainage clean-up and repair of damaged buildings.

More than 23,000 people are currently employed under TEPs across East Timor.

CROPS DESTROYED IN SUAI DUE TO FLOODS

It is estimated that more than 1,000 people have lost their main food supply for the dry season, after floods drenched rice paddies in Cova Lima district over the past week. The worst hit area is the sub-district of Tilomar, where 100 hectares of rice paddies, ready for harvesting, but now washed away or submerged in flood water.

In the village of Salele, it is expected that 1,000 people, some 200 to 300 families, will be forced to rely on food assistance by the United Nations and NGOs.

The crops are lost and when the water recedes, farmers will have great problems clearing away the mud due to lack of equipment.

UNTAET has begun employing people under the TEP (Temporary Employment Project) to clear irrigation canals so as to prevent similar floods in the future in East Timor. TEP labour has also been made available to the Pakistani Engineer Battalion to assist in emergency road repairs.

AUTOPSIES OF UNAMET STAFF TO BE PERFORMED

Autopsy of the two bodies of the UNAMET personnel, killed in the violence last September, will be performed on Monday, at the Human Rights Center in Dili.

Both bodies were found in graves in Ermera district, in what was the first exhumation done with regard to investigations into deaths of UNAMET staff.

Six UNAMET local personnel were killed during the violence.

The six killed were João Lopes, Orlando Gomes, José Ernesto Mariano, Ruben Barros Soares, Domingos Pereira, and Leonardo da Silva da Oliveira.

Álvaro Dias Lopes, also an UNAMET staff, was seriously injured.