Civil registration resumes in East Timor

The civil registration process resumed in East Timor today after a pause in the initial period to finalize the list of people eligible to vote in the upcoming elections, the United Nations Transitional Administration in the territory (UNTAET) said on Wednesday.

Registration will continue as scheduled throughout the territory in order to keep regularly updated and accurate records of the population, the UN mission said. East Timorese can also apply for birth, wedding and death certificates, which will be printed in the Central Civil Registry in Dili.

Those registering in the current period, however, will not be entitled to vote in the 30 August Constituent Assembly elections. According to UNTAET, 737,811 people had been registered by 23 June, the deadline for eligibility to the electoral roll. People who registered prior to the cut-off date but lost their blue "proof of registration" can receive a duplicate in order to help identify them on polling day.

In other news, Dennis McNamara, the deputy chief of UNTAET, met today with José Durão Barroso, the opposition party leader of Portugal and its former Foreign Minister, who is in East Timor for a three-day visit.

Mr. Barroso, the leader of the Partido Social Democrata (PSD), also met with East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmão and the Bishop of Dili, Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo. He is scheduled to travel tomorrow to Baucau to meet with the Bishop of Baucau, Basilio do Nascimento, and then visit the East Timor Defence Force training centre at Metinaro, near Dili, where 350 cadets are currently undergoing basic training with East Timorese and Portuguese instructors.