However, over the time these groups started to grow. On Monday, in Motaain, Bobonaro district, one gathering had as many as four thousand people. The initiative was of the population who, feeling unsafe to cross the border to visit their relatives, asked the UN Military Observers for help in the arrangements with the TNI command. After an initial contact with TNI, the UNMO s, Interfet and the Indonesian officials set up a free zone around these border points where no weapons are allowed. Both Interfet and TNI officers screen everyone from each side before and after the meetings, and stay 200 meters away of the border.
People bring food and spend a few hours talking.
Usually, they arrive around noon and go back to their houses before the sunset. On Monday, SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello briefed the Security Council on the situation in East Timor. In his presentation, Mr. De Mello stated that the social and economic consequences of the devastation inflicted upon East Timor during the post-ballot violence are massive and that the state of East Timor since September 1999 has been calamitous . Basic administrative structures must be established at both central and district levels, a civil service established, and east Timorese at all levels empowered to participate fully in the decisions made and implemented through these structures. The first six-month plan requested by the donors at the Tokyo conference was submitted to a Donor Meeting in Washington last week.