United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET)

Established by Security Council resolution 1246 on 11 June 1999 for a period up to 31 August 1999. By Security Council resolution 1257 of 3 August UNAMET was extended to 30 September 1999.

Mandate

To organize and conduct a popular consultation on the basis of a direct, secret and universal ballot, in order to ascertain whether the East Timorese people accept the proposed constitutional framework providing for a special autonomy for East Timor within the unitary Republic of Indonesia or reject the proposed special autonomy for East Timor, leading to East Timor’s separation from Indonesia, in accordance with the General Agreement and to enable the Secretary-General to discharge his responsibility under paragraph 3 of the Security Agreement.

Location

Headquarters: Dili

Regional Offices (8 + 1): Baukau, Dili, Ermera, Los Palos, Maliana, Oekussi, Suai, Viqueque (and one sub-regional office in Same)

Who’s Who

Personal Representative of the Secretary-General: Ambassador Jamsheed Marker (Pakistan)

Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of Mission: Mr. Ian Martin (United Kingdom)

Deputy Personal Representative of the Secretary-General: Mr. Francesc Vendrell (Spain)

Chief of Civilian Police: Commissioner Alan Mills (Australia)

Chief Military Liaison Officer: Brigadier General Rezaqul Haider (Bangladesh)

Electoral Commissioners: Patrick A. Bradley (Ireland), Johann Kriegler (South Africa) and Bong-Scuk Sohn (South Korea)

Chief Electoral Officer: Mr. Jeff Fischer (United States)

Chief Administrative Officer: Mr. Johanes Wortel (The Netherlands)

Chief Political Officer: Ms. Beng Yong Chew (Singapore)

Chief of Public Information: Mr. David Wimhurst (Canada)

Personnel Strength

International Staff: current deployment = 210 (full deployment = 242)

Civilian Police: current deployment = 271 (fully deployed)

Contributions from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Ghana, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, Zimbabwe

Military Liaison Officers: current deployment = 50 (fully deployed)

Contributions from Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Thailand, United Kingdom, USA, Uruguay

UN Volunteers: current deployment = 422 (full deployment = 425) (includes district electoral officers, support staff and medical unit) Contributions from 67 countries

Local Staff: current figure = 668 core staff (401 hired for 20 days voter registration period and an additional 3,600 will be hired for a five-day period before and after the ballot – 5 local staff at each polling station)

Documents

S/1999/513, A/53/951 of 5 May – SG report containing agreement between Indonesia and Portugal and autonomy proposal

S/1999/595 of 22 May – assessment report from the SG specifying the detailed modalities of the consultation process and providing his recommendations on the mandate, size, structure and budget of UNAMET, including civilian police officers.

S/1999/705 of 22 June – SG progress report

S/1999/803 of 20 July – SG progress report

S/1999/822 of 26 July – letter from SG to Security Council President giving his mid-registration period assessment

S/1999/883 of 28 July – letter from SG to Security Council President postponing the date of the consultation to 30 August and recommending that UNAMET be maintained for an additional period of one month

S/RES/1257 of 3 August – Security Council resolution extending UNAMET until 30 September 1999.

Registration Period

16 July to 4 August (20-day period). Extended for two additional days in registration centres inside East Timor and four days at external centers. (Originally set for 22 June then rescheduled to 13 July due to security and logistical reasons. Rescheduled once again to 16 July due to security conditions).

Ballot Date

30 August (originally set for 8 August)

Campaign

Period

Begins on 14 August (two-day "cooling-off" period before ballot date)

Budget

(US $)

$52,531,100 (estimate for period covering 5 May to 31 August 1999)

To date $46,716,000 pledged contributions from Australia, Portugal, Norway, New Zealand, Finland and Japan.

Logistics

Vehicles: 418 (414 cars, 3 motorcycles and one forklift)

Radios: 500 handheld radios. All vehicles equipped with radios