I think you know that I was asked by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to come to Timor-Leste in order to assess for him the current situation on the ground to do what I could during my short visit to help various parties to come together to address the current crisis and to consider how the United Nations can help address the underlying problems that it has revealed and I am now going to New York in order to report back to him.
I was personally glad to be asked to undertake this mission because I was privileged to head UNAMET in 1999 when the United Nations enabled the people of Timor-Leste to fulfil their right to self-determination but then I was a witness, too, to the violence during the popular consultation which followed the ballot.
The Timorese paid a heavy price then for their vote for independence; I was obviously very sad indeed to see again buildings burning in Dili, families displaced and to know that innocent people have been killed.
But the message which I have brought from the Secretary-General is that this is not a time for despair; it is a time for people to act together; it's a time for the leaders of Timor-Leste to act together and it's a time for the international community to act together and the United Nations is certainly going to be with Timor-Leste through this time of crisis and beyond.
I have been able to have long and frank discussions with the leadership, the President, the Prime Minister, with the Foreign Minister, now also Minister of Defence, and with many others from the government and political parties; with the church including the Bishop of Dili; with Civil Society and importantly with General Taur Matan Ruak and with those who are no longer under the command of the FDTL [which took place] in Gleno and Maubisse.
You'll understand that my first responsibility is to report back to the Secretary-General himself and then the Security Council will be briefed in New York and that limits how much I can say to you this morning.
But first, it is obvious that the immediate need is to restore security. The international community is working together to that end and I urge the fullest possible cooperation by everyone with the International Forces that have been invited here by the government, particularly in the crucial task of the recovery of weapons.
Secondly, it is important to begin at least to address the underlying issues that have been exposed by this crisis. When I was here in 1999, I never asked anyone whether they were "Lorosae"or "Loromonu" and the Secretary-General in his message to the people of Timor-Leste urged that the recent exploitation of what ought to be minor differences must be overcome. The crisis has come about through serious divisions within and between the FDTL (military) and the PNTL (police) and the restoration of the security sector is going to be a crucial task for the future.
Thirdly, relations among the institutions of the State, President, Government, Parliament, clearly need to be managed in such a way that there is a collective effort to address the crisis and the causes of the crisis and I have found all of those I have talked to are committed to doing that and believing that last week's decision of the Council of State and decisions that have flowed from that provide a framework to do so.
Political differences beyond those issues will need to be resolved through free and fair elections which will need to take place in 2007 in a genuine spirit of democracy and pluralism and everyone I have talked to believes that the United Nations must play a crucial role in that respect.
This is a four-year-old State and it's not unusual - in fact you could almost say it's normal for new States to go through major political differences early in their existence. This crisis has shocked many of us in the international community but of course even more it has shocked and deeply affected Timorese. But in many ways, it can serve as a wake-up call. The underlying issues it has exposed were not unknown but not enough was done early enough to address them. And, it is a wake-up call to the international community as well as to Timorese.
The Secretary-General said that the United Nations must look critically at its own role; that there is a belief that the United Nations tends to leave conflict areas too soon, but he is clear that the United Nation's commitment now is, as I have said, to stay with Timor-Leste through this crisis. Precise ways it will do so now will be the subject of much discussion in New York as well as here, and only to a limited extent will I be able to answer your questions about it, but I now invite your questions.