These are near verbatim excerpts of
a press briefing by SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello at Dili Governor Palace
after meeting President Jorge Sampaio of Portugal
Dili,13 February 2000
SVM: We talked about the areas of reconstruction,
internal and external security, the political calendar, and the military
support that Portugal is providing us since the arrival of the Portuguese
contingent.
There was a convergence of analysis, and of understanding of the situation. I received, as you know, the confirmation of the Portuguese availability, an historical role, a privileged role in the materialization of the dream of this people, but also we are very much counting on the arrival of Portugal for the implementation of UNTAET mandate, which is the materialization of the result of last year's consultation August the 30.
In many areas - judicial, public works,
infrastructure, education- we studied all the options we have to develop
this cooperation even more, and I received from the President and his ministers
the guarantee that Portugal will do everything in its power to strengthen
even more this cooperation.
Q: The Portuguese frigate that is coming to replace "Vasco da Gama" is
not going to be under UNTAET's command. Why is that? Any particular reason?
SVM: No. I am not an expert on military issues, but it is rare that war
ships of this size integrate United Nations military operations. It will
be a support ship and certainly was not requested by our HQ in New York.
But as you know, the frigate "Vasco da Gama", and the frigate that is
coming to replace it, have played a very important role. I was an witness
of all the activities of the marine of the frigate, and I believe that
the new frigate will keep the same kind of activities, although it will
not be part of the our military component.
Q: What exactly will be the military cooperation of the Portuguese troops?
SVM: As you know, all Central Sector, which goes from Dili to Same, will
be under Portuguese responsibility. This is an important responsibility,
I would say very important, since it includes the country's capital, the
airport, and the port, important roads and is one sector in which a significant
percentage of the Timorese population lives.
But more than that, I would say that the configuration of the Portuguese
battalion is original, is unprecedented. The Defense minister told me that
from its 800 troops, this battalion has 300 official and sub-officials
specialized in many areas that have more to do with the reconstruction
of the infrastructure of the civil structure and the public services than
with exclusive military activities.
This is extremely important. I hope that as we go forward with the implementation
of our mandate, the need to deploy combat units in East Timor diminishes,
and that we can enlarge our capacity to provide services to population,
support in areas such as engineering, logistics, services, and medicine.
And it seems that the Portuguese battalion will have the possibility to
provide other services, even more specialized, in areas of public administration
that will be most welcome to strength our capacity and our Governance and
Public Administration pillar, which is still very weak.
Q: Is the protocol between the Portuguese state electricity company, EDP,
and UNTAET concluded?
SVM: No, it's not. If is signed it will be today or tomorrow. But I don't
have that precise information.
Q: Lately, education has been a frequent topic of discussion. Do you think
that that will be the area in which Portugal should participate more actively,
more than any other area?
SVM: One of the areas. No more than the other areas. Portugal can help
us in many, many areas, certainly in the area of education. Of course,
all will depend on the famous question of the language and on the timeframe
of the rehabilitation of the Portuguese language in the Timorese school
system. It is obvious that Portugal and other countries of Portuguese Official
Language will have a primal role, a very important role to play.
Q: The development plan, the first six months plan, assumes the political
decision of CNRT in support of the choice of Portuguese as the official
language. Are the necessary conditions in place for that choice?
SVM: If you ask that question to my colleague in the World Bank she will
tell you that the program of six months in the areas of education doesn't
include the language.
It could not, because it was done between
October of last year and beginning of January of this year. But it is obvious
that once we are beyond the implementation phase, the problem of the language,
the problem of capacitating and training new teachers, primary and secondary
teachers, and the teaching of the Portuguese language, will be a very important
factor in the formulation of those programs. In other words, we can not
postpone this decision beyond March.
Q: And is that decision tending more to the idea defended by CNRT and the
Church? Do you think that decision will be in favour of the Portuguese?
SVM: Look, I think it's unfair to ask that question to a Brazilian. Because
I could be biased answering your question, couldn't I? But what is necessary
is to keep in mind the past, including the recent past, the expectations
of the youth educated under the Indonesia occupation, who are not responsible
for what happened here and who speak and think in Bahasa Indonesian, and
because of that need time to recycle, time to adapt to the concept of a
new official language.
As you know, there is a great deal of anxiety between the youth of the
last generation, the youth that was born and grew up under an Indonesian
Administration. It is necessary to have this factor in mind, and so implement
the final decision, whatever the decision will be, through the mechanism
of NCC, so will receive the unanimous support of the political Timorese
forces. This is the way we want to work. It is obvious that the viewpoint
of the CNRT and the Catholic Church will receive the attention from UNTAET.
Thank you very much.