As
UN Prepares to
Leave Timor,
Accountability
as Unclear as
"Horizon Scan"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 12 --
Timor Leste is
called a rare
UN success
story, and it
is slated to
come off the
agenda of the
Security
Council
through the
expiration of
its mandate.
But even on
this,
there are
residual
questions of
impunity, not
only for the
killings
in Santa Cruz
in 1991, but
also for the
1999 killings.
After
an afternoon
of largely
self
congratulatory
speeches in
the Security
Council
chamber -- the
Permanent
Representatives
of the US, UK,
France and
Germany
weren't there,
on which we'll
have more
later --
Inner City
Press asked
the UN's
acting Special
Representative
Finn
Reske-Nielsen
about Santa
Cruz and the
61 cases from
1999 that will
not be
finished
before the UN
leaves.
He
did not answer
on Santa Cruz,
and said
follow through
the 61 cases
remained to be
determined.
During
the debate, UK
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Philip Parham
said
that the UN
"should keep
the Council
informed of
any warning
signs in this
regard,
perhaps
through the
reports of a
Special Envoy,
or through the
horizon-scanning
conducted by
the Department
of
Political
Affairs."
Since
not all
Security
Council
members during
their
presidencies
schedule
these "horizon
scanning"
briefings by
DPA, Inner
City Press
asked
Reske-Nielsen
how the UN
intends to
monitor and
report. He
said
that too
remains to be
determined.
Still,
many insist
this is the
Council's rare
success story,
a graduation
from the
Security
Council's
agenda. One
wag joked that
when India
came on to the
Council, Nepal
was taken off
the agenda.
And now with
India about to
leave the
Council in
less than two
months, Timor
Leste
is coming.
Many
non-permanent
members leave
much less of a
legacy of
removal. Watch
this site.
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