A UN Security Council delegation has been forced to postpone its arrival in the East Timorese capital of Dili by one night, a UN official said here Saturday.
"A delay in the connecting flight at Denpasar airport in Bali meant they would have landed past the restricted time in Dili," UN East Timor spokesperson Barbara Reis told AFP.
"They will spend the night in Bali and arrive here at 7.30 tomorrow (Sunday) morning (2230 GMT Saturday)," she added.
The team of seven Security Council ambassadors, led by Namibia's Martin Andjaba, left New York on November 9 for a six-day mission to East Timor and Indonesia. They were originally scheduled to land in Dili at 1800 (0900 GMT) Saturday.
The delegation will spend two days in East Timor before traveling to Indonesian-ruled West Timor to assess Indonesia's progress in disarming and disbanding anti-independence East Timorese militia there, as demanded by a stern Security Council resolution.
Resolution 1319 was passed on September 8 in response to the grisly killing of three UN refugee workers in the West Timor border town of Atambua two days previously.
The killings prompted an international outcry and the hasty exodus of 400 foreign and local aid workers who had been working with East Timorese refugees in West Timor.
The delegation will also review Indonesian progress in prosecuting the killers of the UN staff, and in restoring security to the area so aid workers can return and refugees be processed for repatriation or resettlement.
In Dili they are scheduled to have a full day of briefings on Sunday, and then make a trip to the devastated border town of Suai, the scene of a militia massacre in September of last year.
They will hold talks with the UN administrator in East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, East Timor National Council chief and resistance hero Xanana Gusmao, resistance fighters and top of officials of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).
After two days in West Timor starting Tuesday, they will fly to Jakarta for meetings with top Indonesian officials there -- DILI (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
