ABSTRACT
UN Operations in East Timor and Sierra Leone are worthy of comparison for, despite the contrast in scale, they demonstrate the essential difference between UN-sanctioned and UN-sponsored operations. East Timor was a former Portuguese colony, predominantly Christian. As The Economist pointed out, 'legally, historically and morally, East Timor is a different nation'. The United Nations monitored the 30 August 1999 referendum. The presence of the United Nations Mission in East Timor was heavily circumscribed by Indonesian conditions. An estimated 400,000 East Timorese fled the towns and villages while their homes and property were set on fire by militia members in an orgy of destruction. When the West African state of Sierra Leone achieved its independence from Britain in 1961 after 174 years of colonial rule, its future looked rosy. The Commonwealth suspended Sierra Leone from the organisation and the UN imposed sanctions upon the country. In June 1998, the Security Council established the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone.
