UN urged to yield control

The United Nations mission in East Timor needs to hand over formal control of the country's national police force as soon as possible, a new report says.

The slow handover of policing responsibilities, which began in May on a district-by-district basis, is encouraging local police to set up parallel security structures, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said.

The influential think-tank has called on the UN Security Council to "recognise the limited capacity of UN police to play an ongoing development role with their Timorese counterparts" and order the full handover of policing responsibilities immediately.