By IPS Correspondents
BONN, Oct 20 2000 (IPS)

The United Nations is keen to ensure that adequate security conditions prevail for the more than 400 volunteers working under its umbrella in East Timor.

With this in view, the Executive Coordinator of the Bonn-based United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV), Sharon Capeling- Alakija, will be visiting the territory for five days, beginning Sunday.

East Timor was annexed by Indonesia in 1976 – one year after Portugal said it would withdraw, ending 450 years of its rule there.

After 23 years of a tense relationship between the Indonesian government and the East Timorese people, Indonesia announced June last year plan to give East Timor extensive autonomy.

On Aug 30, 1999 nearly 99 percent turned out for East Timor vote on whether to split from Indonesia. However, militia violence and intimidation continued.

It was not until Sep 27, last year, that Indonesia decided to hand the effective control of East Timor to multinational troops.

One month later Indonesia’s newly-elected President, Abdurrahman Wahid, officially onpassed authority over East Timor to the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

According to UNV spokeswoman Nanette Brown, Capeling-Alakija will meet senior UN officials in East Timor and discuss the security conditions.

She will also visit UN Volunteers working in the districts of Manatutu, Baccau, Venilale, Suai, Same as well as in the provincial capital of Dili.

Together with Jean-Christian Cady, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, she will chair, next Wednesday, a high-level working group meeting on UNV staffing within the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

Numerous senior UN officials in East Timor will take part in the discussions.

The UNV Executive Coordinator will also close a two-day security awareness workshop organised by UN Volunteers programme and the United Nations Security Coordinator (UNSECOORD) for regional security officers and UNV regional representatives.

Participants will return to their regions where they will brief all UNTAET staff members.

Presently, 406 UN volunteers are working in more than 40 departments of UNTAET in some 150 different professional functions.

About 70 per cent of these are working in a range of activities, including agriculture, human rights, social affairs and public administration.

Thirty-one UNV specialists are currently assisting other UN agencies, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) with humanitarian relief operations.

The 437 UN Volunteers in total represent 85 nationalities. The average age is 38, and just over 30 per cent are women.

An additional 332 UNV will be fielded over the next five months as civil registration and electoral officers, UNV spokeswoman said.

UN Volunteers have been active in East Timor since June 1999.

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO) requested UNV to mobilise a large contingent of UN Volunteers to assist in last year’s popular consultation process in East Timor under the newly established United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET).

Five hundred UNVs (481 district electoral officers, or DEOs, and 19 doctors and nurses) were recruited from 73 countries and deployed in a record six-week period of time.

Among the 500 UN Volunteers who served with UNAMET, the DEOs constituted the largest group of civilian international staff of UNAMET, serving at the district level, where they conducted civic education and organised and supervised the registration and polling processes for the ballot on 30 August 1999.

Largely through the work of the UNV DEOs, a record 451,000 Timorese people were registered to vote. A record 98 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots.

Following civil unrest, all UN staff members, including the UN Volunteers, were evacuated from East Timor. However, about 100 UNVs stayed on at a military base in Darwin, Australia, initially assisting UNAMET with nearly 2,000 East Timor refugees who had been relocated there.

This same group returned to East Timor in mid-October 1999 where they again played a front line role.

Since 1992, the UNV programme has recruited and fielded more than 4,000 UN Volunteers serving in 19 different peacekeeping operations.

An independent panel of international experts recently urged UNDPKO to increase its use of UN Volunteers following eight years of “dedicated and competent” UNV performance in crisis zones around the world.

According to the recent Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, about 1,500 UN Volunteers have been assigned to new missions in East Timor, Kosovo and Sierra Leone in the last 18 months alone.

They work in civil administration, electoral affairs, human rights and carry out administrative or support roles.

UNV is the volunteer arm of the UN system. It extends hands-on assistance for peace and development in nearly 150 countries. Created by the UN General Assembly in 1970 and administered by UNDP, UNV works through UNDP country offices to send volunteers and promote the ideals of volunteerism around the world.

UNV’s strength lies in its volunteers – the 4,500 professionals from more than 140 countries who serve each year, says Braun. With an average age of 39, they are qualified and experienced in more than 100 professional fields.

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