Government to open official mission in Dili

The Taoiseach will announce on his arrival in East Timor from Darwin today that the Government has decided to open an official mission in Dili. The decision follows a recent assessment by the Department of Foreign Affairs on setting up an aid office in the East Timorese capital, similar to official diplomatic offices in Lesotho and, in the near future, the Gaza Strip.

It will oversee the spending of £1 million this year on humanitarian assistance programmes in addition to the £1 million a year commitment to rehabilitation projects during the period of transition to independence.

Mr Ahern told Irish journalists about the aid office plans when he arrived in Darwin in northern Australia yesterday. He begins a six-day official trip to Australia tomorrow, flying on to Washington from Sydney for the St Patrick's Day ceremonies at the White House.

The Taoiseach said his visit to East Timor was particularly important as the Government had been involved in its problems, through the East Timor Support Group, for four or five years.

The Government was contributing £1 million in direct aid this year, a further £1 million was committed towards reconstruction and Concern and GOAL were also working in the region. He also referred to the presence of 40 Irish Army Ranger Wing troops, under the command of Lieut Col Fergus Bushell from Cork, which replaced the first Irish contingent last month.

Mr Ahern will meet the independence leaders, Mr Xanana Gusmao and Mr Jose Ramos Horta, in East Timor to discuss how Irish assistance could be best targeted towards the Timorese people for a successful transition to full independence.

The Agency for Personal Service Overseas was also involved in developing democratic institutions and was in the process of recruiting volunteers to assist the UN in East Timor.

"It will be interesting for us to see how, in the name of God, all of this is going to pull itself round into the nation-building of a democratic system," Mr Ahern added.

"Things are quite appalling and it will be interesting to see it at first hand. Food has to be brought in for the international workers. There is no sanitation. Malaria is absolutely rampant and the other disease - dengue - is now worse. It is dangerous in health terms."

In Darwin the Taoiseach visited Kormilda College, a unique day and residential secondary school operated by the Anglican and Uniting churches. Mixing with the Aboriginal students, Mr Ahern said that with the number of asylum-seekers all over Europe, there now were schools which would have seven or eight different nationalities.

"In parts of my own area in Dublin, it is not unusual to have people from six or seven different countries in schools that would probably only have had local people for a century. That is why I am interested in coming here." One student at the college, Mishai Perry, told Mr Ahern he was coming to Dublin to play for an under-17 GAA squad in test matches. A school band played traditional Aboriginal music for the first Taoiseach to visit Darwin and Mr Ahern tried out the didjeridoo. Mr Ahern was the guest of honour at a reception hosted by the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Mr Denis Burke, at Parliament House last night.