| Subject: UNAMET to push
for probes into killed, missing East Timor staff UNAMET to push for probes into killed, missing East Timor staff
DILI, East Timor, Oct 24 (AFP) - The head of the UN Mission
in East Timor (UNAMET), Ian Martin, on Sunday pledged the United Nations will press for a
result from all investigations into killed and missing East Timorese UN staff members.
"I wish to assure the families and friends and all
Timorese that the United Nations will pursue all possible efforts to bring to conclusion
the investigation of the cases of any of our staff who have been killed or
disappeared," Martin said at the Dili Cathedral during a Sunday service.
At least four local UNAMET staff were killed following the
August 30 UN-organized ballot in which East Timorese voted overwhelmingly to break from
Indonesia.
An as yet undetermined number of staff have been listed as
missing since pro-Indonesia militias launched a campaign of terror and destruction
following the ballot.
"In the name of the (UN) secretary general and all the
staff of UNAMET, I wish to pay tribute ... to all the Timorese men and women who have
since last May contributed to the UN efforts to carry out the popular consultation,"
Martin said.
"Some of them have paid with their life, for their
commitment to the organisation and its goals in East Timor," he told a congregation
of locals, UN staff members and soldiers.
With a UN flag placed at the altar, Martin led a minute of
silence for the four known casualties and the many more missing.
Joao Lopes Gomes and Alvaro Lopes Gomes were killed within
hours of East Timor's vote for independence on August 30 in Atsabe.
On September 2, Domingo Perreira Soares and Ruben Bacoz
were killed in Maliana.
The unchecked militia rampage led to the deployment of the
UN-sanctioned International Force for East Timot (Interfet) which has since secured most
of the territory.
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