UNAMET Deputy Spokesman Hiro Ueki informed correspondents that the Secretary-General of the United Nations had just submitted a letter to the President of the Security Council in New York, Ambassador Hasmy Agam, concerning the date of the popular consultation. The letter reads as follows.
“Dear Mr. President,
On 26 July, I informed you of my decision to continue with the registration of voters for the forthcoming consultation in East Timor. Following discussions yesterday with my Personal Representative for East Timor, Mr. Jamsheed Marker, and advice received from UNAMET, I wish to inform you that I have decided to postpone the date of the consultation itself until 30 August. This decision has been relayed to the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal.
I took this decision for technical reasons and also as a consequence of the delay to the start of registration that occurred in mid-July and which was necessary at that time to seek an improvement in the security situation. Fundamental to the integrity of the consultation process is that there is a reliable list of voters. I have been advised that UNAMET requires more time in which to collate the list of voters, publicise it adequately and allow for a proper appeals procedure.
The Council will note that the new date for the consultation is now over three weeks later than the date of 8 August originally envisaged in resolution 1246 (1999) establishing UNAMET. I would therefore like to request the Council to authorize an extension of the current UNAMET mandate by one month to enable the Mission to perform the tasks assigned to it.
As foreseen in the agreement of 5 May, the United Nations will continue to have a presence in East Timor after the consultation. The United Nations is currently planning for this phase and is discussing this with the Governments of Indonesia and Portugal. This was the main focus of attention at the Senior Officials Meeting held on 15-16 July. I intend to report to the Council shortly on this matter.”
Mr. Ueki continued his briefing telling correspondents that all registration centres were open yesterday and all have opened today. UNAMET is taking steps to reinforce some centres with more materials and, in some cases, by transferring staff to cope with the higher than expected turnouts in some areas, largely as a consequence of numbers of people who are away from their normal place of residence.
A correspondent asked what the implications for staffing was in light of the one-month extension of UNAMET. Mr. Ueki said that while some electoral staff would be leaving, soon after poling takes place, UNAMET will be planning staffing requirements for the phase II period to ensure adequate staffing after the consultation in order to continue their mandate.
Asked about the CivPol staffing after the popular consultation, the Deputy Spokesman said the staffing level for CivPol will be discussed in the coming days so that UNAMET could plan ahead.
A correspondent asked whether UNAMET was confident now that there would be no need for a further delay. Mr. Ueki said UNAMET hoped now that the polling date had been set for 30 August that all arrangements would be made accordingly.
The Deputy Spokesman was asked whether UNAMET was bending to pressure by Indonesian authorities by relieving David Wimhurst as Spokesman. He said Mr. Wimhurst will be coming back from Jakarta today and hoped that he would be briefing tomorrow.
Mr. Ueki was then asked how the delay in the popular consultation would affect the campaign period. He said prior to the polling date there would be a two-day “cooling off period” and prior to that period there would be 17 days of political campaigning.
A correspondent asked whether the popular consultation votes would be tabulated by districts. The Deputy Spokesman said that there will be one overall vote count and the votes will be collected and brought back to Dili. UNAMET is still discussing the exact venue of the vote counting, he added.
