The Operational Dimension: The Peace Operation in East Timor

Abstract

This chapter analyses the Secretariat’s influence on the decision to establish a complex and highly intrusive peace operation in East Timor. On 25 October 1999 the Security Council adopted resolution 1272 and established UNTAET. The peace operation was in place for 29 months and it officially ended with East Timor’s independence on 20 May 2002.¹ UNTAET was a fully integrated civilian/military mission under overall UN civilian command. It was a robust operation based on Chapter VII of the UN Charter. UNTAET possessed the most intrusive and most comprehensive mandate of all peace operations to date. It was not only entrusted with the responsibility for order and security but at the same time the peace operation was authorised to transitionally administer the East Timorese territory and to prepare for its independence. UNTAET was critical for the evolution of peacekeeping, and its intrusive civil affairs and rule of law functions became a model for subsequent complex peace operations. Furthermore, lessons from its planning process and start-up flew into the Brahimi Report that in turn was crucial tor the development of the UN peacekeeping doctrine.