East Timor: Peacekeeper's Death Underlines Lack of Security - Bishop Nascimento 28 Jul-11:57

The recent killing of a United Nations peacekeeper in East Timor underlines the territory's continuing lack of security, says Timorese Catholic Bishop Basilio do Nascimento.

"Conditions have not yet been created for security and tranquility in East Timor," the bishop of Baucau said Thursday, during a visit to the Portuguese city of Setubal, referring to the fatal attack Monday against a peacekeeping patrol near the Indonesian border.

"There is a need for creating external conditions for independence" for the territory, he added.

Bishop Nascimento described the UN's engagement with East Timor as having been "rapid" during the security emergency last year but "slow in development" of the territory.

However, he applauded the UN's efforts to promote a "strong authority and system of justice" in the former Portuguese colony, which was forcibly occupied by Indonesia for 24 years until last year's independence plebiscite.

SAS -Lusa-

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