Sir, - Senator David Norris is to be congratulated on a fine letter (September 21st.) It is the most accurate assessment of the situation that I have heard or read from anyone. I find myself in agreement with every point that he makes. One hopes that the entry of the UN force into East Timor will see the start of a new and happier chapter in the history of this unfortunate country. For the past quarter-century the East Timorese have suffered at the hands of the Indonesians and the rest of the world chose to either look the other way or, more cynically, to take the opportunity to profit from the sale of arms or the exploitation of the country's natural resources.
The delayed entry of the UN force to Timor last weekend is of course too little too late for the East Timorese, whose faith in the international community must by now be stretched to the limit and beyond - especially when they see that the force is made up of troops from, among other countries, Australia, the UK and The US. The fact that this force is working in conjunction with their erstwhile oppressors, the Indonesian Army, is surely the sickest of ironies. The plight of the thousands of East Timorese who have in recent weeks been driven into exile in West Timor is extremely worrying. The mandate for the UN troops in East Timor must be extended so that they can move into the west of the island to protect these vulnerable people who are currently at the mercy of the Indonesian army.
Elsewhere in your paper on the same day you quote the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, as telling that organisation's General Assembly that the UN must intervene over the rights of sovereign states when necessary "to protect civilians from war and mass slaughter" and urging them to "forge unity behind the principle that massive and systematic violations of human rights - wherever they occur - should not be allowed to stand." Fairly basic ideas, I would have thought, for an international peacekeeping organisation; but the truth of the matter is that the only way that this can happen is if the UN has a standing army ready and willing to move rapidly into developing situations to protect the lives of innocent populations.
How many thousands more innocent civilians around the world must die at the hands of aggressive, expansionist forces before the UN learns that it must take action early? It must have the will to move into a situation in time to save lives.
Yes, there are risks involved, but the present policy of prevarication leads to tragedies such as those in Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor. Hundreds of thousands of people have died needlessly due to the UN's slowness to act. When the security situation in East Timor is brought under control - and let us all hope that this is achieved as swiftly as possible - the people of East Timor deserve all the help we can give them to rebuild their country. As Senator Norris says, it will take many years of good deeds to wash away the blood of previous actions and inaction by the international community. - Yours, etc.,
John O'Shea, GOAL, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.