As peace-keeping troops safely arrive in East Timor and secure the territory and begin to get on with their work, you may be wondering how you can get involved in doing something for the East Timorese people in their hour of need and agony. Here are a few suggestions regarding immediate and long term action.

What can be done NOW

1. Send your greetings to the peacekeeping Forces: This means a lot when you have a very difficult job in the face of a reality, which to almost every outsider would be shocking. Senseless violence has very deep psychological effects on everyone, but particularly on those who may not have had occasions to come to grips with such violence. The knowledge that the world cares and will support their efforts to fix things up again will add to the morale of those on the ground. Just spend a short time to write a nice letter. Till a direct line become available write through the UN Secretary- General. For a suggested letter please see below.

2. Get ready to send things: Clothes-food, school material, and anything that is useful, when facilities for communication will become available in the coming days and weeks.

3. Get ready to go or to send volunteers as soon as such visits become possible.

4. Continue with vigils, prayer services and other ways of remaining alert and creating social awareness.

What Needs to be done IMMEDIATELY

As peacekeeping troops attend to immediate matters it will soon dawn that the burden of reconstructing East Timor will require civilian assistance from the international community. Red Cross is already present. There will be the need for medical care requiring hospitals, doctors, nurses and other personnel.

Given the nature of the devastation, rebuilding of houses and other sanitary facilities will be an immediate priority.

Educational facilities with the teachers will also be high in the list. The presence of counsellors to assist the children traumatized by the recent events will also be quite important.

All these will imply facilities for training in various skills, and the training of East Timorese themselves to handle these issues will lead to eventual sustainability.

What Needs to be done in the LONG RUN

Building of the East Timorese Judiciary and the police is a primary need. Without repeating the mistakes of earlier peacekeeping missions such as in Cambodia, this aspect of building the infra-structure for rule of law needs to be addressed from now on. This will also imply agreement on operative laws, customary laws and those that needs to be formulated.

Quick rebuilding of the civil society and making civil society participate in every aspect of life is the only way for East Timorese society to get back to its bearings and speed up the way for recovery.

Human resources development to meet the needs of the new nation must be a vital component of the agenda.

Justice for the destruction caused after the elections to life and property is an essential aspect of peace. This will generate many sensitive issues that need to be addressed and settled. Indecisiveness on these issues will create very grave problems later, as we see from Cambodia.

Lasting threats to East Timor can be avoided only by the development of democratic forces in Indonesia. Every thing must be done to encourage the democratic transformation of Indonesia and the rapid demilitarization of the country. For this, it is good to get in touch with Indonesian democratic and human rights organisations.

A Suggested letter to the Peacekeeping Forces in East Timor

Major-General Peter Cosgrove
Commander of the International Peace Force in E.Timor
C/O Secretary General

Kofi Annan
United Nations
New York, NY 10017 USA

Fax: 1 212 963 2155
E-mail: ecu@un.org

I am glad of your safe arrival in East Timor soil. Your presence will be a great encouragement to the East Timorese people. I want you to know that in the days to come many people will be thinking of you and wishing you well. I am personally willing to do whatever I can to help improve the situation. I will look forward for some indications as to what is required and hope soon, I can assist you in achieving the objectives of your mission. You can be assured of my best wishes and prayers.

Thank you