E Timor: the hard part remains Fri, 4 Feb 2000 08:39:19 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Joyo@aol.com The Age [Melbourne] Friday 28 January 2000 News Special/Comment East Timor: the hard part remains By JOHN SANDERSON AS EACH day goes by in Dili under the authority of the United Nations Transition Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), there are more rumors on the street of a gathering storm of protest and riots. Frequent demonstrations outside the headquarters of the various UNTAET departments demanding action and jobs add to the atmosphere of trouble for this latest UN mission. To a people already traumatised by the destruction and killing before the departure of the Indonesian army, the signs are deeply disturbing. A lack of food, high prices in the markets and a very slow emergence of the jobs foreshadowed in the international community's early flush of commitment to reconstruction compound their anxiety. Families are worried about building a future for their children. The Australian-led peace enforcement mission is withdrawing and handing over to the blue-bereted military and police components of UNTAET. Major-General Peter Cosgrove and his InterFET troops will be gone before the end of February. They have done an outstanding job of seeing off the militia and creating the conditions for the safe return of the East Timorese to their homes. Yet while their task has been challenging, they have had the easy part of the rebuilding of this society that has never governed itself. UNTAET has the most demanding task yet attempted by the international community. The mandate given to it by the Security Council empowers the special representative of the Secretary-General, Sergio de Mello, to exercise all legislative and executive authority, including the administration of justice. His powers equal those of a governor under the old colonial systems. UNTAET has a mandate to exercise jurisdiction down to district level, with district administrators appointed to oversee the work of its governance and public administration in the districts. The main difference to colonial power lies in the aim of establishing, over a period of two to three years, the conditions for the transition to a peaceful and independent state. The focus of the mandate is developing local capacity to assume responsibility for self-government. Given the political immaturity of the East Timorese society, the UN has to address this issue from the most fundamental basis, helping the people define who they are and what they want to be. It must also manage the resolution of disputes and develop the infrastructure that will sustain the basic requirements of life and attract investment. The education needed to inform this electorate of the options for developing a constitutional relationship for society is a daunting task, but must be developed before the election of a constituent assembly and a legislature. UNTAET is required to establish local advisory bodies at all levels to assist it, and to ensure the participation of the East Timorese in the governance and administration of the territory. Without question, UNTAET cannot hope to fulfil its mandate unless such bodies can be formed and are cooperative. At present the key advisory body is the National Consultative Council. Its membership is dominated by the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) under the leadership of the heroic "Xanana" Gusmao, who is now on an international tour seeking investment for his impoverished country. Gaining a consensus on complex legislation is never an easy task, and is obviously proving to be difficult in East Timor. Despite the early release of regulations with respect to the judiciary and financial matters, the other interim solution of using Indonesian laws will not address the key problems of property usage and a commercial framework that will attract long-term investment capital. The provision of worthwhile training and jobs is heavily dependent on UNTAET defining a framework that gives confidence to private contractors, while protecting the interests of the people in a visible way. These laws can be expected to test the unity of the CNRT, which is already showing signs of fracturing along the lines that existed before the Indonesian takeover. It is difficult to overstate the complexity of UNTAET's task. To be affordable and effective, the public service in East Timor has to be much smaller and of higher quality than that which existed under the Indonesian administration. The World Bank has recommended a public sector that is less than half the 28,000 who were employed before 1999. While subsistence agriculture soaks up most of East Timor's working-age population, and will have to do so for a long time to come, it is the educated people in the cities and towns who are most affected by this decision and who need jobs that only private investment can give them once the UN is gone. This is the politically active group that will cause trouble if they think they are being disadvantaged by UNTAET decisions, or a lack of them. There has been much criticism of the United Nations' inability to put in place effective civil administration mechanisms, extending back to the Cambodian experience of 1991-93. East Timor is proving this to be a concern again. While many able and concerned United Nations hands are gathering for this mission, it is an impossible task to assemble enough quality people in time to meet the expectations of the East Timorese. There is plenty of scope for political troublemaking if events don't move faster; the sense on the streets of Dili is that this is already happening. The UN philosophy of pursuing a "carrot and stick" approach to bring troubled societies to a consensus may not work in the case of UNTAET unless the mission can gain more outside help. At present there appears to be too little carrot and not enough stick. The imminent departure of InterFET will soon reveal if this is so. Lieutenant-General John Sanderson is a former UN commander in Cambodia and former commander of Australia's joint forces. He returned this week from a visit to East Timor. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytpac-02.04.00-08:39:17-2495