East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao said yesterday that it may be necessary to extend the mandate of the 5,000-soldier UN peacekeeping force in East Timor beyond June 2004, its scheduled end, in light of continued instability on the island. Acknowledging the "difficulty" of extending the UN Mission of Support in East Timor's mandate, Gusmao for the first time made a public plea for a study of the possibility. His remarks came during a meeting with foreign diplomats in the capital, Dili.

"The population ... is scared and living in panic," Gusmao said, referring to recent violent incidents, including riots in Dili last month. "There are organized groups, some armed, who are assaulting homes and taking everything the people have," he added. "These groups travel in gangs and cover a large portion of the territory" (Antonio Sampaio, LUSA Agencia de Noticias, January 13, UN Wire translation).

Last week, according to East Timorese authorities, three men were killed in two villages southwest of the capital, allegedly by former members of pro-Indonesian militias. Indonesia has denied involvement. According to Gusmao, the young country's own internationally trained defense force will be unable to cope with such security problems when UN troops leave.

"By the time the international contingents leave their barracks, [our] soldiers will only have walls and floors as their facilities," Gusmao said, adding that his government is considering deploying the army to crack down on criminal gangs across the country (Associated Press/Yahoo! News, January 13).

Gusmao said UNMISET and the government reacted too slowly to last month's riots, which left several people dead and dozens injured. "The reaction of UNMISET was incredibly slow," he said, adding that UN forces acted first to protect "interests" before moving to restore stability. Gusmao said the real measure of whether UNMISET has completed its mission will be the stability of East Timor at the end of the peacekeepers' mandate (Sampaio, LUSA Agencia de Noticias).

Eight months into the mandate, criticism is growing over matters including UNMISET's alleged snubbing of the press, LUSA reported yesterday. Since he took the helm of UNMISET, Kamalesh Sharma, who is responsible for law and security in East Timor, has limited his contact with the media to press releases, refused interviews and held no press conferences, LUSA reported.

There has also been an "inexplicable silence" between peacekeepers and international police, the agency added. UN officials told LUSA that the situation is causing tension within the UN mission and disturbing relations between international and local authorities. "They should be saying more," said one official (Sampaio, LUSA Agencia de Noticias II, January 13, UN Wire translation).

The sentencing of former Dili police commander Hulman Gultom has been delayed until Monday by an Indonesian ad hoc tribunal responsible for trying officials accused of complicity in crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999. The court cited a lack of consensus about what the sentence should be.

Gultom is accused of failing to prevent an attack on the house of pro-independence activist Manuel Carrascalao, in which at least 12 people died (LUSA Agencia de Noticias, January 13, UN Wire translation).