Highlights of the Noon Briefing
By Fred Eckhard
Spokesman for the Secretary-General
UN Headquarters, New York
Sergio Vieira de Mello, head of the
United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), is on
his way to Tokyo, Japan, where tomorrow night, he will attend the beginning
of a two-day Donor Meeting for East Timor, at which more than 100 officials
from 29 countries are expected to participate.
The meeting, which is being co-hosted by the United Nations and the World Bank, will begin at 7 p.m. tomorrow, Tokyo time, with a dinner for the heads of the delegations.
Then, on Friday morning, the opening session of the donors meeting will begin at 9:30. De Mello and East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao will deliver statements on behalf of the United Nations/East Timor delegation.
The World Bank estimates that between 260 million and 300 million dollars will be needed over the next three years for East Timor's reconstruction. Immediate needs are estimated at 86 million dollars for humanitarian assistance and emergency relief, 76 million dollars for reconstruction and development and 15 million dollars for external financing of UNTAET's budget.
The Director of UNTAET's Human Rights Division, Sidney Jones, met yesterday and today with members of the Indonesian National Commission of Inquiry, which has been exploring human rights violations in East Timor.
UNTAET's Human Rights Division also intends to distribute some 1,000 copies of a Glossary of Human Rights Terms, in four languages. The Glossary was prepared by UN volunteers while they were in Darwin, following their relocation from East Timor during the post-balloting violence.