NEW YORK, 16 MAY 2005
STATEMENT BY HE Mr. JOÃO SALGUEIRO, AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY AND PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF PORTUGAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS, TO THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL (Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission of Support in Timor-Leste)

Madam President,

I would like to thank the Secretary-General for his final report on United Nations Mission of Support in Timor-Leste and the Assistant Secretary-General Annabi for his presentation. I will take this opportunity to praise the dedicated efforts of the civilian, military and police components of UNMISET under the leadership of Special Representative Hasegawa, and congratulate them for their many achievements in Timor-Leste.

Portugal subscribes to the statement made by the representative of Luxembourg on behalf of the European Union. I will only add a few comments of our own.

First, we welcome the important work being carried out by the independent Commission of Experts, appointed by the Secretary-General to review the prosecution of serious human rights violations committed in Timor-Leste in 1999. In this context, we look forward to consider its final recommendations.

We also note the positive developments in the relationship of Timor-Leste with its neighbors, in particular the highly symbolic visit of President Yudhoyono to Dili last April. We also welcome the advances towards resolving such key issues to the Timorese as finalizing the demarcation of land and maritime borders.

Madam President,

We welcome Resolution 267, approved by this Council on 28 of April, which establishes a one-year follow-on special political mission in Timor-Leste.

Although the security environment remains calm and stable, we believe it is important for the Security Council to follow with particular attention the situation on the ground taking into account the removal of the last United Nations troops.

Timor-Leste is in a critical period of its peace-building process and the Report of the SG clearly outlines a number of areas still in need of international assistance. In particular, police capacity building is of great concern to us. In this regard, Portugal is currently working closely with the Secretariat in order to coordinate our offer to provide bilateral support with 30 gendarmerie officers, in the UNOTIL’s efforts to assist the national police.

Madam President,

My final remark relates to the responsibility of the international community and of the United Nations in this important period of Timor ’s recent history. Timor should continue to benefit from the organized and coherent support of the UN system. We are all conscious that, despite the significant steps the country has taken in institution building and in becoming a viable State, much more remains to be done. International support, both bilateral and multilateral, must be forthcoming. We have achieved a lot and we must safeguard that investment by ensuring that Timor-Leste continues to benefit from the assistance of the international community.

In this context, I would like to point out that Portugal , from 1999 to April 2005, invested about 350 M€ (450 MUSD) in bilateral investment, development programmes, and technical-military cooperation to Timor-Leste alone. Moreover, a significant part of the equipment utilized by the former Portuguese military contingent in UNMISET, amounting to over 20 MUSD, was donated by Portugal to the Government of Timor-Leste in June 2004.

But our involvement is far from being exclusively financial. With the same objective of practical involvement, Portuguese nationals in the thousands have taken part in UNMISET and before that in UNTAET: From peacekeepers and civilian police observers to civil servants and volunteers from all walks of life.

Portugal is ready to maintain this level of support to Timor-Leste and we encourage other countries to do the same, as we will continue to closely follow the developments in Timor-Leste, in particular as the transition from UNMISET to UNOTIL is carried-on.

Thank you, Madam President.