Portugal, 1999

Allow me, Sir, to

congratulate you on your election to the presidency of the

General Assembly. Your election is a well-deserved

tribute to the role that Namibia is playing in the

international arena. Your human, professional and

intellectual qualities will certainly ensure positive

guidance of our work.

Allow me also to take this opportunity to pay tribute

to the outgoing President, Mr. Didier Opertti, for the

dedicated and competent manner in which he conducted

the work of the fifty-third session of the Assembly. I

reserve a special word of appreciation and esteem for the

Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for the notable way

in which he has been fulfilling his difficult task at a

moment when so many and such complex challenges face

the United Nations and so many hopes are placed on the

Organization’s capacity to act.

I address the Assembly still under the impact of the

wave of emotion, indignation and revulsion that swept

over the entire world as a result of the tragedy that befell

the people of East Timor after the announcement of the

results of the popular consultation on the future of that

Territory, which was conducted in an exemplary manner

by the United Nations on 30 August.

Anyone who saw the pictures of the Timorese on

voting day — clutching their registration cards, waiting in

orderly lines for the long-awaited moment to express

freely their will — must have reacted with strong emotion

and surely perceived, on those faces and in those gestures,

the universal appeal of democracy, freedom and justice.

The striking contrast between the example of silent

courage and civic sense given by the Timorese when

massively participating in the ballot and the barbaric acts

of revenge that followed clearly reveals what was at stake

in this process.

I do not wish to dwell on the history, unfortunately so

little known, of the struggle for independence waged by the

people of East Timor over the last 24 years. Nor will I

recount the procession of horrors they had to suffer and,

unfortunately, are still suffering to win their freedom.

History teaches us that the birth of a new nation is usually

a conquest by its people, achieved as a result of a painful

process. The case of East Timor is not an exception. By

their courage, determination and willingness to fight and

suffer, the people of East Timor have earned the right to

become an independent nation. I wish to pay tribute to

them, as well as to their leader, Xanana Gusmao, whose

human and political qualities have commanded the respect

of all who have met him. And on behalf of the Portuguese

people, I would like here to bow before the memory of all

the Timorese who paid with their lives for the dignity of

their people.

The events of the last few weeks in East Timor have

rocked the conscience of the international community and

force us to reflect on the responsibility of the United

Nations, as the representative organ of that community, for

the construction of a more just and humane international

society. As universal awareness of the inalienable value of

the dignity of the human being takes hold at this end of the

century, an increasingly heavy responsibility is falling to

the members of the international community to articulate

principles and interests, in the knowledge that for interests

to be legitimate principles must be upheld. That awareness

demands, from all those holding public office, prompt and

firm responses to moral and juridically unacceptable

political behaviour, as well as to the humanitarian tragedies

and cycles of regional instability that these provoke.

World public opinion, which takes shape before our

eyes as a result of the globalization of the means of

communication, expects those answers from us and has

trouble understanding why double standards are so often

used in situations where identical principles are at stake.

We all know that the international community has not

always been able to rise to meet these challenges. Suffice

it here to recall the tragedy of Rwanda, the cases of the

Sudan and Somalia, the delay in reacting to the conflicts in

Bosnia and Kosovo, and so many other situations of human

suffering that, tragically, were inadequately addressed.

We should therefore pay tribute to the energetic

reaction of the international community to the wave of

violence and terror that struck East Timor in recent weeks

and to the resulting mobilization of a multinational force

tasked with guaranteeing the peace and security of that

territory, protecting and supporting the United Nations

Mission in East Timor and facilitating the humanitarian

assistance operations for the people of that territory. Let

me offer my thanks to all those who have contributed to

this outcome and, in particular, to the countries that have

been willing to constitute this force.

In this instance, and beyond the dramatic human

aspects, the very credibility of the United Nations was at

stake. How could the United Nations, having organized

the popular consultation, betray the confidence placed in

it by the people of East Timor? Although the reaction was

not as prompt as the Timorese deserved and Portugal

would have wished, the adoption of Security Council

resolution 1264 (1999) shows the world that the Council

does not remain indifferent to challenges to its authority,

nor does it allow them to go unanswered.

Let this case be not an exception, but rather an

example for the future. Swiftness of reaction by the

Security Council is a condition of its authority and

effectiveness.

Much of what has happened is irreparable and

cannot be forgotten. I say this with great bitterness, and

may I add that in this as well as in other cases, we cannot

encourage a culture of impunity.

Nevertheless, the arrival of the multinational force in

East Timor is opening up a horizon of hope, and now we

must take care of the living and attempt to save whatever

can be saved.

I consider the following to be immediate priorities.

First, guaranteeing security in East Timor is the priority

task before us so as to ensure respect for the individual

rights of the Timorese and to allow them at last to live in

peace without the threat of violence and persecution.

Without security we will not be able to undertake with all

the necessary vigour and amplitude the urgent tasks of

humanitarian assistance to the population of East Timor.

Secondly, we must channel humanitarian aid to East

Timor with the utmost urgency, to feed, to treat and to

provide shelter to the tens of thousands of displaced

people scattered all over the territory; to take care of all

those whose belongings have been systematically

plundered; to bring comfort to those who have lost

members of their families and friends and who helplessly

witnessed scenes of horror that will be forever engraved

in their memories; to reunite families — in brief, to come

to the rescue of a population traumatized by an orgy of

violence to which it fell victim.

12

Thirdly, we must attend to the situation of those

Timorese, well over 100,000 of them, who have been

deported to Indonesia or have fled the Territory and who

are now mostly in West Timor. The continuous access of

humanitarian assistance to those populations is urgent and

indispensable, including by the Office of the United Nations

High Commission for Refugees and other institutions for

the protection of human rights, to safeguard the life and the

dignity of the refugees and to ensure their unimpeded return

to East Timor.

Fourthly, we must accelerate the transfer of effective

authority in the Territory to the United Nations, as foreseen

by the Agreements of 5 May, as a consequence of the result

of the popular consultation held on 30 August. Any delay

whatsoever would be unacceptable. It is also important to

define a timetable for the complete withdrawal, in the

shortest possible time, of the Indonesian forces in the

Territory. That is the only way to restore peace and stability

in the region and to lay the foundations of a healthy

relationship between the future State of Timor and

Indonesia, a country which we hope will be able to

consolidate the democratic promise heralded by its current

transition process.

Finally, there needs to be an enormous reconstruction

effort in the Territory, which was totally devastated by

pillaging, looting and destruction during recent days. To

this end, the generous commitment of the international

community will be indispensable.

Portugal has expressed its full willingness to contribute

to all of these tasks. Owing to the responsibilities it has

towards the brotherly people of East Timor and the

unconditional solidarity that unites both peoples, Portugal

has expressed, from the first hour, its readiness to join the

multinational force. To avoid any delay — since every

minute counts, in terms of lives and in terms of

suffering — we agreed, while ready to participate

immediately, to defer our presence in the force to a later

stage.

With regard to humanitarian assistance and

reconstruction for East Timor, we are doing, and will

continue to do, our utmost. I would like here to appeal

vigorously to the international community, to the

specialized agencies of the United Nations and to the non-

governmental organizations to contribute to this effort.

With the Territory under occupation, and the attempt

at annexation by Indonesia never recognized by the United

Nations, the people of East Timor waited a quarter of a

century to exercise the right of self-determination to

which they were entitled as the people of a Non-Self-

Governing Territory, as prescribed by the United Nations.

Within the framework of resolution 37/30 of 1982,

Portugal, as the administering Power of the Territory,

Indonesia and the United Nations at last arrived at an

Agreement on 5 May.

The popular consultation was agreed upon, with

explicit reference, both in the Agreement of 5 May and in

Security Council resolution 1236 (1999) of 7 May, to the

resolutions of the General Assembly that have represented

and continue to represent the Magna Carta of the right of

colonial peoples to self-determination: resolutions 1514

(XV), 1541 (XV) and 2625 (XXV).

In spite of all the intimidation, the people of East

Timor democratically exercised on 30 August their right

to self-determination and chose, by a clear and

unequivocal majority, their collective future, thereby

acquiring, unconditionally and irrevocably, the right to

constitute an independent State at the end of the

transitional administration period that the United Nations

will soon initiate.

East Timor is reaching freedom with wounds and

scars of past suffering; but it is carrying the embryo of

hope, and it will now, I sincerely hope, arrive, free of

resentment, as a member of the community of States.

(spoke in English)

The question of East Timor is about a people and

about fundamentals: human dignity, international law and

moral and universal conscience.

In spite of all the terrible events of the past, let us

salute, at the end of the International Decade for the

Eradication of Colonialism, the self-determination of East

Timor.

Allow me to end by formulating a vow and a hope:

that as soon as possible the General Assembly of the

United Nations may hear the free and sovereign voice of

Timor Lorosae.