UN preparations for the self- determination vote in East Timor picked up pace this week and officials denied rumours the poll would be delayed past the scheduled date of Aug 8.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said there was no change in the date for polling but added that Secretary-General Kofi Annan would have to determine whether the conditions on the ground would permit a free and fair vote. Annan, meanwhile, released a videotaped message to assure Timorese voters that they would be safe.

Other officials acknowledged privately, however, that the current level of violence and intimidation in East Timor – largely directed by pro-Indonesian paramilitaries against pro- independence Timorese – would make a fair vote difficult.

Some believed it was “almost inevitable” that the vote would be delayed until the situation calms down.

Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald reported Thursday that the United Nations already was planning a three-week delay until Aug 29 before Timorese would be able to vote on either autonomy within Indonesia or opt for independence.

Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta, one of the leaders of East Timor’s pro-independence movement, told Australian media that his side could accept some delay if it added to safety on the ground.

In his videotaped message released Wednesday, Annan assured the Timorese that the United Nations would work impartially to allow all voters to exercise their free choice on Aug. 8.

“The United Nations is not in favour of, or against, any result,” Annan told voters.

“Your vote will be secret. No one will know, or ever find out, what choice you made. When the votes are counted, no none will know how any particular village or district has voted.”

Although UN officials were establishing precautions to ensure voting secrecy, pro-Indonesian militias have been sending a different message. Annan noted that many pro-independence Timorese have been harassed or killed in recent months by the militias.

Despite such acts, at least one prominent militia leader – Eurico Guterres of the Dili-based ‘Aitarak’ (Thorn) paramilitary – was appointed this week to head a civil defense unit responsible for Dili, East Timor’s capital.

Guterres’s selection was quickly condemned by human rights and pro-independence groups, who accused Jakarta of trying to intimidate voters in the run-up to the ballot.

UN envoy Jamsheed Marker warned the 15-nation UN Security Council on Wednesday that considerable work remained before conditions for a credible vote could be met.

Council President Baboucarr-Blaise Ismaila Jagne of Gambia responded that Indonesia had the responsibility to create a secure environment for the vote. In general, the Council was “pleased to hear of the good cooperation so far by all the parties, and appreciate the measures taken by Indonesia to ensure a stable security situation for the ballot,” he said.

The cooperation included a meeting in Jakarta Thursday by both pro-Indonesia and pro-independence Timorese to forge agreement on peaceful campaigning prior to the ballot.

The meeting was attended by the leader of the Timorese separatists, Xanana Gusmao, who remains under house arrest in Jakarta.

Voting arrangements have been on an accelerated timetable, since Indonesia and Portugal – East Timor’s former colonial power – reached agreement at UN-brokered talks on May 5 to allow a vote on the status of the territory.

The United Nations thus had only some three months to plan a vote – to be held simultaneously among Timorese in East Timor, Macau, Indonesia, Australia, Mozambique, Portugal, the United States and Canada – and to defuse tensions on the ground.

This week, the UN General Assembly released information showing that the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) had won approval for some four months of operation, from May 5 to Aug. 31, at a total cost of 52.5 million dollars.

That amount, the Assembly report states, includes “provisions for 242 international staff, 425 UN volunteers, 274 civilian police officers, 50 military liaison officers and some 3,645 local staff.”

If Timorese voters opted for autonomy – deemed unlikely by most analysts – Indonesia would gain international acceptance of its 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony.

But if, as considered more likely, the Timorese chose independence, UN sources believed the world body may have to step in to administer East Timor for several years until conditions for independence are set.

UN preparations for the self- determination vote in East Timor picked up pace this week and officials denied rumours the poll would be delayed past the scheduled date of Aug 8.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said there was no change in the date for polling but added that Secretary-General Kofi Annan would have to determine whether the conditions on the ground would permit a free and fair vote. Annan, meanwhile, released a videotaped message to assure Timorese voters that they would be safe.

Other officials acknowledged privately, however, that the current level of violence and intimidation in East Timor – largely directed by pro-Indonesian paramilitaries against pro- independence Timorese – would make a fair vote difficult.

Some believed it was “almost inevitable” that the vote would be delayed until the situation calms down.

Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald reported Thursday that the United Nations already was planning a three-week delay until Aug 29 before Timorese would be able to vote on either autonomy within Indonesia or opt for independence.

Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta, one of the leaders of East Timor’s pro-independence movement, told Australian media that his side could accept some delay if it added to safety on the ground.

In his videotaped message released Wednesday, Annan assured the Timorese that the United Nations would work impartially to allow all voters to exercise their free choice on Aug. 8.

“The United Nations is not in favour of, or against, any result,” Annan told voters.

“Your vote will be secret. No one will know, or ever find out, what choice you made. When the votes are counted, no none will know how any particular village or district has voted.”

Although UN officials were establishing precautions to ensure voting secrecy, pro-Indonesian militias have been sending a different message. Annan noted that many pro-independence Timorese have been harassed or killed in recent months by the militias.

Despite such acts, at least one prominent militia leader – Eurico Guterres of the Dili-based ‘Aitarak’ (Thorn) paramilitary – was appointed this week to head a civil defense unit responsible for Dili, East Timor’s capital.

Guterres’s selection was quickly condemned by human rights and pro-independence groups, who accused Jakarta of trying to intimidate voters in the run-up to the ballot.

UN envoy Jamsheed Marker warned the 15-nation UN Security Council on Wednesday that considerable work remained before conditions for a credible vote could be met.

Council President Baboucarr-Blaise Ismaila Jagne of Gambia responded that Indonesia had the responsibility to create a secure environment for the vote. In general, the Council was “pleased to hear of the good cooperation so far by all the parties, and appreciate the measures taken by Indonesia to ensure a stable security situation for the ballot,” he said.

The cooperation included a meeting in Jakarta Thursday by both pro-Indonesia and pro-independence Timorese to forge agreement on peaceful campaigning prior to the ballot.

The meeting was attended by the leader of the Timorese separatists, Xanana Gusmao, who remains under house arrest in Jakarta.

Voting arrangements have been on an accelerated timetable, since Indonesia and Portugal – East Timor’s former colonial power – reached agreement at UN-brokered talks on May 5 to allow a vote on the status of the territory.

The United Nations thus had only some three months to plan a vote – to be held simultaneously among Timorese in East Timor, Macau, Indonesia, Australia, Mozambique, Portugal, the United States and Canada – and to defuse tensions on the ground.

This week, the UN General Assembly released information showing that the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) had won approval for some four months of operation, from May 5 to Aug. 31, at a total cost of 52.5 million dollars.

That amount, the Assembly report states, includes “provisions for 242 international staff, 425 UN volunteers, 274 civilian police officers, 50 military liaison officers and some 3,645 local staff.”

If Timorese voters opted for autonomy – deemed unlikely by most analysts – Indonesia would gain international acceptance of its 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony.

But if, as considered more likely, the Timorese chose independence, UN sources believed the world body may have to step in to administer East Timor for several years until conditions for independence are set.